BAD GRADES
After records rains and subsequently excessive runoff pollution in 2018, the Chesapeake Bay’s biennial report card was released earlier this month with a downgrade to a D+ from a C- in 2016. At the time, the grade was the highest grade received since the assessment was launched in 1998 by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. While the recent change was the first time the score had declined in a decade, there were some signs of improvement, such as increased oxygen levels throughout the estuary’s waterways and survival of underwater grasses despite the weather-related diluge. The CBF continues to stress the importance of watershed-wide cleanup efforts and the persistence of environmental regulations currently threatened by the Trump administration.

FARMERS UNITED
In mid-December, Congress approved the 2019 Farm Bill, which will allocate some $867 billion in federal subsidies to American farmers. In addition the bill legalizes hemp and provides permanent funding for programs such as farmers’ market promotion, organic farming research, and organizations working to train the next generation of farmers. The state of Maryland has more than 12,000 farms across some two million acres of land. The bill has also preserved the Conservation Stewardship Program, which works with farmers to strengthen their conservations efforts. It also triples the amount of funding available for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which locally works to reduce farm runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. The Farm Bill is the largest source of funding to help with such efforts throughout the watershed, providing upwards of $130 million to regional farmers each year to improve their environmental impact.

DNR CHANGES
Earlier this month, Governor Hogan nominated Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio to be Maryland’s new secretary to the Department of Natural Resources, which oversees fishing, hunting, boating, parks, wildlife, waterways, and forests throughout the state. Scheduled to start in February following confirmation by the Senate, she will replace Mark Belton, who stepped down from him position shortly after the New Year to resume his former post as Charles County administrator. Haddaway-Riccio currently serves as Hogan’s deputy chief of staff, where she advises on environment-related issues. She also represented the Eastern Shore in the House of Delegates from 2003 to 2015.

OUT OF THIS WORLD
We’ll consider space news environmental news for the time being as, just this week, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft mission released the first detailed images of the Ultima Thule—a small, two-sphered object located on the edge of our solar system and the most distant object ever explored in space. While Ultima Thule is located in the Kuiper Belt some four billion miles from Earth, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in in our backyard of Laurel designed, built, and currently operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and also manages the mission. With the first photographs received around 5 a.m. on January 1, the lab celebrated with flyby festivities on New Year’s Day.

URBAN FOREST
Blue Water Baltimore has worked to transform a controversial stretch of highway median into a verdant greenspace in the heart of West Baltimore. Over the past two years, the local nonprofit and other citywide volunteer efforts have planted nearly 500 trees in the middle of U.S. Route 40 between Fulton Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, aka Baltimore’s “Highway to Nowhere,” which historically displaced more than 1,000 residents, most of whom were African-Americans, in the mid-20th century. The first two phases were completed with help from Volunteering Untapped, community residents, and local school groups, while the third and final phases were completed this past November with the Baltimore Tree Trust and Bon Secours Clean and Green Landscaping Team. The trees will be watered in the summertime by the Baltimore City YouthWorks program.

IN SESSION

As a new legislative session began in Annapolis last week, a number of environmental issues are on the docket for consideration by local lawmakers. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is seeking legislation to protect Chesapeake Bay tributaries selected for large-scale restorations from future oyster harvest, as well as the development of a new fishery management plan for the bivalves. Meanwhile the Clean Energy Jobs initiative aims to increase the state’s renewable energy goals, which currently includes receiving 25 percent of Maryland energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2020, to half of statewide energy being renewable by 2030, followed by all by 2040. Following similar legislation in states such as Pennsylvania, local environmentalists are also pushing for a state constitutional amendment that guarantees Marylanders the right to uncontaminated water, breathable air, and a healthy environment.

GOING GREEN

Late last month, Maryland helped form the Transportation and Climate Initiative, a landmark coalition of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, along with Washington, D.C., that aims to set regional limits on emissions from cars, trucks, buses, and other modes of transportation. The agreement aims to recognize the role of transportation in climate change and to create a regional policy that would cap and reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, through initiatives such as new bike lanes, improved public transit, and zero-emission vehicles. In similar news, Maryland utility companies have just received approval to install more than 5,000 electric vehicle charging stations throughout the state.

