This was the worst year since I moved here 13 years ago for fishing. Bottom fish were very scattered, I caught few Spanish Mackerel, rockfish were not abundant and a bit scrawny and there were few spot in the Little Wicomico. Yes, water quality continues to degrade. Why? Simple, the major source of pollution, inefficient agricultural fertilization, is not being addressed meaningfully because of the wealth and power of the agricultural lobby. Until there is serious pressure on elected officials to impose regulations, nothing will change. The land application of animal waste annually (poultry litter, sewage sludge and manure) in Virginia causes almost twice as much nitrogen pollution as all the septic systems in Virginia. Remember that when you are told to upgrade your septic system and that you must pay for it.
Lynton Land On Jan 1, 2012, at 8:41 AM, Mary & Porter Kier wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: Mary & Porter Kier To: Audubon Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2011 3:47 PM Subject: ChangeToday we have 20 red-breasted mergansers and 25 hooded on our Glebe Creek. When we moved here 26 years ago we had hundreds of buffleheads, many goldeneyes and canvas backs. We have not had any of these ducks in 3-4 years. We assume that the mergansers can live here on the fish, and the absence of all the other ducks is because of a lack of grass. We used to have oysters growing on our pilings and many rays and otters. This is evidence of the great degradation that has occurred in the Bay in just a few years. We are interested if others have observed the same changes ---Mary and Porter Kier
