The Chesapeake Bay is the largest tidal estuary in the United States. Beginning in the glacial lakes of upstate New York, its basin stretches from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania and Maryland to the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia’s southern tip. For centuries, its brackish waters have supported major American fisheries—especially blue crabs, oysters, and striped bass. Then and now, the people who work this Bay shape a regional economy and culture built on tides, seasons, and their trades. This is where our seafood comes from, now and always.
First harvested for its edible bounty by Indigenous tribes, the Chesapeake Bay has been a major American commercial fishery for more than 300 years. Its brackish mix of tidal saltwater and freshwater created an estuarine system that supports a wide range of wildlife, including species like blue crabs, striped bass, menhaden, and oysters.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Bay produced more oysters than anywhere else in the world. Maryland and Virginia developed large-scale commercial oyster industries, supported by fleets of skipjacks, buyboats, and tonging vessels. Oystering was the primary economic engine for the region—generating jobs in harvesting, packing, shipping, and boatbuilding.
As oyster populations declined, the blue-crab fishery grew in importance throughout the 20th century, with crab pots and trotlines becoming key harvesting tools. Crabs—both soft- and hard-shelled—became a defining staple of the region’s economy and cuisine, as it remains to this day.
Striped bass—locally known as rockfish—have long been a prized catch of the Chesapeake, with periods of decline followed by strict management and recovery efforts. Menhaden, a significant food source for rockfish, harvested primarily for bait and fishmeal, also remain a major component of the Bay’s ecological balance.
Despite environmental stresses, overfishing pressure, and regulatory challenges, the Chesapeake continues to be one of the most historically significant and biologically productive estuaries in North America. Its fisheries shaped the identity of the Mid-Atlantic, as well as the early United States, and remain vital to its culture and economy. We’re proud to call it our home.
