Hoyer Receives State of the Bay Report
Posted by Congressman Steny Hoyer
Pax Leader II
Photo by Jeffrey Clark
Tuesday, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) met with senior leadership from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) to discuss their recent 2012 State of the Bay report and the need to continue efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
“I’d like to thank the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for their briefing today on their 2012 State of the Bay report,” stated Congressman Hoyer. “Their findings show that we have made progress in cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, but we must continue to work together to restore our local waterways. Throughout my career, I have worked hard to secure the resources needed to improve the health of the Bay and its tributaries, which is important to our environment and economy. I will continue to work with the Foundation, as well as federal, state, and local officials, to further the progress we have made to ‘Save the Bay’ and improve our waterways for future generations.”
The CBF State of the Bay report assesses the Chesapeake Bay’s health related to pollution, habitat, and fisheries on a scale from 1 to 100. This year the Bay received a score of 32, an improvement of one point since 2010. The CBF considers the Bay to be saved when it reaches a score of 70. The CBF evaluates thirteen indicators to determine health of the Bay: nitrogen, phosphorous, dissolved oxygen, water clarity, toxics, forested buffers, underwater grass, wetlands, resource lands, rockfish, oysters, blue crabs, and shad. Among those indicators, phosphorous levels, dissolved oxygen, resource lands, oysters, and blue crabs improved in the 2012 report. Click here to view the full report.
