IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 912 

Recognizing the importance of the Chesapeake Bay and supporting the efforts 

and goals of the Clean the Bay Day. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 24, 2018 

Mr. BRAT (for himself, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. BEYER, Mrs. 

COMSTOCK, and Mr. GARRETT) submitted the following resolution; which 

was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the importance of the Chesapeake Bay and 

supporting the efforts and goals of the Clean the Bay Day. 

Whereas the word Chesepiooc is an Algonquian word referring to a village ‘‘at a big river’’; 

Whereas there were many different tribes in the region before 

Europeans arrived, but the dominant group were 

Algonquin speakers known collectively as the Powhatan 

tribes; 

Whereas, in 1524, Italian Captain Giovanni da Verrazano became the first recorded European to enter the Chesapeake Bay; 

Whereas, in 1608, Captain John Smith set off on two voyages where he charted the land and waterways, and later 


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drew an elaborate and remarkably accurate map of the 

Chesapeake Bay; 

Whereas the Chesapeake Bay is the Nation’s largest estuary; 

Whereas the Chesapeake Bay is the third largest estuary in 

the world; 

Whereas the area of the Chesapeake Bay watershed is about 

64,000 square miles and includes parts of New York, 

Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and Washington, DC; 

Whereas the Bay itself is about 200 miles long, stretching 

from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Virginia; 

Whereas the surface area of the Bay and its tidal tributaries 

is approximately 4,480 square miles; 

Whereas the Bay and its tidal tributaries have 11,684 miles 

of shoreline, more than the entire west coast of the 

United States; 

Whereas the average depth of the Bay is 21 feet; 

Whereas the deepest part of the Bay, located southeast of 

Annapolis near Bloody Point, is called ‘‘The Hole’’ and 

is 174 feet deep; 

Whereas the Bay receives about half of its water volume from 

the Atlantic Ocean in the form of saltwater, and the 

other half which is freshwater drains into the Bay from 

the enormous watershed; 

Whereas the major tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay include 

the Susquehanna, Gunpowder, Sassafras, Chester, Severn, South, Potomac, Choptank, Patuxent, Nanticoke, 

Wicomico Potomac Tributary, Wicomico Eastern Shore, 


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Rappahannock, Pocomoke, Piankatank, York, James, 

and Elizabeth Rivers; 

Whereas the Bay supports more than 3,600 species of plants 

and animals, including 348 species of finfish, 173 species 

of shellfish, over 2,700 plant species, and more than 16 

species of underwater grasses; 

Whereas the Chesapeake region is home to at least 29 species 

of waterfowl; 

Whereas nearly 80,000 acres of underwater grasses grow in 

the shallows of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries; 

Whereas young and molting blue crabs rely on underwater 

grass beds for protection from predators; 

Whereas 70 to 90 percent of all striped bass, known locally 

as rockfish, were spawned in the Bay; 

Whereas the Bay watershed is home to more than 18 million 

people, and about 150,000 new people move into the watershed each year; 

Whereas two of the United States major east coast ports, the 

Port of Baltimore and the Port of Virginia, are on the 

Chesapeake Bay; 

Whereas there are more than 700 public access points on the 

Bay and its tributaries; 

Whereas the Bay produces about 500 million pounds of seafood per year; 

Whereas the average annual blue crab commercial harvest in 

Maryland and Virginia between 2000 and 2009 was more 

than 55 million pounds; 

Whereas the Chesapeake Bay provides half of the total blue 

crab harvest in the United States; 


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Whereas the commercial seafood industry in Maryland and 

Virginia combined equals $3.39 billion in sales, $890 million in income, and nearly 34,000 jobs to the local economy per year; 

Whereas to restore and protect this national treasure, the 

Chesapeake Bay Program partnership (the ‘‘Partnership’’) was formed in 1983; 

Whereas for more than 30 years, this regional Partnership 

has become recognized as one of the Nation’s premier estuarine restoration efforts, implementing policies, engaging in scientific investigation, and coordinating actions 

among the States, the District of Columbia, and the Federal Government; 

Whereas through the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed 

Agreement, the Partnership recommitted to the Bay watershed restoration effort based in and guided by science 

and the lessons learned from experiences; 

Whereas one of the most important lessons the partners have 

learned from the past three decades is that although watershed-wide partnerships can help to coordinate and 

catalyze progress, implementation happens locally; 

Whereas individual citizens, businesses, watershed groups, 

and other nongovernmental organizations are key partners; 

Whereas 70 percent of watershed residents want to do more 

to help make their local creeks, rivers, and lakes 

healthier; 

Whereas 86 percent of watershed residents believe if people 

work together, water pollution can be fixed; 

Whereas each year, on the first Saturday of June, thousands 

of Virginians simultaneously descend on the rivers, 


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streams, and beaches of the Chesapeake Bay watershed 

to remove harmful litter and debris for the Clean the Bay 

Day; 

Whereas as of 2017, Clean the Bay Day engaged over 

152,000 volunteers, who removed approximately 6.4 million pounds of debris from nearly 7,390 miles of shoreline 

in Virginia; and 

Whereas Saturday, June 2, 2018, is the 30th Annual Clean 

the Bay Day, a Virginia tradition: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes the historical, environmental, cul3 tural, and economic importance of the Chesapeake 

4 Bay; and 

5 (2) supports the efforts and goals of the Clean 

6 the Bay Day. 

Æ 


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