A young oyster who loves his life in the Chesapeake Bay seeks a way to join other creatures in the important work of keeping their bay clean.

In 1991, Island Press published Turning the Tide, a unique and accessible examination of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The book took an indepth look at the Bay’s vital signs to gauge the overall health of its entire ecosystem and to assess what had been done and what remained to be done to clean up the Bay. This new edition of Turning the Tide addresses new developments of the past decade and examines the factors that will have the most significant effects on the health of the Bay in the coming years.With new case studies and updated maps, charts, and graphs, the book builds on the analytical power of ten years of experience to offer a new perspective, along with clear, science-based recommendations for the future. For all those who want to know not only how much must be done to save the Bay but what they can do and how they can make a difference, Turning the Tide is an essential source of information.

The Chesapeake Bay is a wondrous and exciting place to live. But oysters Chester and Meredith have a big problem: pollution in the waters of the Bay is making the underwater grasses sick. The grasses are home to so many young fish, crabs, and other creatures in the Bay; the disappearance of underwater grasses could lead to the sad loss of even more species. So much is at stake! How can Chester and Meredith possibly figure out a way to save the grasses and also the Bay? See how Chester and Meredith lead their underwater friends to clear up their messy and murky problem. Early Reader; Ages 5-8.

Explains why oysters make pearls and dangerous snakes have diamond-shaped heads.

In The Oyster Question, Christine Keiner applies perspectives of environmental, agricultural, political, and social history to examine the decline of Maryland’s iconic Chesapeake Bay oyster industry. Oystermen have held on to traditional ways of life, and some continue to use preindustrial methods, tonging oysters by hand from small boats. Others use more intensive tools, and thus it is commonly believed that a lack of regulation enabled oystermen to exploit the bay to the point of ruin. But Keiner offers an opposing view in which state officials, scientists, and oystermen created a regulated commons that sustained tidewater communities for decades. Not until the 1980s did a confluence of natural and unnatural disasters weaken the bay’s resilience enough to endanger the oyster resource. Keiner examines conflicts that pitted scientists in favor of privatization against watermen who used their power in the statehouse to stave off the forces of rural change. Her study breaks new ground regarding the evolution of environmental politics at the state rather than the federal level. The Oyster Question concludes with the impassioned ongoing debate over introducing nonnative oysters to the Chesapeake Bay and how that proposal might affect the struggling watermen and their identity as the last hunter-gatherers of the industrialized world.

Nonnative Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay discusses the proposed plan to offset the dramatic decline in the bay's native oysters by introducing disease-resistant reproductive Suminoe oysters from Asia. It suggests this move should be delayed until more is known about the environmental risks, even though carefully regulated cultivation of sterile Asian oysters in contained areas could help the local industry and researchers. It is also noted that even though these oysters eat the excess algae caused by pollution, it could take decades before there are enough of them to improve water quality.

In the decades after the Civil War, Chesapeake Bay became the scene of a life and death struggle to harvest the oyster.

A moving, fictionalized account of a march that raised awareness about child labor. Eight-year-old Aidan and his friend Gussie have joined the picket line at the cotton mill to demand the chance to go to school instead of work. But when famous labor reformer Mother Jones arrives, she has an even bolder idea than a strike. She wants to lead them on a march from Pennsylvania all the way to President Theodore Rooseveltês summer home in Oyster Bay, New York! This inspiring tale is a tribute to the extraordinary spirit of Mother Jones, and a testament to the power of standing up for whatês right, no matter how old you are.

“An epic history of piracy . . . Goodall explores the role of these legendary rebels and describes the fine line between piracy and privateering.” —WYPR The story of Chesapeake pirates and patriots begins with a land dispute and ends with the untimely death of an oyster dredger at the hands of the Maryland Oyster Navy. From the golden age of piracy to Confederate privateers and oyster pirates, the maritime communities of the Chesapeake Bay are intimately tied to a fascinating history of intrigue, plunder and illicit commerce raiding. Author Jamie L.H. Goodall introduces infamous men like Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and “Black Sam” Bellamy, as well as lesser-known local figures like Gus Price and Berkeley Muse, whose tales of piracy are legendary from the harbor of Baltimore to the shores of Cape Charles. “Rather than an unchanging monolith, Goodall creates a narrative filled with dynamic movement and exchange between the characters, setting, conflict, and resolution of her story. Goodall positioned this narrative to be successful on different levels.” —International Social Science Review

The USA touts Chesapeake Bay as its premier environmental restoration programme, yet the Bay remains in poor condition.