Word: baye
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...this bounty and the bay itself are now threatened. Watermen have been saying for years that the Chesapeake is dying. Now others are confirming their complaint. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, after making a $28 million six-year study, concluded in 1983 that the Chesapeake is clearly an ecosystem in decline. Says Maryland Governor Harry Hughes: "Time is running out for the Chesapeake. If we do not take action to save the bay, there may be no point in taking it tomorrow; it may be too late...
President Reagan concurs. Visiting with crabbers at the bay's Tilghman Island last week, he noted the deteriorating condition of the Chesapeake and, without specifying what he or his Administration would do, acknowledged that "the time for action...
Some of the damage stems from natural causes. But most of the bay's problems can be traced to man. Between 1950 and 1980, population in the bay's watershed increased from 8.5 million to 12.7 million, and the amount of sewage dumped into the Chesapeake's tributaries and into the bay rose accordingly. Industry in the Chesapeake watershed, which extends all the way to New York's Finger Lakes, also expanded...
...growth of the bay area's population has been accompanied by the peril of pollution. The EPA found high concentrations of such heavy metals as copper, cadmium and lead in rivers flowing into the bay from Baltimore, Washington and other cities; high levels of organic compounds, including PCB's, Kepone and DDT, were detected in Pennsylvania and Virginia rivers that flow into the bay...
...even greater source of concern is the destruction of the bay's submerged aquatic grasses. This vegetation produces the oxygen essential for the survival of marine life, stabilizes the shoreline against erosion and provides food for species ranging from ducks to fish to crab larvae. In 1971 this subaquatic plant life could be found in 30% of the Chesapeake and its tributaries. Now, says the EPA study, it can be found in only 4.5% of that area...