Number: 1984-24
WHEREAS, the Chesapeake Bay is the largest and most productive estuary in the United States, and one of the foremost estuaries in the world, producing finfish and shellfish in quantity and variety, recreation for millions of people, and providing for seagoing commerce, all of which are of great economic value to the Nation; and
WHEREAS, the biological productivity of the Chesapeake Bay has been declining at an increasing rate during the last half century; and
WHEREAS, a recent study of the Chesapeake Bay, conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has revealed that the decline in productivity of the Bay is the result of a complex combination of factors, including over-enrichment of the Bay waters, the presence of chemical pollutants, and damaging sedimentation, all of which originate primarily as a result of human activities in the drainage basin of the Bay; and
WHEREAS, if the impacts identified in the EPA studies remain unchecked, the quality of the Bay will continue to decline and will result in the loss of many of the values of the Bay, including an associated impact on the fisheries resources of the Atlantic Ocean, since many oceanic fish species depend upon this Bay during some part of their life cycle; and
WHEREAS, because the declining quality of the Bay is attributable directly to the effect of human activity, it is morally imperative that efforts be made to reverse this trend and to restore the Bay to a quality that will enhance and sustain its many resources in order that they will continue to provide a variety of benefits to humankind; and
WHEREAS, the success of such an effort will serve as a model to be applied to other estuaries that now or in the future may be subjected to the same or similar problems;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 15-18, 1984, in Atlanta, Georgia, hereby declares the quality and productivity of the Chesapeake Bay to be a matter of major and continuing concern to the National Wildlife Federation because of the estuary’s national and international importance; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges the U.S. Government, including the Congress of the United States, to support funding and provision of other resources necessary to assist in the cleanup of the Bay, and to assure the development and conduct of management efforts as may be necessary to enhance and protect the quality of the Bay and its resources; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges that the legislatures and officials of the States of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia recognize that activities in those states affect the quality of the Bay, and that they take actions, through establishment of policy, legislation, regulation, appropriation of funds, enforcement, and public education that will lead to improvements in water and air quality, living resources management and citizen understanding of the values of this vital national resource, to help assure its improvement and protection for the benefit of future generations.