CLEAN WATERS

Just weeks after the Trump administration announced plans to rollback protections for some of the nation’s waterways, Maryland, along with five other Chesapeake Bay watershed states and Washington, D.C., received $13.1 million in grants for environmental projects, including water quality improvement and wildlife habitat, from the Environmental Protection Agency and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Maryland received approximately $5.9 million of these funds for environmental efforts, many of which include farmland runoff reduction, the largest source of pollution in the estuary.

EC STRONG
This past Sunday, an estimated 8.4 inches of rain fell in less than three hours in Ellicott City, causing another devastating flood less than two years after another catastrophic storm left a path of local destruction in July 2016—then considered a one-in-a-thousand-year event. This time, the waters gutted businesses, submerged cars, and in some cases rose as high as the first-floor ceilings. One Maryland National Guardsman, Sgt. Eddison A. Hermond, lost his life while trying to rescue a local shopkeeper. Buildings are still being assessed for structural damage, but many residents and business owners have vowed to rebuild, as they did after the last storm. Fundraisers and donation drives are now being organized to help the town in its recovery. Located in a valley at the confluence of three substantial streams feeding into the Patapsco River, experts are now assessing the impact of development and climate change on this already flood-prone geography.

GOOD CATCH
In early May, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources released the results of the 2018 winter survey, which shows that the blue crab’s population remains stable. The overall population is down, with increased mortality for adult females due in part by a cold winter but remains near its long-term average. Meanwhile, the number of juveniles has increased by 34 percent. The study suggests that these numbers may lead to a slow start for the harvest in the spring and early summer months, followed by improvements later in the season.

SLIM PICKINGS
At the same time, the Maryland seafood industry has felt the ripple effects of the Trump administration’s immigration stance, with nearly half of the Eastern Shore’s crab-picking houses left with no workers to pick the meat. Since the 1980s, the seasonal workforce has largely consisted of Latin American women who arrive by the hundreds on guest work visas. This year, for the first time, those H-2B visas were awarded by lottery, compared to the traditional first-come, first-served basis, with federal labor officials receiving some 81,000 applications nationwide while only 33,000 were approved. In Maryland, at least 200 applications were denied. With the local crab season nearly two months underway, it is unclear what impact this could have on prices. Some within the industry fear a sharp increase in picked meat prices, due to a decreased supply from the worker shortage, doubled with a decrease price for steamed crabs because of surplus of hard shells that would have otherwise been picked. According to Rep. Andy Harris, the Trump administration has agreed to approve more visas, but no update has been given at this time. Gov. Larry Hogan has requested the federal government take immediate action to increase the cap.

HAPPY SWIMMING
In late May, the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative announced dramatic progress documented in an annual report on the Baltimore Harbor, making the nonprofit’s goal of a swimmable, fishable harbor by 2020 all the more realistic. Thirty-two out of 49 monitoring stations showed substantial improvement, including every stream, with parts of the Jones Falls now considered safe for swimming. They hope that a new $430 million infrastructure upgrade to reduce sewer overflows by 80 percent will also have a dramatic impact by its completion in 2020. An overhaul of the storm water system is also in the works, with an expected completion by 2021. In 2017, 150 tons less trash was collected in the harbor, and bacteria scores have shown signs of improvement as well.

AQUATIC TLC
On Thursday, the National Aquarium opened its new Animal Care and Rescue Center on East Fayette Street in Jonestown. Previously located in an anonymous Fells Point warehouse, the $20 million state-of-the-art facility will now be open for limited tours to the public. Starting this summer, visitors will be allowed a behind-the-scenes look at the aquarium’s 50,000-square-foot space that will provide animal care and veterinary services for up to 5,000 creatures, ranging from fish and sea turtles to stingrays and seals. New features include individually temperature-controlled tanks, specialized lighting that mimics natural sunrises and sunsets, and the ability to produce some 15,000 gallons of saltwater. The space will also be used to fabricate the aquarium’s intricate animal habitats.

