Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay

Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay PDF Author: Victor S. Kennedy
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421426552
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
This environmental history of America’s largest estuary provides insight into how and why its former productivity and abundant fisheries have declined. The concept of “shifting baselines”—changes in historical reference points used in environmental assessments—illuminates a foundational challenge when evaluating the health of ecosystems and seeking to restore degraded wildlife populations. In this important book, Victor S. Kennedy examines the problem of shifting baselines for one of the most productive aquatic resources in the world: the Chesapeake Bay. Kennedy explains that since the 1800s, when the Bay area was celebrated for its aquatic bounty, harvest baselines have shifted downward precipitously. Over the centuries, fishers and hunters, supported by an extensive infrastructure of boats, gear, and processing facilities, overexploited the region’s fish, crustaceans, terrapin, and waterfowl, squandering a profound resource. Beginning with the colonial period and continuing through the twentieth century, Kennedy gathers an unparalleled collection of scientific resources and eyewitness reports by colonists, fishers, managers, scientists, and newspaper reporters to create a comprehensive examination of the Chesapeake’s environmental history. Focusing on the relative productivity and health of its fisheries and wildlife and highlighting key species such as shad, oysters, and blue crab, Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay helps readers understand the remarkable extent of the Bay’s natural resources in the past so that we can begin to understand what has changed since, and why. Such knowledge can help illustrate the Bay’s potential fertility and stimulate efforts to restore this pivotal maritime system’s ecological health and productivity.

Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay

Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay PDF Author: Victor S. Kennedy
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421426552
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 167

Get Book Here

Book Description
This environmental history of America’s largest estuary provides insight into how and why its former productivity and abundant fisheries have declined. The concept of “shifting baselines”—changes in historical reference points used in environmental assessments—illuminates a foundational challenge when evaluating the health of ecosystems and seeking to restore degraded wildlife populations. In this important book, Victor S. Kennedy examines the problem of shifting baselines for one of the most productive aquatic resources in the world: the Chesapeake Bay. Kennedy explains that since the 1800s, when the Bay area was celebrated for its aquatic bounty, harvest baselines have shifted downward precipitously. Over the centuries, fishers and hunters, supported by an extensive infrastructure of boats, gear, and processing facilities, overexploited the region’s fish, crustaceans, terrapin, and waterfowl, squandering a profound resource. Beginning with the colonial period and continuing through the twentieth century, Kennedy gathers an unparalleled collection of scientific resources and eyewitness reports by colonists, fishers, managers, scientists, and newspaper reporters to create a comprehensive examination of the Chesapeake’s environmental history. Focusing on the relative productivity and health of its fisheries and wildlife and highlighting key species such as shad, oysters, and blue crab, Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay helps readers understand the remarkable extent of the Bay’s natural resources in the past so that we can begin to understand what has changed since, and why. Such knowledge can help illustrate the Bay’s potential fertility and stimulate efforts to restore this pivotal maritime system’s ecological health and productivity.

Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay

Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay PDF Author: Victor S. Kennedy
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN: 1421426544
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
This environmental history of America’s largest estuary provides insight into how and why its former productivity and abundant fisheries have declined. The concept of “shifting baselines”—changes in historical reference points used in environmental assessments—illuminates a foundational challenge when evaluating the health of ecosystems and seeking to restore degraded wildlife populations. In this important book, Victor S. Kennedy examines the problem of shifting baselines for one of the most productive aquatic resources in the world: the Chesapeake Bay. Kennedy explains that since the 1800s, when the Bay area was celebrated for its aquatic bounty, harvest baselines have shifted downward precipitously. Over the centuries, fishers and hunters, supported by an extensive infrastructure of boats, gear, and processing facilities, overexploited the region’s fish, crustaceans, terrapin, and waterfowl, squandering a profound resource. Beginning with the colonial period and continuing through the twentieth century, Kennedy gathers an unparalleled collection of scientific resources and eyewitness reports by colonists, fishers, managers, scientists, and newspaper reporters to create a comprehensive examination of the Chesapeake’s environmental history. Focusing on the relative productivity and health of its fisheries and wildlife and highlighting key species such as shad, oysters, and blue crab, Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay helps readers understand the remarkable extent of the Bay’s natural resources in the past so that we can begin to understand what has changed since, and why. Such knowledge can help illustrate the Bay’s potential fertility and stimulate efforts to restore this pivotal maritime system’s ecological health and productivity.

