jor survey of 360 seafood businesses to find out how the disease was effecting the local economies of the Chesapeake Bay areas in Maryland. He found the industry suffered a 43 million-dollar loss in 1997 due to the disease awareness among consumers. The hardest hit by the decline in sales were grocery stores and local restaurants. The actual fisheries were able to sell their extra fish in other markets where Pfiesteria awareness was low, so they did not suffer as badly as others did. Grocery stores sold almost 13% less Chesapeake Bay seafood then the year before. Restaurants were also unable to sell the local seafood so they had to import more expensive seafood. These results do not show the entire economic effect because people substituted meats for fish. The grocery stores and restaurant sold more of their other products that helped to counter balance the decrease in seafood sales. The true economic losers in the situation were the stores and restaurants that specialized solely in seafood (Lipton).To help reduce the outbreaks of Pfiesteria, Maryland has enacted a Water Quality Improvement Act. The WQIQ is meant to lessen the nutrients in the Bay spurring growth of its inhabitants. The government is currently willing to spend a great deal of money to clean up the Bay, they spent over 80 million dollars in making sewage treatment plants more efficient, proving the economic benefits of fisheries are worth protecting. The act encourages subsidies to agriculturists, which will cost the government greatly. The urban impacts of the WQIQ are minimal; parks, state owned lands, golf courses and large landscapers must test and record the nutrient balances in the soil; proper management will ensure the simplicity of this law (Parker 1). The WQIA costs the agricultural farmers the most. Fertilizer runoff creates a great amount of pollution for the Chesapeake Bay. The act mandates that poultry litter, which is rich in Phosphorous, wi...
