Chesapeake Bay Conservation

The Chesapeake Bay Program
  

The Chesapeake Bay Program is a regional partnership that has directed the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay since the signing of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement in 1983.  The Chesapeake Bay Program partners include the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and the US Environmental Protection Agency.  Since its inception in 1983, the Bay Program's highest priority has been the restoration of the Bay's living resources- its finfish, shellfish, Bay grasses, and other aquatic life and wildlife. Improvements include fisheries and habitat restoration, recovery of Bay grasses, nutrient and toxic reductions, and significant advances in estuarine science. 

Progress made in the effort to restore the Bay is reported by the Chesapeake Bay Program in the State of the Chesapeake Bay report.  The report describes the health of the Chesapeake Bay, it's tributaries, habitats, and wildlife.  

On June 28, 2000, the Chesapeake Bay Program adopted a new agreement that will guide the next decade of restoration in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  Download a citizen's guide to the 2000 agreement in pdf format (requires adobe acrobat to read).

Nutrient Pollution

The most significant threat to the health of the Chesapeake Bay is an over abundance of nutrients.  When present in excessive amounts, nutrients trigger algae blooms.  The algae blocks sunlight from reaching below the water surface and aquatic plants suffer.  Also, when the algae dies and decomposes, the decomposition process can use up oxygen in the water to the point that there is not enough for other aquatic life to survive.  For a more complete discussion of nutrient pollution and its effects on the Chesapeake Bay, follow this link to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

What you can do:  

We can all make a difference.  See a list of things you can do to help protect the Chesapeake Bay.

Links

• Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.

• The Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The Bay Journal.  The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay's informative newspaper.

• The Maryland Sea Grant.  Marine research and education with a special focus on the Chesapeake Bay.

• The US Fish and Wildlife Service's Chesapeake Bay Field Office.

• NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office.

• Virginia Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Department.  Information on Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Act.

• Maryland Department of Natural Resources.  Maryland's Chesapeake Bay programs.

• Maryland's Clean Marina Initiative:  See which Maryland marinas meet the guidelines of this program.

• Osprey Cam.  Live webcam focused on an Osprey nest in Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.

• Tidewater Oyster Gardeners Association.

• Chesapeake Bay History.

• Eyes on the Bay.  Real time water and habitat quality monitoring data.

Recommended Reading

Life in the Chesapeake Bay.  An excellent Chesapeake Bay field guide written to be useful to a variety of readers - year-round residents and summer vacationers, professional biologists, and amateur scientists, conservationists and sportsmen.