Chesapeake Bay health improves

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The health of the Chesapeake Bay improved slightly last year, according to a new report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The foundation announced Wednesday that underwater grasses were the only bay health indicator that worsened in 2012. Bay grasses were hurt by high water temperatures in the lower bay and heavy rains that washed sediment and pollution into local waterways. On the positive side, crabs, oysters and bay water oxygen levels improved.

Report: Chesapeake Bay health

The foundation gave the bay an overall score of 32 out of 100, up one point over the last report in 2010 and four points since 2008.

Foundation President Will Baker says the bay is still dangerously out of balance, but he is cautiously optimistic that a new federally led bay restoration strategy is beginning to work.