Warm, Dry Winter Bringing Chesapeake To Life Early
Experts: Fewer Crabs Died From Cold This Year
Updated: 9:16 AM EDT Apr 11, 2012
Crabs are crawling out of the mud in the Chesapeake Bay earlier this spring, and that's only the beginning of changes expected from a warm, dry winter.Lynn Fegley, deputy director of fisheries at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said the mild winter will make everything a little different this year.Scientists are waiting to see if algae blooms are worse this year, and watermen say rockfish could spawn sooner. Bird watchers said many bird species are arriving one to three weeks early.Thomas Miller, of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Studies, said one thing is certain: fewer crabs died of cold this winter.Nearly a third of the bay's crabs were lost last winter to cold. Miller estimated less than 5 percent succumbed this winter.
Crabs are crawling out of the mud in the Chesapeake Bay earlier this spring, and that's only the beginning of changes expected from a warm, dry winter.
Lynn Fegley, deputy director of fisheries at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said the mild winter will make everything a little different this year.
Scientists are waiting to see if algae blooms are worse this year, and watermen say rockfish could spawn sooner. Bird watchers said many bird species are arriving one to three weeks early.
Thomas Miller, of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Studies, said one thing is certain: fewer crabs died of cold this winter.
Nearly a third of the bay's crabs were lost last winter to cold. Miller estimated less than 5 percent succumbed this winter.