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 Vir-
ginia, 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 refer-
ring 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 be-
came the first recorded European to enter the Chesa-
peake Bay; 
Whereas, in 1608, Captain John Smith set off on two voy-
ages where he charted the land and waterways, and later 
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•HRES 912 IH 
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, Vir-
ginia, and Washington, DC; 
Whereas the Bay itself is about 200 miles long, stretching 
from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Vir-
ginia; 
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, Sev-
ern, South, Potomac, Choptank, Patuxent, Nanticoke, 
Wicomico Potomac Tributary, Wicomico Eastern Shore, 
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•HRES 912 IH 
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 wa-
tershed 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 sea-
food 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 mil-
lion in income, and nearly 34,000 jobs to the local econ-
omy per year; 
Whereas to restore and protect this national treasure, the 
Chesapeake Bay Program partnership (the ‘‘Partner-
ship’’) was formed in 1983; 
Whereas for more than 30 years, this regional Partnership 
has become recognized as one of the Nation’s premier es-
tuarine restoration efforts, implementing policies, engag-
ing in scientific investigation, and coordinating actions 
among the States, the District of Columbia, and the Fed-
eral Government; 
Whereas through the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed 
Agreement, the Partnership recommitted to the Bay wa-
tershed 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 wa-
tershed-wide partnerships can help to coordinate and 
catalyze progress, implementation happens locally; 
Whereas individual citizens, businesses, watershed groups, 
and other nongovernmental organizations are key part-
ners; 
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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