Outdoors Maryland; 609

Nearly a century ago when the graceful Skipjack Katherine first began dredging the Chesapeake Bay waters. The world's richest oyster trove seemed inexhaustible. Oysters were so plentiful in the late 1800s that some fifteen hundred a shallow draft sailing vessels supplied the Chesapeake waters. The catch from the Crisfield area alone could fill 30 boxcars in a single day. But today that Catherine is one of only a dozen remaining skip Jacks and she's struggling to survive. After a grueling 12 hours on the water the boat returns to port this day near the end of the oyster fishing season. She carries just 70 bushels of oysters. Barely half her legal limit. Now Russell dye is a fourth generation Skipjack captain wonders how long he can uphold the family tradition. When I first bought this gift Jack was. 20 officers and top down river so you could work six days a week.

And. The crew made. Good money. They both made money. The lower part of they say can't point down mostly who died in the bay that forced us to come to the upper bay. I hope something will change or you will start. Thriving again in a little part of the day. Lullabye But right now it doesn't look it habitat destruction and overfishing started the decline causing Marilyn harvests to plunge from 5 million bushels a year. In the 1880s to 2 million bushels a century later with the crushing blow was dealt by two deadly parasites called SSX and durum Ohio which ravaged the remaining oyster populations in the mid 1980s. Now harvests rarely exceed 200000 bushels a year. Only 1 percent of historic harvest levels and many oystermen are leaving the business.

OK Art. We had as many as up to about five to 6000 workmen back in the 60s and 70s. And probably in the past three or four years we're probably less than a thousand probably over to five hundred shuckers and Packers have fallen on hard times too. It's affected us a great deal because we've. Just not had the worst history. Even at the height of the season. They're working four days a week. That's when it was the best. And. Then after that when the dropped off. They were down to. One or two days a week. When there's. No work. I just don't know how to survive. But there's more at stake than a traditional way of life. We tend and we have historically tended to look at oysters primarily for their economic value but we've underestimated their ecological value. Oysters are probably the most important animal in Chesapeake Bay because

oysters feed on excess algae. They can dramatically improve water quality as a simple demonstration shows. We've set up two aquariums side by side one that has about 100 oysters in it. We added the same amount of algae that we've grown here in the hatchery and we're simply watching the oysters remove the algae from the water. Within two hours the oysters completely clear the tank. Scientist Roger Noul worries that with the oysters decline the bay is losing its natural filtering system when there are abundant supply of oysters in the bay. They could fill the bay waters on the water every three to four days but today with the depleted populations that we have in Chesapeake it takes over 300 days to filter the same amount of water and so the ecological impact has really increased enormously. Scientists haven't yet found a way to stem the two diseases that are devastating the oyster population.

Write both of them are caused by protozoan pathogens which are transmitted through the water apparently from moisture oyster and both of which are lethal for the oyster. The Department of Natural Resources regularly samples oyster reefs or bars to track the progress of the diseases which are not harmful to people. In the lower bay area sex and darm all claim most oysters before they reached the minimum three inch harvest size or Sands and that is that. Given their size died of disease maybe last year and that's pretty much what we see in these disease areas where we have lots of boxes not so many lives but the diseases are less destructive in the upper bay where salinity is lower. So to preserve the fishery every year the DNR moves young oysters up to fresher

waters. The process starts with planting oyster shells in areas where natural reproduction is high. Baby oysters known as spam. Attached to or set on the shelves. Where. Plant in them in this area is great. This is an area where Additionally we get a high spot said. Hopefully we're going to get a set on the shelves and be able to move them into oper bay areas where we won't have the impact of the disease and they'll be able to grow to market size. Scientists however worry that this oyster movement spreads disease around the bay. By 1993 the parasites took such a toll that environmentalists and Waterman two groups often opposed agreed to forge a long term plan to save the Chesapeake oyster. The group proposed setting aside oyster recovery areas in six major tributaries where researchers could test ways to rebuild populations in the chop tank.

Scientists are studying the effect of planting disease free oysters spawn at the horn point hatchery. We'd like to try and do is figure out a way to not increase the intensity or the amount of disease organisms in a certain area and that means simply moving sea that doesn't have those organisms in it as the hatchery spawned oysters. Americorp workers bagged shells to which the larval oysters would attach. Once they get to be about thumbnail size the bags are picked back up and we move them over top of the oyster bar. Open the bags and drop the animals overboard. Students from Cambridge South Dorchester high helped in the effort transplanting five million tiny oysters to the recovery area. Their scientists are trying to see what factors affect the oysters survival.

