Wayne Gilchrest: “One last very brief comment on the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Chesapeake Bay itself, about 100 years ago, at the turn…”

“One last very brief comment on the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Chesapeake Bay itself, about 100 years ago, at the turn of the century, we took out of the bay on an annual basis up to 15 million bushels of oysters, 15 million. It was the engine that drove the economy of the State of Maryland and Virginia and, to some extent, Pennsylvania, for the commercial harvest, for the recreational activities, for all the spin-off economic resources that depended on the Chesapeake Bay, 15 million bushels the oysters. We are, in a good year now, in a very good year, down to 300,000 bushels of oysters. With this legislation, we can understand the nature of the mechanics of the ecosytem, how the food web works. Human activity degraded the bay; human ingenuity will restore it. I urge an aye vote on H.R. 642.”