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Leaders of Chesapeake Bay states and the District sign new pact to improve bay’s health

Government leaders in the Chesapeake Bay watershed on Monday signed a broad agreement to restore the health of its waters, as the blue crab and oyster populations continue to fluctuate and scientists complain about toxins that are changing the sex of fish.

The Chesapeake Watershed Agreement is the third signed since the 1980s by the six watershed states — Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York — and the District.

Third time's the charm, they say.

Unlike in the previous agreements, the governors and mayor who signed it vowed to go beyond limiting the amount of pollution that rolls into bay tributaries from cities and farms. They pledged to investigate the effects of chemical contamination and toxins, look at how land use impedes the bay’s improvement and study the threat of sea-level rise.

They have addressed toxics in the Bay previously, but not to the extent that they have focused on eutrophication from excess nutrients. No point in worrying if the fish and oysters are being poisoned by organics and heavy metals if they won't grow in the anoxic waters.

And yet another study (or 100) of the not particularly exciting  rate of sea level rise in the Chesapeake: