JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Hundreds of millions of dollars for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is in jeopardy under President Trump's proposed federal budget. As NPR's Scott Neuman reports, this comes as the nation's largest estuary, which has long been plagued by environmental challenges, is showing tentative signs of a comeback.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE HUMMING)
SCOTT NEUMAN, BYLINE: The sun is barely up when Bill Scerbo and his deck hand drop the dock lines and shove off from their home port in Shady Side, Maryland. They're heading out to check crab traps in the shallow water where the West and Rhode Rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay. For Scerbo, this has been the start to most mornings for the past 45 years. During that time, he's seen the catch decline.
BILL SCERBO: There were a lot more crabs in the '90s, I'd say, late '80s. There are more predators in the bay, but you also have - climate's changing.
NEUMAN: Claws raised in defense, two-decent sized males fall out of a trap and slip around on a stainless steel table. Today, it's just two or three per haul, occasionally four, but sometimes none. Scerbo's meagre catch for the day, though, belies a bigger picture. Overall, the Chesapeake is on a rebound. Hilary Harp Falk is president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the restoration and protection of the watershed.
HILARY HARP FALK: I grew up in Baltimore City, where you used to see just trash floating everywhere, where you weren't even contemplating swimming.
NEUMAN: In its latest annual report card, the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science gave the bay a C for overall health, a slight dip from last year's C-plus, but still an improvement over the string of Ds from years past. Crab numbers are projected to fall again this year, too, partly due to invasive predators like blue catfish that feed on juvenile crabs and partly due to habitat loss tied to climate change. One bright spot is bay oysters. Almost wiped out in the 1980s, they've tripled their numbers in the past 20 years.
FALK: We've seen significant changes, improvements in local water quality. We've seen oysters coming back, underwater grasses in places where we had not seen them for a long time. People are seeing dolphins all around the bay now.
NEUMAN: About a decade ago, a Chesapeake Bay Foundation study estimated that the estuary generates over $100 billion annually for the six states within its watershed. Yet efforts to curb pollution have faced persistent challenges, from agricultural runoff to untreated wastewater discharged by towns along the bay.
And under the proposed White House budget, key sources of federal support could get cut. Large portions of that would go to the Chesapeake, including part of the roughly $3.5 billion for clean water projects through the Environmental Protection Agency and hundreds of millions more in rural water and wastewater grants from the USDA. Other agencies would also scale back or eliminate programs that benefit the bay. Here's Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: These are all essential pieces, especially in providing protection to habitat and doing very important scientific work.
NEUMAN: NPR reached out to the potentially affected agencies. Some didn't respond. Others, like the Department of Interior, would only say that they support the president's budget bill.
PATRICK HUDSON: So every one of these small buoys here marks 10 cages on the line. And then the big buoy, that big red one down there, marks the end of the line.
NEUMAN: Patrick Hudson runs an aquaculture farm in southern Maryland. It's one of a handful on the bay that have stepped in to fill the demand from restaurants and grocery stores for fresh bay oysters. Hudson's operation supplies his own restaurant in Baltimore and ships as far west as Chicago.
HUDSON: Wow, look at that one. That sort of fingernail growth growing out and nice beautiful cup, nice white shell. Yeah, this is what you want to see.
NEUMAN: The water around Hudson's farm is unusually clear for the Chesapeake. That's because oysters are filter feeders. They eat algae that causes dead zones. So the farm attracts a lot of species that are vital to the bay's survival.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE RUNNING)
NEUMAN: Back on Bill Scerbo's boat, he shows me a tiny crab hauled up on one of the last traps of the day. It's about the size of a half dollar and way too small to keep. It's this year's model, he says, which bodes well for next year.
Scott Neuman, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARI LENNOX SONG, "GET CLOSE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.