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If you look at the Bay today on a map you can see that it almost cuts Maryland in half. It is the first thing that you notice about our state. Its deepest part is 175 feet, but mostly it is fairly shallow. It is 195 miles long and has almost 4,000 miles of shoreline. These 4,000 miles are surrounded by a lot of tidal marsh land that is home for many animals. These marshes are affected each day by the rising and falling tides. The water in the Bay is brackish, which means part fresh - from the Susquehanna River and all the other rivers that flow into it- and part salt - from the Atlantic Ocean. That water mix makes the Bay a good home for many fish and shellfish. Because of this, we have to take care of the Bay. It provides homes for wildlife, places for people to fish and swim, and food for us and jobs for a lot of people. In fact, because 3 million people live within 20 miles of the Chesapeake Bay, it gets a lot of use, and a lot of pollution. It's pretty sad that waste is dumped into the Chesapeake Bay and is ruining it for animals and people. There are a lot of programs to help the Bay so it will be a beautiful place for tomorrow. You can find out about some of them by going to the places on our links page. |