2944

JOINT RESOLUTIONS

The Chesapeake Bay

FOR the purpose of establishing and providing for the
appointment of a legislative advisory commission which
shall invite close cooperation with a counterpart
committee commission in the Commonwealth of Virginia to
review bistate and federal activities in the Chesapeake
Bay and investigate Bay management alternatives; and
directing the commission to make a preliminary report
by a certain time; and generally relating to management
and coordination of the Chesapeake Bay.

WHEREAS, The Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries and
wetlands is a single natural system shared and intensely
used by the State of Maryland and the Commonwealth of
Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Many aspects of Bay use and abuse, including
but not limited to injury to water quality, management of
migratory fowl, migratory fish, oysters and crabs, and
optimal organization of the great commercial shipping
interests of the Bay, substantially involve the joint
interests of the State and Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, The Maryland Commission on Intergovernmental
Cooperation has identified in its 1977 interim report the
need for improved coordination in Bay—wide management to
meet the long-term needs of the people of both Maryland and
Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Effective cooperation in and coordination of
Bay management has been stressed by the Commission, and in
reports by such citizen groups as the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation, the Citizens Program for the Chesapeake Bay,
Inc., the Citizens league of Baltimore, and the participants
in the Bistate Conference on the Chesapeake Bay, and many
other analyses directed toward optimal long-term balance in
the management of the Bay; and

WHEREAS, There is not now a single entity for any State

or bistate coordination and management of the Chesapeake

Bay; and

Whereas, Appropriate decisions cannot be made about the
present and future use, of the Port of Baltimore and other

Bay Ports until coordination and management of the Bay are

determined; and

WHEREAS, Some new mechanism for effective coordination
of management is urgently required and must involve the Bay
region of Maryland and Virginia with appropriate
participation by the federal government, regional
commissions and agencies, and local governments; and

WHEREAS, The potentials of such mechanisms as a Bistate