The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary released its 2022 Technical Report for the Estuary and Basin.
More than 75 experts review over 70 environmental indicators to produce the report.
It looks at statistical trends from environmental indicators across the estuary, and uses them to calculate the overall health and condition of the Delaware Estuary and River Basin- which spans from Southern New York to Southern Delaware.
Overall, the state of the Delaware Estuary is rated as “fair.”
“It’s important to recognize that we do produce a report every 5 years, but some of these environmental indicators happen over much longer time scales than just 5 years. We could be talking decades or even centuries for some things,” said LeeAnn Haaf, the Estuary Science Manager at Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.
She adds they are starting to see significant trends in the data sets under the climate change section.
Winter temperatures are rising steadily in the Delaware estuary and river basin, and the most recent data allows the Partnership to say definitively that this is an indication of accelerated warming.
While temperature change is an indication or a worsening condition, other areas have seen some improvements.
“In the Living Resources chapter we do see, since we’re looking at a couple different populations, that there are some populations that aren’t doing so well and other populations that have improved. Like the Atlantic sturgeon,” said Haaf. “We have seen that ever since we started really focusing on their conservation, numbers have really started to creep up, which is great news.”
The report also found declines in other fish populations, such as the striped bass and the white perch, indicating that they may need increased attention.
Haaf says the report seeks to provide an update on environmental trends and make recommendations for use by state and federal agencies and other organizations to support a healthier Watershed.
