Chesapeake Bay

SPOILER ALERT: This story reveals features of the plot. Baltimore-born film director Barry Levinson has said his new eco-horror movie, "The Bay," about a Chesapeake Bay turned deadly by environmental abuse, is "80 percent factual. " Bay scientists and one activist who've seen it say the film, which opened Friday, does touch on some very real issues affecting the bay. But they say the artistic license taken with the facts and the gore that makes it a horror movie may overwhelm any back story about what's wrong with the Chesapeake.

It's planting time in the Chesapeake Bay, just as it is on land for farmers and gardeners across Maryland. Instead of seeds, though, hundreds of millions of speck-sized baby oysters - known as spat - are being planted this spring in Harris Creek, where it's hoped they'll grow and multiply. The Eastern Shore waterway is ground zero for an ambitious experiment - a multimillion-dollar gamble, actually - to see if the bay's depleted oyster population can be restored, one creek and river at a time.

Guests at Saturday's Preakness will get the first slurp of the Skinny Dipper, a new oyster from True Chesapeake Oyster Co., an oyster farm in St. Mary's County. The Skinny Dipper will be supplied to Baltimore-area restaurants beginning this summer, but it will get some high-profile attention at Saturday's race, where it has been named the "preferred oyster of Preakness," according to a press announcement. The Skinny Dipper will be presented at the raw bar inside Preakness Village, the event's corporate entertaining area, where the menu is being created by "Top Chef" contestant Mike Isabella.

Guests at Saturday's Preakness will get the first slurp of the Skinny Dipper, a new oyster from True Chesapeake Oyster Co., an oyster farm in St. Mary's County. The Skinny Dipper will be supplied to Baltimore-area restaurants beginning this summer, but it will get some high-profile attention at Saturday's race, where it has been named the "preferred oyster of Preakness," according to a press announcement. The Skinny Dipper will be presented at the raw bar inside Preakness Village, the event's corporate entertaining area, where the menu is being created by "Top Chef" contestant Mike Isabella.

There has been much hue and cry in recent days about the General Assembly approving a "rain tax" this year that is punitive, anti-commerce and unnecessary. What's truly remarkable about these protestations is how none of the underlying claims are true. Rather, this may be a lesson in the perils of approving a policy at the state level but leaving the business of carrying it out to local government. It's far easier for county elected leaders to point a finger at Annapolis than to actually educate themselves on an issue - let alone try to explain why a tax is so clearly in their constituents' self-interest.

High temperatures and pollution have made conditions ripe for potentially dangerous bacteria carried in Chesapeake Bay waters, leading state and local health officials to warn swimmers, fishermen and shellfish eaters to take precautions. The naturally occurring bacteria, vibrio, can cause gastrointestinal illness as well as nasty skin infections — and sometimes can kill. So far this year, 24 Maryland cases of vibrio have been recorded, close to the average annual count of 30, but the season is far from over and officials say many cases likely go unreported.

Does it not rain in every part of the state of Maryland? Of course, it does ("Craig signs scaled down Harford 'rain tax' bill into law," May 3). That fact makes me wonder why only the 10 most populous jurisdictions are required to pay the so-called "rain tax. " The runoff in the western-most counties eventually flows into the Potomac River, which then empties into the Chesapeake Bay. The counties on the Eastern Shore are currently exempt from this...

They're tucked away in residential neighborhoods, alongside marinas and on the Chesapeake Bay's tributaries. But for those who don't have a navigational system in their car or boat, Anne Arundel County's picturesque waterfront restaurants can be tricky to find. A trek to Deep Creek Restaurant in Arnold, Windows on the Bay or the Cheshire Crab in Pasadena - with a left turn here and a right turn there - takes a visitor through tree-lined neighborhoods, past rows of boats suspended on lifts and ends in laid-back culinary delights.

Ocean City Located near the Fager's Island pier (Route 90 bridge and 60th Street on the bay side), sunset rides accompanied to 1812 Overture as well as daytime yoga classes. Operated out of Fager's Island Bar and Grille. Solomons Island A flat water race was held there in June along the Back Creeks of Solomons, the Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay. Annapolis Standup Paddle Annapolis (supnnaapolis.com) run events and outings in the Severn and Magothy rivers as well as in the Chesapeake.

