Government
What I Learned Trawling for Trash in the Chesapeake Bay
No one knows how much garbage is lurking beneath the bay’s waters. So I went on an expedition with plastic hunters to find out.
THE CHESAPEAKE BAY—Sailing down the Rhode River along Maryland’s Western Shore is certainly a blissful way to wring one more day out of the long Labor Day weekend. All the sails gracing the waters of the Chesapeake Bay look like flags raised in a pledge of allegiance to summer vibes.
Unlike other boaters out on the water on Tuesday, Julie Lawson was looking for trouble. She finds it everywhere she looks on the bay, though it’s nearly invisible to anyone else: plastic. In particular, particulate plastic. The Chesapeake Bay is brimming with tiny bits of it. And no one knows how much.