Are mute swan populations a threat to the Chesapeake Bay?
No. There are only about 500 swans in the Maryland Chesapeake. They are in no way a threat to the health of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The Chesapeake Bay is a dynamic ecosystem stressed by the effects of pollution, turbidity and the catastrophic effects (contamination with pesticides, fertilizers, sewage, septic algae, etc.) of rampant development of adjoining land. But the Chesapeake Bay has always been host to huge populations of various species of waterfowl including geese and swans and ducks, all of which eat aquatic grasses. From a macro perspective, the relatively recent arrival of a few thousand mute swans is just a minor—and incredibly beautiful—variation in the annual species composition of waterfowl in the bay.