SHELL GAME
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and local scientists are working to bring freshwater mussels back to the state’s rivers and streams where the bivalves were once prolific along local waterways. These tiny filter-feeders have all but disappeared, due to pollution, runoff, dams, and the loss of host fish, but efforts are underway to propagate 10,000 baby Eastern Elliptio mussels to be planted in the Patapsco River. Once established, they can live for up to 20 or 30 years. As oysters are being used to help restore the Chesapeake Bay, scientists hope these native mussels will help clean the rebounding river, which runs from central Maryland to Baltimore before flowing into the estuary. Similarly, volunteers from The Great Baltimore Oyster Partnership planted more than 200,000 oysters this month along a protected reef near Fort Carroll on the Patapsco, part of its ongoing mission to plant 5 million oysters on by the year 2020.

FINDING FLIPPER
With increased sightings taking place along local waterways, researchers have confirmed that dolphins are now appearing in the Chesapeake Bay by the hundreds. While such reports are not new for the estuary, with records dating back to the 1800s, it is leading to increased efforts to track the sea mammals and study the role of improved water quality and rebounding fisheries. Last June, researchers launched the Chesapeake Dolphin Watch website for citizens to submit their sightings. They plan to release a mobile app version of the website in the future.

FORWARD THINKING
The Friends School of Baltimore has announced plans to start using 100 percent renewable energy starting by July 1, 2018. Using CleanChoice Energy, the Quaker school will now receive electricity from regional wind and solar farms, with the move being inspired in part by the upper school’s student-faculty Green Club. Committed to environmental stewardship, Friends was named an official Maryland Green School in 2017.

Like Riding a Bike

After a tumultuous first year that included temporary suspension of service, Baltimore Bikeshare is expanding. According to an announcement in its most recent membership newsletter, Bikeshare will add nine locations around the city, bringing the total number of stations to 50. The new locations include two in South Baltimore, two in East Baltimore, and four in Mt. Vernon/Station North. Installation of the new locations, which will also include a new downtown station at the Charles Center metro stop, will begin December 15.

The locations are:

• Charles Center
• Chase Street and St. Paul Street
• 1200 Maryland Avenue
• North Avenue and Maryland Avenue
• St. Paul Street and Madison Street
• Light Street and Ostend Street
• Charles Street and Fort Avenue
• Betty Hyatt Community Park (near Broadway and East Baltimore Street)
• Perkins Homes (1400 Gough Street)  

Maryland Goes Anti Antibiotic 

Maryland farmers raising animals for consumption will have to abide by stricter criteria when administering antibiotics to a member of their flock or herd thanks to a newly enacted state law. Passed by the state legislature earlier this year, the so-called Keep Antibiotics Effective Act, prohibits dosing healthy cattle, hogs, and poultry with broad-spectrum antibiotics in order to promote growth, a common industry practice that scientists warn has contributed to the rise antibiotic resistance. Now, in order to administer an antibiotic to an animal, farmers will need the express approval of a licensed veterinarian. Furthermore, the law outright bans agricultural use of some medically precious antibiotics. In enacting the law, Maryland becomes only the second state (after California) to place limits on antibiotic usage in livestock. 

However, prominent public health officials charge that the law does not go far enough. Firstly, the law does not apply to farming operations classified as small, which, in this case, means farms selling fewer than 200 cattle or pigs, or 60,000 birds per year. Secondly, in a recent oped in The Washington Post, Ellen Silbergeld, a food systems expert at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, notes that while the bill requires veterinarian approval it does not require that veterinarian to confirm the presence “of disease in the herd or flock before animals can be treated with antibiotics.” Given these parameters, she says it would be easy for a cooperative veterinarian to write an unneeded prescription based on risk factors—or the threat of disease—rather than the actual presence of disease. 

“Given the crowded conditions characteristic of factory farms, it would not be difficult for a veterinarian to conclude that every animal stands a reasonable risk of contracting a disease,” she writers. “This situation is analogous to how a pediatrician might conclude that every child who attends day care should take antibiotics on a daily basis throughout childhood simply because they have an increased risk of contracting strep throat.”

First Day Hikes

For those looking to start 2018 off on the right foot (so to speak), the Maryland Department of Natural Resources has posted a list of New Year’s Day hikes at 32 state parks. Hike times, distances, and difficulty levels vary (but most are easy to moderate). Local options include ambles through the historic Jerusalem Mill Village section of Gunpowder Falls State Park, a 2-mile jaunt around North Point State Park, and easy excursions into both the Avalon and McKeldin areas of Patapsco Valley State Park. More information can be found on the DNR’s website.   

