The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay holds eighteen hundred trillion gallons of water and stretches over 200 miles in length between its most northern point, the Susquehanna River to the Bay’s most southern tip, the Atlantic Ocean. Home to more than seventeen million people, the Chesapeake Bay is the primary water source for over 150 rivers and streams. Because of the vast amount of rivers and streams the bay feeds, this watershed impacts the lives of citizens on the eastern shore spanning a total of six U.S. states. The importance of the Chesapeake Bay is incredible; two of the United States’ five major North Atlantic ports – Baltimore and Hampton Roads – are on the Bay. (Chesapeake Bay Program, n/d). The highly productive ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay provides food and shelter for a wide variety of plant and animal life in and surrounding the Bay. The critical natural resources the bay provides stimulates economic growth and has for centuries.
One of the bays biggest resources is oysters. Oysters are filter feeders which mean they pump water through their gills trapping algae, sediments and nutrients as they release clean the water back into the bay. The material collected through the oysters digestive process forms crystallized layers of nutrient rich matter which sometimes develop into pearls. Filtering the water provides food for the the oysters to grow and also helps to continuously clean the Chesapeake Bay. One oyster can filter fifty gallons of water within a twenty-four hour period according to many sources. Oysters were once able to filter the entire bay in about a week, however, these creatures are now scarce in the bay. The Chesapeake Bay’s oyster, also known as (crasso...
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...es for oysters which combats over harvesting as well. All these resolutions are helping to increase the bay's oyster population.
Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay are struggling right now. “Maryland, Virginia, and their federal partners are faced with a historic opportunity. An exhaustive five-year study concluded that importing a foreign oyster is the wrong approach and that restoration of the native oyster should be scaled up and focused.”(cbf 2010). With new plans President Obama put in place, the oyster restoration program is on the right path. “President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order for the Chesapeake Bay in 2009, and in response the federal government set a goal of rebuilding functioning networks of oyster reefs in 20 tributaries by 2025.”(cbf 2010). This type of forward thinking is going to increase the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population.
silence. Living from “hand to mouth” induced the gold miners to only be able to
The Chesapeake and New England regions were settled by people of English descent, but by 1700, they had become two distinctly different societies. They had evolved so differently, mainly because of the way that the settlers followed their religion, their way of conducting politics and demographics in the colonies. Even though the settlers came from the same homeland: England, each group had its own reasons for coming to the New World and different ideas planned for the colonies.
The Crusades of the middle ages introduced much innovative and formerly unheard of merchandise into Western Europe; however the scarcity of these luxury goods instilled Europeans with drive to find easier access to the Far East. Although desired "Northwest Passage" never was found, joint-stock companies, like the Virginia Company of London, settled colonies in the New World for untapped resources such as silver and other tradable goods. Many more corporations followed suit, settling mainly in the Chesapeake Bay area, their small settlements eventually developing into the Chesapeake colonies. The Chesapeake colonies were focused primarily on profitable enterprises. At the same time, the New England colonies were being settled with a whole different set of initiatives, principally religious freedoms and family. Governing bodies were established, with their success dependent on the quality of the settlers the colony attracted. The different motives for settlement affected the routine events in such a way that the New England and Chesapeake colonies differed very greatly from one another even though they were both mainly settled by the English.
Looking at the early English colonies in the Chesapeake Bay region, it’s clear that the English had not learned any lessons from their experiences at Roanoke. Poor planning, a bad location, unrealistic expectations, flawed leadership, unsuccessful relations with the local Indians, and no hope of finding the mineral wealth the Spanish found in Mexico, all contributed to failure. The first colonists in the Chesapeake region were not only ignorant, lazy and unambitious, but their attempts were hampered before they had begun. However, a solution to these problems was found in a single plant: tobacco. Nevertheless, this cash crop ultimately created numerous problems for the colonists. The ignorance and indolent acts of the Chesapeake colonists to unsuccessfully restore the colony by themselves led to the demise of the colony as a whole especially regarding the planting of agricultural goods for food.
During the 1600's, many people in the American colonies led very many different lives, some better than others. While life was hard for some groups, other colonists were healthy and happy. Two groups that display such a difference are the colonists of New England and Chesapeake Bay. New Englanders enjoyed a much higher standard of living. This high standard of New England's was due to many factors, including a healthier environment, better family situation, and a high rate of reproduction.
During the late 16th century and into the 17th century, European nations rapidly colonized the newly discovered Americas. England in particular sent out numerous groups to the eastern coast of North America to two regions. These two regions were known as the Chesapeake and the New England areas. Later, in the late 1700's, these two areas would bond to become one nation. Yet from the very beginnings, both had very separate and unique identities. These differences, though very numerous, spurred from one major factor: the very reason the settlers came to the New World. This affected the colonies in literally every way, including economically, socially, and politically.