For several years, Joe Evans and J. Hamilton Yacht Co. were, as Evans described it, at the high-tech end of the sailboat business, repairing and updating racing boats at Bert Jabin's Yacht Yard in the Eastport section of Annapolis.Evans and the J. Hamilton Yacht Co. are still in the sailing business, but Evans has a new passion, fly fishing, and a new version of an old boat in which to do so, the Simmons Sea Skiff.When Evans took up fly fishing a couple of years ago, he said he used a Chris Craft skiff.

Does it not rain in every part of the state of Maryland? Of course, it does ("Craig signs scaled down Harford 'rain tax' bill into law," May 3). That fact makes me wonder why only the 10 most populous jurisdictions are required to pay the so-called "rain tax. " The runoff in the western-most counties eventually flows into the Potomac River, which then empties into the Chesapeake Bay. The counties on the Eastern Shore are currently exempt from this...

Editor: A recent Aegis editorial about the health of the Chesapeake Bay ("Stormwater fee set low in Harford the best of a bad situation," April 23) is [off base]. Certainly the job of restoring the Bay is far from finished, but the Aegis is incorrect in asserting: "the degree to which the overall health of the bay has improved is hard to gauge. " Numerous recent reports from government agencies, and academic and non-profit researchers show significant improvements in the Bay. Most recently, the Chesapeake Bay Program (an arm of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

Reading about the rain water tax, I see that government buildings do not have to pay this tax. The government evidently knows how to keep their runoff from causing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Why not tell the rest of us their secret so we can keep our rain water from being contaminated and the Bay will quickly become pristine clean? Believe that and I'll tell you another one. Mary Chesney Schwind Cockeysville

For decades in Maryland many things have been done in the name of saving the Chesapeake Bay, but the degree to which tangible progress has been made is something of a disappointment. To be sure, there have been some successes. The mid-1980s ban on catching rockfish in an effort to allow the Chesapeake stock of the state fish to make a recovery has resulted in reasonably healthy stocks of the fish being available for watermen and sport anglers alike these days. Substantially stricter regulation of blue crab harvests seem to have helped avert a rockfish-like population collapse in Maryland's signature table fare.

As part of Baltimore Green Week, the Nature Conservancy and the Oyster Recover Partnership are hosting an Earth Day "mix and mingle" event tonight at McCormick & Schmick's Staff from both organizations will introduce the new One for the Bay campaign, a new awareness and fundraising campaign that will support the organizations' ongoing efforts to help restore the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population. The One for the Bay reception is 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. tonight at McCormick & Schmick's , 711 Eastern Ave. For information about the reception go to the Nature Conservancy website . And find more Baltimore Green Week events here . And B&O Brasserie is hosting an Earth Day oyster happy hour tonight from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oysters will be available for $1 for guests, and all collected oyster shells will be donated to the Oyster Recovery Program.

A preliminary report on the deaths of two anglers on the opening day of the Chesapeake Bay rockfish season says all six persons aboard the boat that capsized off Point Lookout had life vests, but not all wore them, according to the Maryland Natural Resources Police. David Fletcher, 43, and David Chase, 55, both of Lexington Park in Southern Maryland, died Saturday morning when a friend's fishing boat took on water and capsized. Four persons, including the owner-operator of the boat, were rescued.

The Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce is member-driven, member-supported organization that has been the voice of business in Baltimore County since 1966. On behalf of our members, we have been following the impact of the stormwater fee legislation, passed by the state last year, which mandates Baltimore County to pass enabling legislation by July. A clean Chesapeake Bay is essential for all Marylanders and especially so for businesses in Baltimore County who depend on it for their livelihood.

The State Board of Morticians has come up with guidelines on the proper way to spread cremated remains in the hopes of dissuading mourners who have been pouring ashes onto a private beach on the Chesapeake Bay and at other inappropriate final resting places. The board completed a pamphlet last week that is intended to be given to anyone considering cremation. The move was a reaction to complaints from residents of Venice on the Bay, an Anne Arundel County community with a bay view so stunning it almost seems an invitation to spend eternity there.

Two people died and four were rescued in a boating accident on the Chesapeake Bay Saturday when their 25-foot boat capsized two miles south of Point Lookout State Park in St. Mary's County, according to Department of Natural Resources Police. Sgt. Brian Albert, a spokesman for the DNR police, said authorities were still on the scene and were trying to recover the boat. The victims were identified as two Lexington Park, Md., men - David Chase, 55, and David Fletcher, 43. "We think that the accident was due to rough seas, but we're not positive," Albert said.