Aaron Bever News Today

Chesapeake Bay areas with low oxygen levels, which can kill aquatic life, are predicted to be smaller for summer 2022 — if weather holds out.

VIMS dead-zone report card on conditions in the Chesapeake Bay indicates that the overall severity of hypoxia was slightly higher in 2021.

The annual report of “dead-zone” conditions in the Chesapeake Bay from William & Marys Virginia Institute of Marine Science indicates the overall severity of hypoxia was slightly higher than usual during 2021, due largely to the relatively early onset and late termination of low-oxygen waters.

The Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal is a weekly print newspaper and online news source serving Virginias Middle Peninsula.

 E-Mail Credit: © Aileen Devlin/Virginia Sea Grant. The excess carbon dioxide responsible for global warming also increases the acidity of seawater, challenging the growth and survival of oysters and other shellfish. A team led by researchers at William & Marys Virginia Institute of Marine Science is now helping oyster growers and restoration specialists better manage their future responses to acidification in the Chesapeake Bay. The team, funded by the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program, is l...