The concept of ""shifting baselines""'changes in historical reference points used in environmental assessments'illuminates a foundational challenge when evaluating the health of ecosystems and seeking to restore degraded systems. In this important book, Victor S. Kennedy examines the problem of shifting baselines for one of the most productive aquatic resources in the world: the Chesapeake Bay.
Kennedy explains that since the 1800s, when the Bay area was celebrated for its aquatic bounty, harvest baselines have shifted downward precipitously. Over the centuries, fishers and hunters, supported by an extensive infrastructure of boats, gear, and processing facilities, overexploited the region's fish, crustaceans, terrapin, and waterfowl, squandering a profound resource. Beginning with the colonial period and continuing through the twentieth century, Kennedy gathers an unparalleled collection of scientific resources and eyewitness reports by colonists, fishers, managers, scientists, and newspaper reporters to create a comprehensive examination of the Chesapeake's environmental history.
Focusing on the relative productivity and health of its fisheries and wildlife and highlighting key species such as shad, oysters, and blue crab, Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay helps readers understand the remarkable extent of the Bay's natural resources in the past so that we can we begin to understand what has changed since, and why. Such knowledge can help illustrate the Bay's potential fertility and stimulate efforts to restore this pivotal maritime system's ecological health and productivity.
Preface Acknowledgments Units and Terms Used in the Text A Note on Anecdotal and Quantitative Harvest Statistics
Chapter 1. Shifting Baselines in the Chesapeake Bay, the Immense Protein Factory Chapter 2. Why the Chesapeake Bay Was So Productive and What's Changed Chapter 3. The Spring Fishery for Shad and River Herring: A Hectic Scramble Chapter 4. The World's Greatest Oyster Fishery: An Expansion, Then a Crash Chapter 5. Diamond-backed Terrapins: From Pig Food to Gourmet Delight to Protected Species Chapter 6. Uncontrolled Market Hunting of Waterfowl: A Mass Slaughter Chapter 7. Sturgeon: A Prehistoric High Jumper Fell from Memory Chapter 8. Blue Crabs Hung On Chapter 9. Have Diminished Animal Abundances Remodeled the Bay's Food Webs? Afterword
Appendix. Fishing Gear and Methods Further Reading Notes References Index
""Kennedy has examined the Bay's past abundances of seafood... sifting through anecdotal evidence and early surveys to arrive at a sense of just how full of life the Chesapeake was as Europeans began to settle it. His book also pulls together an accounting of how thoroughly we squandered the 'immense protein factory' praised by journalist H. L. Mencken.""