Monitor the water quality constantly so that we can understand when the animals die if they die. When things went into making that happen. Results from an earlier planning are promising. We put about 2.5 million test without letting. You. See about 50 percent survival rate today which is good. Hopefully at the end of three or four years we understand a lot more about how we can produce in an efficient way. Other researchers meanwhile are trying to learn more about the diseases and breed more resistant oyster's strains. These diseases are going to be with us for as long as we have oysters. Will we have more tolerant oysters oysters that can survive and grow. Probably yes. Given enough time that Russell dies is among those who wonder how long they can wait for a turnaround in a rope before her and forces keep dying off. As of right now I'll probably get in the phase and paint her out away

and fall for someone to see what happens next here. Peter Gaither is a sunny unincorporated Carroll County town in the heart of Maryland. It has pleasant homes and an atmosphere that reminds you of a bygone era. Steam driven trains used to stop here to take on water. And still pass through town. Residents might be living an idyllic life if it wasn't for one thing. Bats Well those baths are terrible. They are nasty they are nasty Spungen. They really on it just a pest. Hundreds of them infest the local church built in the early 1900s private homes of the same vintage. And what was once the one room schoolhouse which dates back to the late 1800s. For two years I not been able to sit on my front porch because baths are behind the shutters. Just one day my husband was getting the and

love grandson was standing out of the yard T-shirt on and he was hosing had the shutter raised and was hosing down on these bats it just came out that Chuck is just like that. I'm not kidding. He had the original bat shirt. Believe me gator provides good habitat for bats. There's plenty of water nearby plenty of insects to eat and good roosting places. That these bats insist on living in Gaither has a fair share of the residents up in arms. They don't give a hoot about supposed benefits of having bats around. People say Oh but they'll keep the bugs damn well that's not so. The people are being bitten. Maybe Gaither residents are still being bitten by bugs but that's not the bats fault. It's believed an adult bat can eat at least half its weight in insects every night. Upset gay residents are unmoved. I like to do though now. Like trying it on the map. That. Thing spam.

I'll. Say we really don't like them and their ways by races they won't run into you. But I've walked up that word I don't believe that the revulsion and fear that these gay residents feel for Bache is not unique. That's have been associated for centuries with the devil which is the dark forces. No wonder they are despised scorned avoided. But some people including some gay residents have more amiable feelings for bats and had no idea that it was loaded with bats in the attic so to speak. So it was one evening we had come down to make some repairs and we looked up and we just saw William rising from that time Mike contact or find out what we should do NOT to kill the bats but had to exclude

them from the property. Well I was really sorry when I first called to tell me about the pony that she had. If you were interested in getting them out of the House. Dana limbered administers Marilyns newly established bat box program. They probably should put a 2 or even 3 year old in the water and on Kathy's property over there. I would say put two here maybe one across the street on her property and put one on yours because there are other bats in the neighborhood that might be on to the track. We are recommending that extrusions start Cumbre first. We think that. Young are flying and have matured enough to the point where we have. Raised the amount of health of aging has done a lot of work has shown that boxers can work with people who just get screwed over. What we really don't know if we just

put up boxful or get bad habitat whether. They get the pattern. This is probably an adult Poly's because they get about 8 grams. Very unhappy about being caught. It looks like beautiful things. And actually the wings feel a little like silk and their fur feels like velvet before the bats were excluded from the old school house. Dr. Jerry Wilkinson of the University of Maryland and some of his graduate students visited there one evening to tag mats and take wing samples for DNA testing. Interesting spectators watched as they were. It's thought that they have very high flight ability. In other words they will definitely travel back to off families. So that's one of the things that we hope to find out that were abandoned by students find out

that they come back with any other band. Bats have mesmerized people around the world for centuries. They are the only mammal capable of sustained flight. Some species live for 20 years the record age of a recaptured bat is 31 years and they are everywhere except in the Arctic Zone and certain remote oceanic islands during the day they rest in a variety of roosting places. A few species of bats live alone but most live in colonies that may vary from small groups to enormous assemblages that could number in the millions. Most bats are nocturnal. That has many advantages such as the greatly reduced competition for instance protection from overheating and dehydration. And almost complete freedom from attack. I was a little bit uncomfortable first when I began working with that. My first. Exposure was in Panama. I went on a field trip and I was the

one assigned to wait at the mouth of the cave with some equipment while some others went into the cave and stirred up lots of different bats. And they came flying out of the cave because they were disturbed right at me when I just stood still and not a single bat collided with me. Dr. Cindy Moss does research on bats in her lab located at the College Park campus of the University of Maryland. Mosses concentrated her research on the bats ability to find and define objects using sound not sight. While we do a number of different kinds of studies with the goal of piecing together information using different methods. So some of our methods are behavioral. And you saw some of the experiments we're doing with bats some of them with the bats flying and intercepting insects and so on with the bats discriminating between different sonar targets and the goals of these studies

are one to understand what it can discriminate among different sonar targets and how the bat may build up information auditory information over time to develop a three dimensional percept of the world bats that navigate by echolocation send pulsed high frequency sounds that reflect back echoes to Abaci ears from surrounding surfaces indicating position relative distance and even the character of objects in its environment. In this sense Bache see acoustically. For humans vision is a dominant sensory modality and we use our vision all the time to maneuver through the world. So what we learn from the behavioral studies as well as the studies of the underlying neural mechanisms can help us understand basic questions of organization of the nervous system and how that