During the 1700's, people in the American colonies lived in very distinctive societies. While some colonists led hard lives, others were healthy and prosperous. The two groups who showed these differences were the colonists of the New England and Chesapeake Bay areas. The differentiating characteristics among the Chesapeake and New England colonies developed due to economy, religion, and motives for colonial expansion. The colonists of the New England area possessed a very happy and healthy life. This high way of living was due in part to better farming, a healthier environment, and a high rate of production because of more factories. The colonists of the Chesapeake Bay region, on the other hand, led harder lives compared to that of the colonists of New England. The Chesapeake Bay had an unhealthy environment, bad eating diets, and intolerable labor.
A community is a group of people who work together towards a common goal and share a common interest. Lack of such a quality can and most likely will cause a struggling town or city to fall into the extremes of poverty and wealth. The New England community was so strong and so supportive in comparison to that of the Chesapeake Bay, that it is no wonder they developed into two distinctly different cultures before the year 1700. The Chesapeake region developed into a land of plantations and money-driven owners, with the elite wealthy, almost no middle class, and those in poverty creating the population. New England, on the other hand, had developed into a religion and family based society comprised of mostly middle class families by 1700. Looking at the terrain, ethic, government, and even the people themselves, reveals clues about how the drastic split in society came to be. It was one America, but two distinct societies had developed in it by the 1700's.
The amazing part about the steps being taken to try to save the Chesapeake Bay is how much scientists and people who carry out legislation in the local and state governments are working together to try and create policies on businesses and people to
The Chesapeake Bay is a large estuary located on the east coast of the United States. The bay is over 200 miles long and goes through Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The bay has much to offer the locals. Many locals have made a career out of harvesting the bay's sea food. The bay's harvest and many of its other attractions bring tourists and in turn revenue for the area. Oysters and blue crab are a big part of the culture in the bay area. However, these organisms are in danger and need help.
The Long Island Sound is an estuary, and is in fact one of the largest in the world. An estuary is a place where salt water from the ocean mixes with fresh water from the rivers that drain from the land. Moreover, like other estuaries, the Long Island Sound has an abundance of fish and other waterfowl that add to the natural balance of the island, as well as one of the most important economic factors (Tedesco). Like other estuaries around the world, the Sound provides breeding, feeding, nesting, and nursery areas for many species that will spend most of their adult lives in the oceans (Long Island Sound Study). Despite these similarities to other estuaries, the Long Island Sound is unique from anywhere else in the world. Unlike other estuaries, the Long Island Sound does not just have one connection to the sea but it has two. It has two major sources of fresh water flowing into the bay that empty into the ocean. It combines this two-...
The Chesapeake Bay plays host to an astonishing amount of plant and animal life, providing much of our fish intake for species that aren’t being overfished. For the species that are being overdrawn, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is working to restore the populations, and it’s going well thus far. Another theme that is endangering the marine life populations as well as the health of the human population is the massive amount of polluti...
Globally coastal wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate, the problem is most of society does not realize the value of these precious wetlands. Coastal wetlands provide an important role in the coastal ecosystem. “Coastal wetlands provide critical services such as absorbing energy from coastal storms, preserving shorelines, protecting human populations and infrastructure, supporting commercial seafood harvests, absorbing pollutants and serving as critical habitat for migratory bird populations”(Anonymous, 2011). Coastal wetlands are an economical asset as well as an environmental one.
...tlanticcity.com>. Irwin, Neil. "Environmental groups pressure chefs on menus." Washington Post June 19, 2002. April 26, 2011 Miller, Michael. "Group says it won't move oyster farm to Delaware Bay" Press of Atlantic City, The. August 3, 2010. Press of Atlantic City online. Atlantic Cape Community College, Mays Landing, April 26, 2011 National Sea Grant Law Center. California Enacts Sustainable Oceans Act. 2006. University of Mississippi April 28, 2011. Naylor, Rosamon L.
Estuaries are special they occur in areas where freshwater meets and mixes with salty ocean waters. The term Estuaries refers to protected, nearshore waters, such as bays and lagoons. Estuaries are unique systems where two types of salt and fresh meet. The ebb and flow of tides may leave some plants and animals, such as seagrasses and oysters, temporarily high and dry. Shallow estuarine water temperatures can range from freezing to more than 100 degrees F during the course of a year. An estuaries isn’t consider an invasive nor native type of species. Estuarine organisms are naturally adapted to withstand these ranges in salinity, tides, and temperatures. Estuarine must have a balance flow of fresh and salt water. There are multiple ways to interrupt this