Park Places

Earlier this month, it was announced that Baltimore City’s parks received $7.6 million from the state for fiscal year 2018. The funds, which come from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, are earmarked for 10 projects around the city’s green spaces. The largest chunk of funding ($2.4 million) is allocated for the renovation/rebuilding of the Cahill Fitness and Wellness Center in Leakin Park. Other line items include $500,000 for a new artificial turf multipurpose playing field, scoreboard, lighting, fencing, and ADA-compliant pathways in Clifton Park; $300,000 for upgraded lighting, an expanded community garden, and renovated park entrances and pathways in Patterson Park; and $300,000 for improved trailhead access to the Jones Falls Trail in Druid Hill Park. The city also received $1.5 million for general activities such as “continued maintenance, planning, volunteer support, and operations.” Details on the various projects can be found in the city’s grant application, which is available as a PDF here.     

Hopkins Cuts Coal

The Johns Hopkins University is joining the global movement to cut financial ties with fossil fuel companies. On Friday, December 8, the university’s board of trustees voted to withdraw its investment holdings in companies that produce coal for electric power as a major part of their business. The new policy also prohibits future purchases of shares in companies that earn more than 35 percent of their revenue from electricity-generating coal. Studies have shown that burning coal for electricity produces more greenhouse gas emissions per unit than any other fossil fuel. In embracing the new edict, Hopkins joins a growing list of academic institutions, state and local governments, faith-based organizations, nonprofits, and businesses that are jettisoning investments with fossil-fuel-burning energy giants. The University of Maryland announced a similar pledge last year, but its directive went even further, eliminating investment in any coal, oil, and natural gas companies.  

Turtles Rescued 

In our continuing sea turtle coverage, the National Aquarium took in a group of 30 sea turtles in November after the aquatic reptiles fell victim to cold water temperatures off the coast of Cape Cod. The turtles arrived suffering from a range of ailments, including pneumonia and blood chemical imbalances, which can arise when the water temperatures drop rapidly and the turtles become “cold stunned.” Cold stunned season typically last from December through April, but a chilly New England fall caused an early onset. The group of turtles is largest ever taken in by the aquarium, which is a member of the Greater Atlantic Region Stranding Network, a network of zoos, aquariums, and conservation groups along that East Coast that respond to animals in peril. Aquarium employees had fun with their newest charges, naming each turtle after a breakfast food. Resultant names include Waffles, Bacon, Flapjack, and Benedict.      

On a late summer’s morning, the Solomons Island dock seems pulled from a postcard. Cotton-candy cumulus clouds float across the cerulean sky. Below them, the public dock stretches to meet the 52-foot fishing charter boat Sawyer, a tiny ship in the Chesapeake’s great, blue bottle. On the deck stands Steve Vilnit, slim and compact with a tight buzz-cut. It’s a picture-perfect tableau, its only incongruity a group of landlubber chefs and restaurant workers lumbering down the dock in their cargo pants, their faces filled with confused wonder. It seems a certainty that one or all of them will miss a step and stumble into the water, but Vilnit extends a smile and a ropey arm and, bracing one foot against the boat’s gunnel, helps pull them safely aboard.

Helping chefs board boats has become a big part of Vilnit’s job. Three years ago, Vilnit started organizing chef trips on the Chesapeake, and since that time he’s taken more than 700 chefs out on the water. You see, he’s trying to save the bay and, strange as it may sound, convincing people to eat its fish is the best way he’s found to do it.

Vilnit graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in marine affairs and a goal of helping the waters he loved, but after college he found himself working for a seafood wholesaler. It was a good job, but it just didn’t feel right. “I went to school to save live fish,” he says, “and I [was] selling dead ones.” So four years ago, he went to work with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). As the DNR’s fisheries marketing director, it’s his job to protect Maryland fisheries and the watermen who work them.

