Environment
The Chesapeake Bay has defined life in Maryland since its beginnings. When European settlers discovered the Bay, it became the window to commerce between the Old and New Worlds. The Maryland Pilots serve as one of Maryland's most important environmental guardians of the Bay.
Commercial ships, so important to America's role in the global economy, are almost exclusively foreign-owned, regulated, and crewed by foreign mariners. Often, only one or two of the ship’s top officers speak or understand the English language. What, then, would they know about Maryland's concern for the Bay, much less about Maryland's rules to protect it? The answer is simple. The Maryland General Assembly has made sure that an environmental guardian, the Maryland Pilot, is at the conn of all foreign ships. The crew is informed of those rules on every visit to the Bay by that guardian. State law requires the Maryland Pilots to inform the Captains of all commercial vessels transiting the Bay of the State’s environmental laws as well of the penalties for violating these laws. After many years of training, the highly skilled Maryland Pilots navigate these narrow channels because the risk of running aground could, among other things, cause an environmental disaster. These are serious matters to Maryland, the Nation, and to the Pilots. Maryland’s Pilots are responsible to Marylanders for the safe, reliable and efficient passage of commercial vessels on our Bay.
