So Marty (and the dead fish I have been seeing) got me interested in looking at some of the water quality data that is available.
Couple of items - Marty correct me if I am wrong
> The 30 day average O2 level in the Patapsco has been about 10ppm, with a decline over the last week or so, culminating in some numbers below 5 during the period 5/28 to 5/30. The levels, of course, go up at night.
> The 30 day average O2 level at the Annapolis station was lower, about 8 ppm, with a dip near 4 on 5/30.
So looking at the graphs it does appear that the low levels are moving down the Bay, however, I was surprised that the Patapsco had a higher average O2 level for the past month.
The O2 levels although low were ok for Striped Bass, not for Menhaden though. They seem more sensitive to the lower levels.
Could be causing the rock to look for alternative foods like worms, clams, crabs, etc...and keeping them further down....
Salinity levels are still too low in the upper bay for blues and the rain will not help that...Cooler temps should help get the O2 levels back up and some of this algae out of the way...Maybe by this time next week we will be back into a better pattern....