IV-280 

 stimulate a large petroleum refining and chemicals industry, even 

 though the raw materials for those manufactures must be imported. 



The Chesapeake Bay Biophysical Region 



The OBE economic area of the Maryland-Virginia coast corresponds 

 totthe Chesapeake Bay Biophysical Region. Although some of the 

 earliest settlements occurred adjacent to the Bay and Its related 

 rivers, the area's economy has developed later than those located 

 1n the North and Middle Atlantic regions. However, the area has 

 followed the pattern of beginning with extractive Industries built 

 upon the coastal natural resources of agriculture, forests and 

 fisheries, and then proceeding to develop a diversified economy. 

 In recent decades, this area has grown faster than the national 

 average, with civilian and military government located primarily in 

 the Washington Metropolitan Area and Hampton Roads, Newport News, 

 respectively, providing the impetus for much of the growth. The 

 Chesapeake Bay continues to provide an Important fisheries input 

 to the regional economy, but Its importance relative to other, 

 sometimes competing, economic activities such as primary metals, 

 transportation services and shipbuilding has declined and is pro- 

 jected to continue to decline in the future. 



The existence of a large steel producing plant at Sparrows Point 

 in the Chesapeake Bay is a further example of the development of 

 an industry highly dependent on the estuarine environment for trans- 

 port by ship, but not for other natural resources. 



