Do mute swans pose a threat to the environment?
No. Mute swans impact on loss of aquatic vegetation in the Bay is miniscule compared to the 500 million pounds of pollutants that factory farms and sewage treatment plants dump into the Bay each year – the major cause of submerged vegetation loss in the bay. That’s 41 million a month, 1.3 million a day, and 56,944 per hour! In addition to water pollution, turbidity caused by boat propellers and wakes and physical damage to aquatic vegetation from boats are also major factors contributing to it’s loss from the Bay every year. All of the aforementioned anthropogenic activities have collectively led to the creation of a huge, 25-square-mile “dead zone” in the Bay that blocks sunlight and destroys aquatic vegetation. The Chesapeake Bay in Maryland contains 32,586 acres (as of 2006) of aquatic vegetation, and therefore, it is preposterous for the DNR to suggest that a few thousand swans (including 500-600 mute swans) have more than an incidental localized effect on aquatic vegetation compar
