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“Does an oyster sneeze beneath the seas, or wiggle to and fro? Lord, I don’t know. But we’re going to plant them in the Magothy to see if they will grow.”
With that rousing rhyme, Magothy River Association (MRA) President Paul Spadaro kicked off the 22nd annual State of the Magothy presentation at Anne Arundel Community College on March 28. The event gives an overview of the river’s health and MRA environmental projects.
Here are some of this year’s takeaways:
Each year for its Magothy River Index, the MRA tests three components and assigns the river a letter grade. The Magothy maintained its rating of a D this year with a rating of 33, down slightly from 2023, which was the best year since 2019.
Sally Hornor led this part of the presentation. As she explained, the three index components are underwater grasses, or submerged aquatic vegetation (SAVs); water clarity; and dissolved oxygen.
MRA gets data from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, which flies over the river and maps the grasses. BayLand Consultants & Designers also shares data; its team travels by boat. Last year, the BayLand team went to about eight creeks, and this year, five: Deep, Cypress, Cattail, Old Man and Mill creeks.
“We audit grasses that are rooted in shallow water and provide food and habitat for all kinds of critters, and supply oxygen, and also hold the sediments in place,” Hornor said. “So, they have a really important role in the Magothy for habitat.”
MRA charted an increase in dissolved oxygen, a welcome improvement. Most fish, shellfish and aquatic invertebrates require at least five milligrams per liter of oxygen for sustained growth and reproduction.
Not as welcome, more algae appeared in the river. MRA’s theory is that the decrease in water clarity and increase in bottom dissolved oxygen is most likely due to algae blooms.
“Anybody who’s spent any time on a creek, on a river, if you look down through the water, you can’t see very far. The water is dark,” Hornor said. “That is mostly because of that algae that’s growing. So the more algae we have, the darker it is, and the less the grasses can grow.”
From April through October of 2024, MRA sampled water quality at 30 sites, seven by boat and 23 from the shore. Of those sites, 12 showed improvements over 2023, seven had poorer water quality and 11 exhibited no change.
While many south shore sites had better water quality than the previous year, Cattail and Old Man creeks were exceptions.
“The question always is, ‘Why isn’t the river better? Why don’t we have better water quality?’” Hornor said. “And the answer is basically it’s us. We don’t really have an industry on the river. We don’t really have agriculture to speak of. We just have a lot of people, and as a result, we have a lot of septic systems. On the north shore especially, there is no sewer line, so everyone has a septic system.”
For Operation Clearwater, Anne Arundel Community College students collect water samples and monitor a bacterium called enterococci as an indicator of fecal waste from mammals and birds. Using data from the past year, 87% of the bacterial water quality data shows swimmable conditions. However, swimming in the river within the 48 hours following a heavy rain event is not recommended.
Representing the Anne Arundel County Bureau of Watershed Protection and Restoration, Joe Ports highlighted ongoing and upcoming projects for Lake Waterford in Pasadena.
Spadaro also honored two key MRA partners: Chris Judy from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and former MRA President Mike Christiansen.
Judy’s relationship with the MRA started in 1995.
“Chris was instrumental in all our oyster restoration projects,” Spadaro said. “Chris was the one person at DNR who actually suggested to build the chestnut oyster reef, which is one of the best oyster reefs on the western shore.”
Spadaro praised Christiansen’s role in keeping MRA afloat.
“Mike Christiansen had the vision, the foresight and energy to when the association began to fall apart, he resurrected it not once but twice,” Spadaro said. “After he retired, he didn’t disappear. He was always available through my long-tenured presidency for questions, support and guidance.”
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