is used to guide behavior and perhaps ultimately we can apply this knowledge to assist individuals for whom this has not develop normally or where it is broken down through disease. There are many unknowns about bad habits. They live in a world that is often removed from our own. But just possibly bad habits. Cody the oldest first new knowledge that will improve the lives of all around us. I've been wondering if all this is happening. Skin. We're starting from nothing. Having stirred in your system we haven't yet identified what went wrong in the system. And since all these and the hour just before dawn doubts and uncompleted details can weigh heavily on the mind. David Secord and his team of graduate

students from the seas Chesapeake biological laboratory. Are making last minute adjustments for release later in the day of 3000 Atlantic sturgeon. This is a team effort. The DNR and the National Biological service are part of the release team as well. Everyone is nervous. Expectant. Because every bit of food in the bowl was held in a bathtub because of the very little of metal. Now we have a picture of him so this is the third and this is what we always want to be a place for. Problem is it's limited. So when it's cloudy there's been a deliberate we put them in the bag. Have have a good reason for doing that other than my own curiosity. David Secord believes he has good reason to help restore Atlantic sturgeons into the Chesapeake Bay system.

They were at risk throughout their range and it's believed they will be entirely gone from the Chesapeake Bay by the end of this century. If something is not done to stop their rapid decline. To Pommes were immediate Pongal certain arrestors. One is. In sturgeons grow survive. Second. And really we need to populate Bay if necessary. These Atlantic sturgeon come from adults that were trapped in nets on the Hudson River further north in their range during their spawning season. One fertile females are found excitement runs high. Minor surgery on the females is quickly performed to harvest her valuable eggs at the northeast fisheries center in Lamar Pennsylvania by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel. Mixing the eggs with the Milky sperm collected earlier completes the task. With luck young will hatch out young that will be used to replenish sturgeon

throughout their range up and down the East Coast. No one knows how often the long lived fish spawns but they certainly don't spawn every year and they don't replace themselves very quickly. It'll take a long time for the already depleted sturgeon to recover. That's why these young men are so precious. They represent the first step in a very long term restoration program. I thought we're going to make history. It's the fifth tank in that water park. Live and will grow in your face. But it was wasn't very long after that that we named a raft now. Then suddenly it became They became part of our family. The birds that I countered it will let you in and pick them up. Those behaviors may have not served them well. Historically over fishing. A small group of press and interested spectators watched as the sturgeon are released.

It's an historic moment. In the 19th century sturgeon were widely harvested. At the peak. Seven million pounds of sturgeon were taken in one year. Then there was a huge crash. The Atlantic Sturgeon is no longer harvested commercially on the East Coast. In the Chesapeake Bay there has been no known reproduction for almost 20 years. The release goes without a hitch. All of the 3000 sturgeon that were released were tagged most had wired tags 12 had sonic tags designed to send out a sound beacon for a 60 day period. The technology has been used on other species but never on a sturgeon. Those with the sonic tags are the ones Secours team primes themselves to track. The number on at once so it's not puttering around that poke fun at the bill but by the way ever are a lot about it.

Are we going to know where we're going to catch. We're going to find them. We'll get to the river. And it's it's a big river of America as well as the river like on a boat with thousands more. It's the big river. Hopefully we were hoping that here are fine with us. Who. Their bodies. Atlantic sturgeon are bottom feeders. That makes it likely that they're more susceptible to increased nutrient loads and loss of oxygen. They also require a hard bottom on which to lay their eggs. All of these conditions were in short supply before conservation measures were put in place. If sturgeons can be successfully reintroduced they will demonstrate that these costly water quality restrictions are paying off. Not well thanks ones that way and maybe we passed the other one with a ladder up a little right here. Really bad light.

It's all kind of big deal with the rocket. Attacks have a range of a kilometer. We're in the boat. And within a kilometer and direct from the river around here that what we planned here for your individual home where we know we have this number seven horrible. Then. The challenge how folks will have to remember their. But when the tide is moving the bird is from you. So we try to on how we get stronger and stronger. We might pass it and come back a little bit might possibly have a record finally when we're here that says no other way around where. We're from around the world. We have learned a lot. We have learned that in spurts and

earthbound river it's like fresh water. So what we have discovered that they move with Hi. Hi. Then they move the time out. Now up or down and we wind up a bit and they grow that one golden sturgeon. Sturgeon Atlantic sturgeon like salmon Shad and rockfish. Do not remain where they were hatched when they are about five. They move out into salt water ranging widely up and down the East Coast adults return to a freshwater environment to spawn. We don't know if they're going to come back for them. Whether or not they're going to want to go to western Pennsylvania. It's a concern. What's going to happen. Not only I don't have any but I'm not sure what a rough road.

We're give it one more try to work up the river. I swear I could do that with getting. Out like we're getting farther and farther away. Right Direction. And. The weather doesn't always cooperate when these researchers set out to track sturgeon but all involved persist even though no sturgeon are recaptured during the early days of their search. In fact over the entire summer they succeed in recapturing a sturgeon twice that's enough to fuel the hope that restoration of the Atlantic sturgeon in the Chesapeake Bay can become a reality. Source water sturgeon that's an important work on the ball. We work where our ancestors from. Why do we have an opportunity now. Well rough rough Knepper to

say OK we've done our part that we're making we're making progress across the water. Now let's move on. Let's bring. Back. Now. To see. What. The

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