The ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay, the Nation's largest estuary, has been negatively affected by a combination of population growth and natural processes during the past several centuries.
Water quality is degraded as a result of nutrient enrichment, toxic substances, and sediment.
Eutrophication, brought on by excessive nutrients entering the Bay, was identified as the primary cause of periods of hypoxia in the estuary, which in turn has killed and stressed living-resources in many areas of the Bay. Submerged aquatic vegetation is considered one of the most important components of the ecosystem because it provides critical habitat for shellfish and finfish and food for waterfowl. The Chesapeake Bay Program, a coordinated Federal and State restoration effort, has signed a new Chesapeake Bay Restoration agreement that includes goals to reduce nutrients and sediment entering the Bay to improve water-quality conditions for living resources. Objectives One of the most critical needs for the restoration effort in the Bay is to improve the current understanding of the response of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and estuary to changes in the sources and transport of nutrients and sediment. Water quality and the ecological balance of the Bay should respond positively to the Bay Program restoration efforts, but the effects will take time to be transmitted through the entire watershed and into the estuary.