There is a profound symbiosis between Marylanders and the bay. Just look at a map and you’ll see the Chesapeake is its center, but it also forms the foundation of our local culture. The town of Crisfield, the Annapolis City Dock, and the Inner Harbor were built, literally, on oyster shells, the squandered bounty of Maryland’s once-thriving seafood industry. True, rockfish, crabs, and oyster populations are far below what they once were, but seafood remains a $50-million Maryland industry. About 5,500 Maryland watermen still work the bay, while untold more fix their boats, pick their crabs, shuck their oysters, and drive the trucks that deliver their product to market. The bay remains one of the state’s top employers.

For Vilnit, the best way to protect those jobs and those centuries-old traditions is to sell Maryland seafood and convince industry insiders that buying local is important. So, inspired by the farm-to-table movement, he created True Blue, a program that certifies and labels restaurants serving Maryland blue crab.

True Blue makes it easy for consumers to buy local: Just check the website for a list of True Blue-certified restaurants and retailers or go to its map to find the nearest certified Maryland crab. According to Jack Brooks, owner of the 124-year-old J.M. Clayton Company, Maryland’s oldest crab-picking house and a frequent stop on Vilnit’s itinerary, the program is working. “The True Blue program has been just phenomenal for the Maryland seafood industry and watermen,” says Brooks, whose great-great grandfather opened Clayton in 1890. “There’s been an increase in sales, more demand. It’s certainly been a big boost to the local economy. It’s just been a win-win for the watermen and for the processors and restaurants, too.”

“The True Blue Program has been just phenomenal for the Maryland seafood industry . . .”

Buoyed by True Blue’s success, Vilnit launched the Maryland Oyster Pledge, a similar program promoting local, sustainable oyster farming or “aquaculture,” as it’s known in industry parlance. Vilnit even helped launch invasive-species cook-offs to help control snakehead and blue catfish populations. His work promoting the non-native, yet delicious, fish has helped create a commercial market for the pests, which helps control their spread while providing a boost to struggling watermen.

Of course, Vilnit realized these programs weren’t enough on their own. Restaurants operate on razor-thin margins, so convincing chefs and restaurateurs to buy Maryland crab instead of its cheap Chinese and Indonesian rivals is an uphill battle. Vilnit believed that if he could get chefs out on the water, have them meet the people who catch the fish, who harvest the oysters, who pick and pack the crab, then he could win them over—so he began taking chefs out on the bay.

When he launched the program in 2011, it was a small operation. Vilnit would take three or four chefs out for a day a few times a month, but the program has become wildly popular. Now, during the summer months, the bay advocate goes out on trips twice a week with 35 or 40 passengers from the industry. Some of Baltimore’s top local chefs have been converts. Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen, John Shields of Gertrude’s, Patrick Morrow of Ryleigh’s Oyster, and Chad Wells of Alewife, for instance, have been so inspired by the trips, they’ve taken their cooks and servers along for the ride.

As she glides from the dock, the Sawyer is packed as full as a fisherman’s net with salespeople from local seafood distributors such as J.J. McDonnell’s along with food bloggers, salespeople, chefs, servers, and even dishwashers. They are eager with anticipation as the Sawyer threads her way between pylons and buoys, past the rows of yachts and pleasure boats and elegant birds that rise from their nests to see her off into the bay beyond. As the restaurants and mansions of Solomons shrink astern, the southern horizon grows, stretching wide as the Sawyer makes her way into the heart of the Chesapeake, bound for Hooper’s Island.

Along the way, chefs line the port side snapping photos as the Sawyer eases down a line of crab pots. The Barbara Jean, a traditional Maryland workboat, trolls the line. The captain is an old man with sun-battered skin as tough and loose as a heap of old sailcloth. He pulls and sorts the pots by hand, tossing the little crabs back in the hopes he’ll meet them again once they’ve matured. His first mate, a seagull as big as a Thanksgiving turkey, sits silently on the roof and stares back at the chefs who are beginning to understand what Maryland seafood means. Here, the bay works for a living.

Twenty-five miles and a world away from the Solomons dock, the Sawyer pulls into Hooper’s harbor. There are no pleasure boats when she ties up at the pier, just an old Mack truck, its box painted with a fading crab and the words, “W.T. Ruark & Co. Fishing Creek MD.” Established in 1948, it’s one of Maryland’s 22 remaining crab-picking houses. Up until now, the trip has been a pleasant diversion from the rigors of the restaurant industry. But when the chefs file into the packing room, all of that changes.

