Chesapeake Poultry Initiative

The Delmarva Peninsula – the land-mass which makes up the eastern border of the Chesapeake Bay (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) – is one of the major centers of chicken production in the United States.  About 567 million chickens are produced in the region each year, and while most of those chickens are shipped to consumers around the world, their voluminous waste is left behind to flush into the rivers, streams and creeks that drain to the bay.

Latest Campaign News:

MD Nutrient Management Plans to Become Public Documents

Waterkeeper Challenges MD CAFO Permit - January, 2009

In November, 2007, Waterkeeper Alliance convened the Eastern Shore Poultry Summit. Waterkeeper Alliance Chairman Robert F. Kennedy Jr., local Waterkeepers, Maryland state officials, farmers and poultry industry representatives met to discuss the problem of poultry factory waste.

Read more about poultry pollution of the Chesapeake Bay:

Maryland's Dirty Secrets: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the need for transparency and accountability in Maryland's poultry industry. [Baltimore Sun, Jan. 24, 2008]

An Environmental Game of Chicken – Baltimore Sun, October 14, 2007

Don’t Chicken Out on Poultry Policing [Bay Weekly, October 18, 2007]

State Secrets: What Are They Hiding on Maryland Chicken Farms? [Waterkeeper Magazine, Fall 2007]