Managing Development and Chesapeake Bay s Estuarine Fish Habitat Image and or Graphic Fisheries James H. Uphoff Jr. and Margaret M. McGinty Maryland Fisheries Service Funded through USFWS Federal Aid
Maryland Fisheries Service has been looking at development and fish habitat dynamics in Chesapeake Bay Goals: Fish management strategies that reflect development s impact Guidance for planning agencies Public support for watershed conservation
Baltimore MD subestuaries studied 2001-2011 Washington DC Spring spawning & larval habitat: egglarval collections. Summer habitat: Juvenile-adult & DO
Focus is on iconic managed species
Presence-absence (P-A) is main measure of fish response to development Ecologically meaningful Statistically robust Understandable Cost-effective Larval collections designed for P-A Convert juvenile-adult counts for each species to P-A (frequent 0 s, clumped distributions) Use counts for total N & species richness
40 City 30 Suburb 20 Rural 10 ca rs i m le.c St Co en ts s ile M ut h So rn ve Se th y ag o M lti m or e 0 Ba Impervious % Impervious surface measures intensity of development
Volunteers conducted anadromous fish stream surveys during 2005-2010 to explore development s effect. Three watersheds were sampled.
Percent of stream samples with herring eggs and larvae falls with impervious surface Percent with herring 80% 60% 40% 20% r 2 = 0.59 Mattawoman Trend Bush Piscataway 0% 6 8 10 12 14 16 Percent impervious
Proportion of samples (95% CI) with anadromous fish eggs or larvae in developed and undeveloped portions of watershed Proportion 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 Bush River 0 Tidal 5% impervious Tidal 13% impervious Fluvial 13% impervious
Estuarine yellow perch larvae were sampled with plankton nets towed from boats 7 mm
Proportion of tows with yellow perch larvae declines with development in tidal-fresh and brackish subestuaries (fresh and brackish as categories in regression) Proportion w/ larvae 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 R 2 = 0.61 P_fresh P_brackish Predict_fresh Predict brackish 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 Percent Impervious Surface
Early larvae feeding success on zooplankton in 2010 & 2011 declines with development Mean fullness index 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 Range = 0 to 1 Index = 0, no food Index = 1, completely full 2010 2011 0 0 5 10 15 Percent impervious
Summer habitat: habitat occupation and dissolved oxygen
Mean summer bottom DO and percent impervious for fresh and brackish tributaries. Mean Bottom DO mg/l 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Fresh Brackish Linear (Brackish ) Linear (Fresh ) r 2 = 0.66, P < 0.0001 0 5 10 15 20 % Impervious Surface r 2 = 0.47, P = 0.014
Proportion of bottom trawls with adult white perch degrades by 15% impervious in fresh-tidal or brackish, but how you get there differs. Proportion w/ perch 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 r 2 = 0.91, P = 0.0001 r 2 = 0.35, P = 0.0006 0 5 10 15 20 % Impervious Surface Brackish Fresh Predict Fresh Linear (Brackish)
Case study (1989-2002 & 2009-2010) suggests freshtidal fish community threshold. Abundance of all species in summer trawl samples collapses. 140 120 Mattawoman Creek Subestuary Geometric mean 100 80 60 40 20 0 6 7 8 9 10 11 Percent impervious
Severn River yellow perch fishery & development, 1950-2009 20 17 14 11 8 5 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 % Impervious Surface 2 Egg hatch > 80% Lethal salinity Hypoxia PCB s? Fishery decline noted Egg hatch < 10% Fishery closed. Reopened
Reopened - egg hatching too low for recovery Maryland threshold SSB per recruit = 25%; target = 35% Current / past egg hatch = current SSB per recruit at F=0 Best case = 12% Threshold can t be reached Occasional recolonization from outside provides fishery
Perch encounter multiple developmentrelated stressors Watershed Road salt Contaminants Sediment Nutrients Flow change Detritus Streams Low DO / high nutrients Contaminants Altered food web? Endocrine disruptors? Harvest Tidal-fresh estuary Salinity Zooplankton Contaminants Estuary Low DO / high nutrients Altered food web? Estuary Estuary Low DO / high nutrients Altered food web?
It s not just local or small scale: MD and VA supply most of the coast s striped bass National resource US value estimate - $6.9 billion in & 68,000 jobs MD value estimate $700 million & 8,200 jobs Harvest coordinated among states Development around spawning areas managed locally
USGS. projections of development pressure in the Bay watershed and striped bass spawning areas (circled) Development Pressure Low Moderate High Very high
Impervious surface reference points < 5% impervious - harvest restrictions & stocking; preserve watershed 5-10% - option to decrease harvest & stocking to compensate. Preserve & fix watershed >10% - preserve & fix watershed. Managing harvest & stocking not sustainable strategies. >15% - watershed & fishery solutions limited
Planning and zoning is fisheries management!!! Development s stressors too extensive for fisheries managers to go it alone Local development plans are a proactive approach to managing land use and fish habitat New DNR effort state resource managers work with local planners to protect fish habitat (Charles County Comprehensive Plan and Mattawoman Creek Watershed)
Planning and zoning is fish conservation! Protect highly important resource areas (spawning areas, fisheries, high diversity) Cap development in some rural watersheds Reduce automobile dependency Increase densities in existing urban areas Stormwater utilities & tax incentives Fixing is more expensive than prevention We can t find examples of fixes that worked for fish