The environment in focus

Seagrasses are important breeding grounds for fish and crabs, but they are in decline around the world because of pollution, seafood harvesting, and climate change. Along Virginia's lower Eastern Shore, however, 4,300 acres of eelgrass have returned to once-barren coastal bays. The Johnny Appleseed of eelgrass is Robert Orth of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who has worked with partners, including The Nature Conservancy, to plant 41 million seeds.

A new public middle school on the West Side of Baltimore, the Green Street Academy, is teaching city students about conservation and sustainability as it prepares them for green jobs of the future. The 275 students, led by Principal Ed Cozzolino (above), learn about growing and marketing organic food by running a fish farm, chicken coop, and greenhouse.

For the last 15 years, Professor Wolfgang Vogelbein of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science has been working to discover the causes of mycobacteriosis, a chronic wasting disease that infects a majority of striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay.  He believes the disease could be linked to pollution and overfishing -- but now his federal funding is about to run out, before he can finally solve the puzzle.

The migration of osprey mark the seasons in the Chesapeake Bay, with their return in March from South America a sign of spring. But an increasing number of these "fish hawks" appear to be spending the winter in the bay, and returning earlier -- perhaps the result of a warming climate.  (Photo of osprey by James A. Galletto, Nature and Wildlife Photographers of Long Island/NOAA )

For the first time in more than a decade, Pennsylvania this spring will close most of the Susquehanna River to fishing for smallmouth bass, whose numbers have been declining because of a mysterious disease.  The closure will be hard on fishing guides like Juan Veruete (left) and Jeff Little (right), whose lives and livelihoods are caught up in the river.