MDE Shellfish is our newest Tier 3 group!

The CMC is excited to announce the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) Shellfish monitoring program has been approved as Tier 3 for their 2019 monitoring season! Maryland’s bacteriological monitoring of shellfish growing waters started in the early 1970’s and it has grown to over 700 stations throughout the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. All stations are monitored for fecal coliform bacteria, but many stations also have surface and bottom water quality readings for dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, and salinity.

Because the Maryland Department of the Environment’s (MDE) field scientists are monitoring usually twice a month, they decided to add profile data for temperature, dissolved oxygen, and salinity at 51 of the established water quality monitoring stations. This data can be used by MDE to improve dissolved oxygen modeling efforts and assist the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) in filling data gaps, assist with attainment goals, provide enhanced temporal and spatial intensive data. This data will help to improve water quality mapping and information that supports decision making by CBP partners focused on the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. We are excited about the additional data set being collected by MDE!

Photo Credit: Maryland Department of the Environment