Despite efforts by environmentalists, the Chesapeake Bay’s health remains poor, according to the latest report card issued annually by the federal-state program tasked with cleaning up the nation’s largest estuary.

The Chesapeake Bay Program this week released its Bay Barometer, which gave the bay an overall average health score of 45 percent out of 100 percent for 2009. On a positive note, the study said 64 percent of the bay’s overall restoration and protection goals have been met, a score that is six points higher than in 2008.

The Bay Barometer is a comprehensive study of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. CBP describes it as a science-based annual review of the progress of achieving Bay health goals and implementing the needed restoration measures. The entire report can be found here.

Although the report may seem disheartening considering all the efforts underway to clean up the bay, there were some positives. For example, the Bay Barometer says that in 2009, “The adult blue crab population increased to 223 million, its highest level since 1993.” It also states that, “Bay Program partners have implemented 62 percent of needed pollution reduction efforts, a 3 percent increase from 2008.”

It is clear that much more needs to be done to improve the health of the bay, but at least there have been slight improvements over the past year.

Beth McGee, a senior water quality specialist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, told The Daily Press that, “Overall, we still have a long way top go.”