Chesapeake underwater grasses decline for a second year Edwin Remsberg / VWPics/VWPics via AP Images A tube, transporting oxygen and heated water, is tethered to a diver from the side of a boat, Wittman, Maryland. (Edwin Remsberg / VWPics via AP Images) By: The Associated Press and last updated 2021-08-02 15:59:12-04 ANNAPOLIS, Md. â The Chesapeake Bay Program says acreage of underwater grasses in the bay shrank for the second year in a row last year. The Daily Press reports that aerial surveys showed more than 62,000 acres of the underwater grasses that serve as a home to small blue crabs and many fish.