Monitoring

Monitoring the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries allows us to detect changes that take place, reveals trends over time and improves our understanding of the natural world.

Scientists from Maryland Department of Natural Resources and University of Maryland's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory show us key methods for tracking nutrient levels and determining the health of the Chesapeake Bay. (Steve Droter/Chesapeake Bay Program)

Monitoring the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries allows Bay Program partners to detect changes that take place in the ecosystem, reveals trends over time that can provide valuable information to policy makers and improves our understanding of the natural world. The Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program, which began in 1984, is a Bay-wide cooperative effort involving watershed jurisdictions, several federal agencies, 10 institutions and over 30 scientists.