history geology
hydrology fishing and the environment
Chesapeake Bay is an estuary
and the largest such body in the contiguous United States and is a very
important feature for the ecology and economy of the Middle Atlantic Region.
More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the bay's 64,299-square-mile -
166,534 km2 covering parts of six states.
History in 1524, Italian explorer
Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed past the Chesapeake, but did not enter the bay.
Spanish explorers may have been the first Europeans to explore parts of the bay
which they named Bay of the Mother of God. In the late 16th century
the British founded a colony and Captain John Smith explored and mapped it between
1607 and 1609. The first designated all-water
National Historic Trail was created in 2006 following Smith's historic 17th
century voyage.
The Eastern Shore is home to crabbers, oystermen, gentlemen-farmers and sharecroppers, boat builders and antiques dealers. Activities include fishing, crabbing, swimming, boating, kayaking and sailing.
Geology
and Hydrology the bay was formed starting about 10,000 years ago
when rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age flooded the Susquehanna
River valley. Much of the bay is shallow; it is approximately 200
miles - 320 km - long and 2.8 miles
- 4.5 km - wide at its narrowest and 30 miles - 48 km - at its
widest point. Average depth is 21 feet - 6.4 m. Because the bay is an estuary, it has fresh water, salt
water and brackish water.
Fishing once employed up to nine thousand
watermen and their skipjacks, the only remaining sailing workboats in US
waters, engaged in the seafood production of blue crabs, clams and
oysters. Now, runoffs from farms and urban areas, over-harvesting and foreign
species invasions have made the bay less productive. Oyster farming helps maintain the estuary's productivity and
is a natural effort for filtering impurities and reduce the amount of nitrogen
compounds entering Chesapeake Bay.
Environment in the 1970s, Chesapeake Bay
was discovered to contain marine dead zones - waters depleted of oxygen and
unable to support life – that weaken the base of the estuary and its food
source. The runoff and pollution have many components that help contribute to
the algal bloom which is mainly fed by phosphorus and nitrogen. This algae
prevents sunlight from reaching the bottom of the bay while alive and
deoxygenates the bay's water when it dies and rots. Also, the overharvesting of
oysters has made it difficult for them to reproduce, which requires close
proximity to one another. The depletion of oysters has had a particularly
harmful effect on the quality of the bay as they serve as natural water
filters, and their decline has further reduced the water quality of the bay.
