May 19, 2026 — This winter, a sudden cold snap led to fish kills around the Chesapeake Bay. Washed up on shores were Atlantic menhaden, and speckled trout. In 2025, a freeze killed young red drum.
Scientists have been studying movements of fish for decades. One team from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science is in the middle of a three-year study of two of the Chesapeake Bay’s iconic trophy fish– red drum and striped bass.
They’re looking at how warming waters, extreme weather and other factors affect the fishes’ movements in and out of the bay.
Brianna Cahill is a marine ecologist working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She’s monitoring a transponding hydrophone, which is an underwater microphone.
“Okay, talking to it. The status it says armed, so that means that it’s still locked,” Cahill says from the deck of a small boat near the mouth of the bay. “We can go through and activate it.”
The hydrophone is talking to an acoustic receiver anchored to the bottom of the bay some 30 feet below that logs data from tagged fish. She’s telling it to come to the surface for retrieval.