Chesapeake Quarterly
Blocking Species Invasions in the Bay
In this issue of
Chesapeake Quarterly we explore pathways that invasive species can take to get here, from commercial shipping to the actions of everyday citizens.
We also tell the stories of two non-native species, one that’s had devastating consequences for the Chesapeake, and one that hasn’t lived up to its initial threat.
Some argue that the introduction of non-native species is a natural turn of events. Plants and animals have been coming and going for millennia. Why should we try to stop them?
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Marine Spotlight
Poisoned Waters: Frontline to focus on Chesapeake Bay
On April 21, “Frontline,” the acclaimed documentary series, turns its camera eye on the demise of two of the nation’s coastal jewels, the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound. Entitled “Poisoned Waters,” the two-hour documentary will describe the sorry condition of two treasured estuaries, one on the East coast and one on the West. Both bodies of water have drawn thousands to live, work, and play along their shores, and both have suffered from development, runoff, and weak political will.
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Swan Song for a Multicultural Marine Science Program?
 For the last nine summers, Ben “Doc” Cuker, a professor at Hampton
University in Virginia, has taught sailing and more to college students
from diverse backgrounds. Each June and July, his Multicultural
Students at Sea Together (MAST) program takes these students on a
four-week adventure aboard
The Chesapeake
to learn about marine science and local minority heritage. On average,
Cuker (pronounced Sue-ker) has recruited 59% African Americans, 28%
Hispanics and 9% Native Americans.
But this summer, his student sailors may have navigated
The Chesapeake along its final Bay voyage.
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Denise Breitburg’s journey into piles of old data stems from a bit of frustration. The Smithsonian Environmental Research (SERC) scientist spent the
summer of 2003 researching the role that Chesapeake Bay’s small inlets
play in the distribution of sea nettles — those pesky stinging jellyfish that send many a Bay swimmer scrambling for shore. 