Chesapeake Bay Explorer's Guide

Chesapeake Bay Explorer's Guide PDF Author: David Malmquist
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493051342
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Known for its beauty and bounty, the Chesapeake Bay stretches nearly 200 miles from the mouth of the Susquehanna River to the ocean capes of the Atlantic, its tidal waters enriching the vibrant coastal communities of both Maryland and Virginia. Chesapeake Bay Explorer’s Guide is the perfect reference for visitors who want to know more about the things they see in their visit to the famous estuary, whether they are relaxing on a beach, paddling through a saltmarsh, or watching workboats duck beneath a drawbridge. Explore more than 14,415 miles of shoreline, myriad hiking trails, and scores of wildlife preserves nestled between resort towns and other attractions. This guide provides a concise history of how the Bay was formed, and brief entries with full-color images and easy-to-read descriptions of the flora, fauna, and man-made artifacts found in and around the Bay.

Shifting Baselines

Shifting Baselines PDF Author: Jeremy B.C. Jackson
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 161091029X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Shifting Baselines explores the real-world implications of a groundbreaking idea: we must understand the oceans of the past to protect the oceans of the future. In 1995, acclaimed marine biologist Daniel Pauly coined the term "shifting baselines" to describe a phenomenon of lowered expectations, in which each generation regards a progressively poorer natural world as normal. This seminal volume expands on Pauly's work, showing how skewed visions of the past have led to disastrous marine policies and why historical perspective is critical to revitalize fisheries and ecosystems. Edited by marine ecologists Jeremy Jackson and Enric Sala, and historian Karen Alexander, the book brings together knowledge from disparate disciplines to paint a more realistic picture of past fisheries. The authors use case studies on the cod fishery and the connection between sardine and anchovy populations, among others, to explain various methods for studying historic trends and the intricate relationships between species. Subsequent chapters offer recommendations about both specific research methods and effective management. This practical information is framed by inspiring essays by Carl Safina and Randy Olson on a personal experience of shifting baselines and the importance of human stories in describing this phenomenon to a broad public. While each contributor brings a different expertise to bear, all agree on the importance of historical perspective for effective fisheries management. Readers, from students to professionals, will benefit enormously from this informed hindsight.

The Future Chesapeake

The Future Chesapeake PDF Author: J. R. Schubel
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN: 166570439X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
The Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest estuary. After slow deterioration for several centuries, the Chesapeake Bay Program was launched in 1983 to restore it. After spending more than $24 billion, the results of the restoration program are disappointing. The Bay Program has arrested the decline of the Bay, but it has failed to achieve its restoration goals—something that will become more challenging with climate change. The rate of environmental change today is more rapid than at any time in the history of humanity. The concept of restoration—to return to an earlier time and condition—is an outmoded concept for coastal ecosystems like the Chesapeake Bay that are at the leading edge of change. A better strategy would be to focus on shaping the future Bay. While we cannot create the future Bay, we have many of the tools to shape it, tools that have never been used as a complement to existing efforts. Learn about the past and present of the Bay, how climate change will affect its future, and how we can intervene to shape the future of the Chesapeake.

Diet for a Sustainable Ecosystem

Diet for a Sustainable Ecosystem PDF Author: Benjamin E. Cuker
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030454819
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
This book explores a specific ecosystem in depth, in order to weave a story built on place and history. It incorporates the theme of a journey to help reveal the environment-human-health-food system-problem. While drawing on a historical approach stretching back to the American colonial era, it also incorporates more contemporary scientific findings. By crafting its story around a specific place, the book makes it easier for readers to relate to the content, and to subsequently use what they learn to better understand the role of food systems at the global scale.

