Home to more than 18 million people and 3,600 species of plants and animals, the Chesapeake Bay watershed is truly an extraordinary place. The Chesapeake Bay watershed, home to more than 18 million people and 3,600 species of plants and animals, is truly an extraordinary place. The bay's watershed, which spans six states and the District of Columbia, never ceases to amaze with its rich history, vital economic importance and astounding beauty. The following are just a sample of some of the impressive facts and figures about our wonderful watershed.
The bay contains about 18 trillion gallons of water. That amount of water would fill more than fifty billion bathtubs to the brim. Only about half of the water in the bay comes from the ocean. The rest comes from the 64,000 square mile watershed, which extends approximately 524 miles from Cooperstown, New York, to Norfolk, Va.
Approximately 51 billion gallons of water enter the bay each day from the 100,000 streams, streams and rivers that feed it. Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It extends from north to south from the mouth of the Susquehanna River to the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the most productive estuaries in the world, with more than 3,600 species of animals and plants.
The bay provides vitally important habitats for wildlife, many recreational opportunities for people, and is an important fishery on which both people and wildlife depend. Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the country and the third largest in the world. An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with a free connection to the open ocean where fresh water from inland rivers mixes with saltwater from the ocean. Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the country. Its 64,000 square mile watershed encompasses one of the most economically important regions in the United States.
More than 18 million people live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Chesapeake region produces about 500 million pounds of fish annually, creating jobs in commercial and recreational fishing and boosting the regional economy. NOAA also leads the Chesapeake Bay Program educational task force, which provides expertise and coordination that lead to policies that support environmental literacy throughout the watershed. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which connects Virginia's east coast to its mainland (in the Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Chesapeake metropolitan areas), is approximately 20 miles (32 km) long; it has trestle bridges and two two-mile-long (3.2 km) sections of tunnels that allow unimpeded transportation; the bridge is supported by four 5.25-acre (21,200 m) artificial islands.
Missids are important mesozooplankton prey for many fish species in Chesapeake Bay and are an important link in the transfer of energy from lower to higher trophic levels. Over time, communities surrounding Chesapeake Bay formed confederations such as the Powhatan, Piscataway and Nanticoke. Over the past 30 years, the average water temperature in Chesapeake Bay has increased by 1 degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Starting in 1978, numerous expeditions were launched in the hope of successfully discovering what was left of the Chesapeake Bay flotilla.
NOAA works with other agencies and organizations to restore oyster reefs in the Maryland and Virginia waters of Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay watershed extends approximately 524 miles from Cooperstown, New York, to Norfolk, Virginia. Below are some facts and figures about Chesapeake Bay and its watershed to illustrate how these resources contribute to residents and visitors from Maryland. Despite their central role in coastal food webs, surprisingly little is known about the ecology and dynamics of the missids in Chesapeake Bay.
More information about the bay, including its history and its effect on regional culture, can be found at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. I planned to spend my days sailing, eating as many blue crabs from Chesapeake Bay as possible and studying a little about the inhabitants of the East Coast. The European colonists who populated Chesapeake Bay in the late 17th and early 18th centuries brought with them industrial agricultural techniques. The arrival of the English colonists Sir Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert in the late 16th century to found a colony, which was later established on Roanoke Island (off the current coast of North Carolina) for the Virginia Company, marked the first time that the English approached the gates of Chesapeake Bay, between the capes of Cape Charles and Cape Henry.