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Many of us who have grown up in Virginia spent our vacations on the Chesapeake Bay. We remember those magic days of endless summer spent fishing, swimming, clamming, sailing, crabbing and yes, evading the biting nettles of jellyfish. The Bay was perfect for children, its beaches clean and uncrowded, its waters clear and unpolluted, its waves child-sized and missing the undertow and currents of ocean shores.
But this rich estuary, the largest in the nation, is healthy no longer. Recent studies show that its underwater grasses so necessary for aquatic life are dying. The populations of shellfish and finfish are dwindling, victims of pollution.
If the deterioration isn’t reversed, it will have an impact on us all. Most directly affected will be the watermen who support themselves with the Chesapeake’s rich harvest of oysters, crabs, clams and fish. Indirectly, we will all pay along with the watermen as, deprived of their livelihood, they must accept help from social welfare programs to survive.
The Indian name Chesapeake means “the great river in which fish with hard shell coverings abound.” When the shellfish and finfish no longer abound, when the seafood industries die out along with their catch, we will all pay as well through higher prices for food.
And, just as importantly, we will all feel the loss of an important part of our heritage. Virginia’s first civilization belonged to the Indians who reaped the rich bounty of the Bay. Early European settlers on this continent made their homes along its banks.
Next week, Governor Charles Robb will meet with the governors of Pennsylvania and Maryland, Washington’s Mayor Barry and federal representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency to work out the
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