Biology of Oysters

Biology of Oysters PDF Author: Brian Leicester Bayne
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0128035005
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 862

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Book Description
Biology of Oysters offers scientific insights into the structure and function of oysters. Written by an expert in the field of shellfish research, this book presents more than 50 years of empirical research literature. It provides an understanding of the edible oysters, in order to equip students and researchers with the background needed to undertake further investigations on this model marine invertebrate. - Presents empirical research findings in context with the relevant theory and its expression in computer models - Includes information on studies of other bivalve species such as mussels and clams - Offers a description of the whole organism to provide a frame of reference for further research - Includes research developments in the phylogeny, physiology and ecology of oysters

Life in the Chesapeake Bay

Life in the Chesapeake Bay PDF Author: Alice Jane Lippson
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801883378
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
Life in the Chesapeake Bay is the most important book ever published on America's largest estuary. Since publication of the first edition in 1984, tens of thousands of naturalists, boaters, fishermen, and conservationists have relied on the book's descriptions of the Bay's plants, animals, and diverse habitats. Superbly illustrated and clearly written, this acclaimed guide describes hundreds of plants and animals and their habitats, from diamondback terrapins to blue crabs to hornshell snails. Now in its third edition, the book has been updated with a new gallery of thirty-nine color photographs and dozens of new species descriptions and illustrations. The new edition retains the charm of an engaging classic while adding a decade of new research. This classic guide to the plants and animals of the Chesapeake Bay will appeal to a variety of readers—year-round residents and summer vacationers, professional biologists and amateur scientists, conservationists and sportsmen.

Environmental Impact Assessment in the United States

Environmental Impact Assessment in the United States PDF Author: Robert M. Sanford
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000813266
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
Environmental impact assessment is now firmly established as an important and often mandatory part of proposing any development project. Environmental Impact Assessment in the United States provides foundational knowledge of environmental review in the United States as carried out at federal, state, and local levels, with detailed information about the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its applications, and other relevant federal and state legislation. This book will aid planners, architects, engineers, project managers, or consultants who work with environmental impact statements to assess the effects of a proposed activity on the environment and who develop and assess measures to avoid or minimize those impacts. It will serve as a desk reference for professional environmental planners as well as a core textbook for students who intend to work in the fields of environmental policy, civil engineering, environmental law, resources management, or other areas of environmental management.

Achieving Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Goals in the Chesapeake Bay

Achieving Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Goals in the Chesapeake Bay PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309210828
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
The Chesapeake Bay is North America's largest and most biologically diverse estuary, as well as an important commercial and recreational resource. However, excessive amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment from human activities and land development have disrupted the ecosystem, causing harmful algae blooms, degraded habitats, and diminished populations of many species of fish and shellfish. In 1983, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) was established, based on a cooperative partnership among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the state of Maryland, and the commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the District of Columbia, to address the extent, complexity, and sources of pollutants entering the Bay. In 2008, the CBP launched a series of initiatives to increase the transparency of the program and heighten its accountability and in 2009 an executive order injected new energy into the restoration. In addition, as part of the effect to improve the pace of progress and increase accountability in the Bay restoration, a two-year milestone strategy was introduced aimed at reducing overall pollution in the Bay by focusing on incremental, short-term commitments from each of the Bay jurisdictions. The National Research Council (NRC) established the Committee on the Evaluation of Chesapeake Bay Program Implementation for Nutrient Reduction in Improve Water Quality in 2009 in response to a request from the EPA. The committee was charged to assess the framework used by the states and the CBP for tracking nutrient and sediment control practices that are implemented in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and to evaluate the two-year milestone strategy. The committee was also to assess existing adaptive management strategies and to recommend improvements that could help CBP to meet its nutrient and sediment reduction goals. The committee did not attempt to identify every possible strategy that could be implemented but instead focused on approaches that are not being implemented to their full potential or that may have substantial, unrealized potential in the Bay watershed. Because many of these strategies have policy or societal implications that could not be fully evaluated by the committee, the strategies are not prioritized but are offered to encourage further consideration and exploration among the CBP partners and stakeholders.