Cownose rays
Sea Grant scientist at VIMS works to keep rays out of commercial shellfish beds while ensuring the sustainability of their population in Chesapeake Bay.


The ghost hunters
Dave Stanhope and Kory Angstadt are searching for a killer lurking on the floor of Chesapeake Bay. The culprit turns out to be derelict blue crab pots.

Robots dive into marine science
Lying ill on a research vessel near the Florida Keys, Dr. Mark Patterson had a revelation: we have the technology to build underwater research robots. That was 1991. Today, Patterson’s autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) can be found zooming around Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, or even the icy seas of Antarctica.

Science-industry partnership revives troubled fishery
The recovery and growth of the East Coast scallop fishery is due to a long-term collaboration between scallopers, fishery managers, and scientists at VIMS.

VIMS researchers take storm-tide predictions to the streets
The potentially devastating impact of hurricanes and nor’easters to coastal residents motivates VIMS researchers to deliver timely and detailed predictions of storm tides, right down to street-level.

Yorktown breakwaters
It might be the last thing on their minds as they relax on the beach or shop in nearby stores, but visitors to Yorktown’s Riverwalk Landing are beneficiaries of a long-term partnership between York County officials and scientists at VIMS. The collaboration has helped the historic riverfront community stem shoreline erosion, weather Hurricane Isabel and several powerful nor’easters, and maintain a popular swimming beach.

From Plankton to Planet
Each evening, a multitude of small sea creatures rises from the inky depths to feast on microscopic plants growing in sunlit surface waters. At dawn, they reverse course, descending to spend another day under the cover of darkness.By almost any measure, this daily migration rivals the great seasonal movements of caribou or arctic terns. Yet its magnitude was virtually unknown until the 1940s, and many of its mysteries remain.

Research to Restore the Poor Man's Salmon
VIMS professor John Olney has worked for more than a decade to help restore American shad to Chesapeake Bay. These fish, once as iconic to the Bay as blue crabs or oysters, are now only familiar to scientists, commercial netters, and fly fishermen.

Living Shorelines and Ecosystem Services
Living shoreline management practices use strategic placement of plants, stone, sand fill and/or other structural and organic materials to reduce erosion and enhance wetland habitat. Living shorelines do not use structures that separate natural connections between the water, shoreline and uplands, thus providing better habitat area for fish and other animals.

What you see is what you get
VIMS graduate student Andrij Horodysky is using electroretinography—a technique first developed for studying human vision—to explore how fishes see the underwater world of Chesapeake Bay.

Who's Eating Whom?
It may be mud and muck to you, but to David Gillett it’s like a super-sleuth game to see who’s eating whom and how energy moves through food webs.