Once again I find myself writing this column from some far flung place. Today I am overlooking the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The water is surrounded by a thick growth of sweetgum, sugar maple and several species of oak trees.
As I look around I see birds everywhere and life abounds. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. An estuary is a coastal body of water which opens directly into the open sea, in this case the Atlantic Ocean. It is a place were fresh water from rivers and streams mixes with sea or salt water. A tide forces a mixing of the two waters and creates this very dynamic relationship between the two waters. Officially the condition of the water is called brackish.
The bay is surrounded by the states of Virginia and Maryland. The watershed is huge with over 150 rivers and streams draining into the bay. It covers over 64 thousand square miles including parts of six states–New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
Even though the Chesapeake is a bay itself, there are many smaller bays within the larger bay. The Chesapeake is 189 miles long from the Susquehanna River in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south. The narrowest point is near Annapolis Maryland and is four miles wide. The widest point is near the mouth of the Potomac River and stretches 30 miles across. There is over 11,000 miles of water surface making it a huge bay for wildlife and recreation. The bay itself is visible from outer space.
Parts of the bay near the coast are lined by cliffs. These cliffs, known as Calvert Cliffs named after Calvert County, are famous for their fossilized shark teeth which washed up on the beaches next to the cliffs.
The bay is shallow and some areas need to be dredged to allow for ship traffic. At the point where the Susquehanna River flows into the bay the average depth is only 30 feet deep but it’s only 10 feet deep just north of Annapolis.
Maryland and Virginia are famous for their hot and very humid summers. Winters are very mild with only an occasional snowfall and a fair amount of rain.
The name Chesapeake comes from the Algonquian word Chesepiooc which means “great shellfish bay”. Obviously the Algonquian Indians were well aware of the great abundance of seafood in the bay, especially blue crabs, clams and oysters. For nearly a hundred years the bay provided seafood by the tons. Due to urban runoff, farming, and especially over harvesting the amount sea food harvested from the bay has decreased in the past 30 years. Currently about 45,000 tons are harvested yearly.
This has resulted in two outcomes. The first is a limited amount of seafood on the market and also incredibly high prices for seafood. My past visits to the bay would not be complete without eating a bushel of Maryland crabs steamed with old bay seasoning. Now you will have to re-mortgage your home in order to afford a bushel. Some places were charging $250 per bushel.
The bay is also well known for its rockfish and striped bass. The rockfish was once nearly extinct but through careful management and strict laws this fish is making a comeback in the region.
Osprey was also nearly whipped out in the bay. This fish eating eagle has now re-established itself and nests can be found in all the usual places around the bay. Many nests are on power poles while others are on bridges and floating buoys. Shorebirds are also doing better in the bay. All of this is a result of the communities that surround the bay coming to a realization that the bay needs protection. Laws have been passed and limits have been enforced. More importantly attitudes have changed and so has the bay. Until next time…