Significantly, during the 1980s, the typical clarity reading was two to three meters of visibility along the coast. Last summer, some readings were as deep as 10 meters, or 30 feet. During the last two years, there have been no beach closings for the entire length of coastal beaches. The bacteria counts in beach waters have been consistently low, indicating success at controlling such problems as stormwater runoff, as well as municipal treated wastewater. Another indicator of ocean health is aquatic life.
Algae blooms are the result of excessive nutrients from fertilizers.
The bottle-nosed dolphins consumed fish that had accumulated algal toxins in their systems. As a result, hundreds of dolphin washed up on Atlantic beaches in 1987. Since then, based upon 10 years of data from aerial surveillance flights, the dolphin population has rebounded to nearly the pre-1986 levels. During a good overflight this past year, it was common to count 200-500 dolphins in a single pass from Delaware to southern Virginia. Except for closures around a few wastewater outfalls, all 200 miles of coastal shell fisheries are open, giving the mid-Atlantic waters the highest percentage of harvestable shellfish in the United States.