The Second Biennial Progress Report

Published:

April 1, 1997

Originator:

Chesapeake Bay Program

EPA Number:

EPa 903-R-97-014

The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP), established in 1983 by the signing of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, is approximately 200 miles long and varies in width between five and twenty-five miles. Its watershed comprises 64,000 square miles and stretches from Cooperstown, NY, in the north, to Norfolk, Va, in the south, where the Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It includes some of America's most scenice ad historic reivers, including the Susquehanna, Potomac, James, York, and Rappahannock. The estuary, whose name derives from a Native American work meaning "great Shellfish Waters," is well known for its historically abundant and soci-economically significant production of fish and shellfish and for its beauty and recreational pleasures. The Chesapeake Bay Program relies on wide public support of its goals in carrying out it multi-faceted missions; it employs methods that go beyond environmental laws and regulation by stressing voluntary compliance, strong commitments, and measurable goals.