In the picking room, a hush falls over the chefs like acolytes in a cathedral.

The smell in the packing room at W.T. Ruark & Co isn’t quite the scent of the sea. It’s the smell of the Chesapeake herself, her heart and her soul. It’s a cold smell that hits high in the nose, it’s clean and sweet, it moves the blood quicker to your heart. Maryland crabmeat is like none other in the world: Even fresh, the doughy Asian crab can’t compare. Though the blue crab ranges from Nova Scotia to Argentina, Maryland’s crabs have the edge for taste and texture. Unlike their cousins from warmer climes, Chesapeake crabs hibernate, giving them a layer of fat that gives their meat its buttery flavor and golden hue. Most blue crabs live in the Atlantic, but Maryland’s blues are sweetened by the bay’s fresh water. And many of Maryland’s picking houses still steam their crabs and pick them by hand. A steamed crab’s meat is firm and flavorful when compared with the boiled mess you get from other states. In the picking room, a hush falls over the chefs like acolytes in a cathedral. Their silence matches that of the pickers hard at work.

Twenty-five pickers work five to a table. Before them sit mountains of freshly steamed crabs free of seasoning. A good picker can pick about 50 to 60 pounds of lump crabmeat in a day. With just a few quick cuts of their knives they open each crab, cutting out six perfect back-fin lumps and two succulent jumbos, toss the claws into a bucket, and move onto the next. “Everybody here has picked a crab,” Vilnit says, gesturing to the chefs, all mesmerized by the picker’s speed. “None of them has done it in 12 seconds.”

The experience sinks in for the chefs. “You have people tell their stories who have been there for 60 years, who pick these crabs by hand, and they’re rocket [fast],” says Wells. The chef has always preferred the distinct flavors of Maryland seafood, but the trips have brought him something more. “This is going to sound strange, but it helped [give] ingredients personality,” he says. “I don’t often leave my kitchen and say, ‘Oh man, I got killer lettuce,’” he says, “but when you see [the crab pickers], you’ll talk about [it] for days.”

Gjerde agrees. “Going out on the trips confirms that we’re doing the right thing,” he says. “We want to help these guys as much as possible. If we lose these last few crab-picking shacks, we’ve lost a lot. If that thread ever snaps, it’s going to be hard to bring it back.” But none of it matters if it doesn’t taste good. Luckily, the Chesapeake delivers. “There’s zero question in my mind that Maryland blue crab is the best,” Gjerde adds.

After experiencing that slice of the past, the chefs cross the little harbor to tour Hooper’s Island Aquaculture, where Chesapeake tradition and the bay’s future mingle. Johnny Shockley, a third-generation Hooper’s Island waterman, saw the way the bay was headed and, with his son, a fourth-generation islander and a marine biologist, began farming Maryland oysters. The gleaming facility is full of sterile tanks and bubbling machines, many designed and built on site by Shockley to raise oysters with mind-boggling precision. The microscopic seeds are started in tanks with perfect levels of minerals and ideal temperatures, and then planted in the bay to continue to grow, and absorb the flavors of the water. The grown oysters, luscious and ready to shuck, are returned to finish growing in tanks where salinity can be controlled to tolerances measured in parts per thousand. “[After] every trip, I get new orders the next day,” Shockley says with pride.

And in the end, that is why Vilnit is out here. The Maryland watermen who work the bay, like the Chesapeake herself, are struggling for survival. “These guys have a really tough job,” he says. “I’m promoting an industry that’s sustainable, that’s local, that’s bringing jobs back to the state. You may not care if the crabmeat you’re eating is local, but these guys out on the water? They’re the ones who get hurt.”

On the trip back to Solomons, Dave Schauber, the Sawyer’s captain, looks out over the deceptively calm waters. “There used to be 20 picking houses on Hooper’s Island, now there are six,” he says. “The watermen are the ones who are taking it on the chin. All these guys, we’re in the same boat. We’re struggling. You gotta buy Maryland.”