The Chesapeake Bay is one of the largest and most productive estuaries in the United States. The fish and shellfish harvest in 1979 totaled 284.5 × 106 kg. Although historical measures of stock size are less than optimum, commercial landings and indices of reproductive success indicate declines in several species of anadromous and semi-anadromous finfish. Causes for the declines may be due to point and non-point sources of water pollution, acid deposition or overfishing. The EPA Chesapeake Bay Study identified a number of major environmental problems in the Bay but the exact linkages between environmental problems and fish stocks have not been made.

No abstract