Chesapeake Bay Facts
- LENGTH: 200 miles.
- WIDTH: varies: 4 miles at the Bay Bridge to 30 miles at the mouth of the Potomac River.
- DEPTH: average depth is 21 feet, maximum depth is 175 feet near Bloody Point,
Md.
- MILES OF SHORELINE: 11,000 miles. (The same as the distance from New York to Los Angeles and back to New York.)
- SURFACE AREA OF SHORELINE: 4,400 square miles.
- WATERSHED: 64,000 square miles in 6 states and Washington, D.C.
- POPULATION: 12.7+ million people. By 2020 - the population is projected
to be 16.3 million.
- Chesapeake is a Native American word meaning "Great Shellfish Bay".
- The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States.
- There are 15,000 streams covering 100,000 miles that feed into the Bay.
(That's four times around the world!)
- There are 600,000 acres of marshlands (wetlands). Marshlands and adjoining woodlands provide a natural habitat for over 2,700 species of plants and animals.
- 90% of the Bay’s fresh water comes from l0 major river systems, and 50% of it comes from the Susquehanna River.
- Between 10,000 and 15,000 watermen and women work the Bay.
- Women hold 9% of all Maryland crabbing licenses and about 4% of all commercial oystering licenses.
- Shipping to Maryland Ports provides 1 out of 10 jobs in Maryland (directly and indirectly).
- 120,000 pleasure boats are registered in Maryland.
- The Bay provides more blue crabs than anywhere in the world.
- The Bay has two outlets to the ocean - one through the natural opening at the Virginia Capes (Cape Charles and Cape Henry), and the other through the man-made Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.