Speakers:

Matt Stegman, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Maryland Staff Attorney

Johnny Shockley, Blue Oyster Environmental, Founder and Lifelong Waterman

Are you aware that the Chesapeake Bay watershed encompasses six states, includes more than fifty major feeder rivers, and is home to more than 3,600 species of plants and animals and 18 million people? While many of us enjoy the Chesapeake Bay, few of us really understand the ever-evolving health of this complex ecosystem that includes wildlife habitats, forests, farms, cities, suburbs, heavy industry, and wastewater treatment plants. 

For more than fifty years, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) has been hard at work using science to help educate and advocate for legislation and policies to protect the bay’s complex ecosystem. Each year, CBF supports more than 22,000 actions at the local, state, and federal levels, to help “save the bay.” As captains whose work and livelihoods depend on a healthy Chesapeake Bay, CAPCA members are uniquely positioned to understand and take action to protect the waters that we navigate. 

Join us for a briefing of key priorities that will impact the Chesapeake Bay during the 2025 Maryland General Assembly legislative session. We’ve intentionally timed this CAPCA program to occur midway through the session (January 8 to April 7) so that interested stakeholders can urge policy makers to support a healthy and sustainable ecosystem. 

In addition to hearing from CBF, we welcome Johnny Shockley, a lifelong waterman and aquaculture entrepreneur, who will describe how he works with industry partners (including CBF), legislators, and other watermen to envision new opportunities that strengthen local economies while benefiting the bay.  

This presentation will be held online. A Zoom link will be posted on the home page one week before the program.

Matt Stegman is the Maryland Staff Attorney for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, helping to lead CBF's legislative and regulatory policy advocacy. Prior to assuming this role, he spent time in local government working for the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore and nearly a decade as staff at the Maryland House of Delegates. Matt lives in the Stony Run watershed in Baltimore City with his wife, two children, and dog. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, fishing, and obsessively following the Cleveland Guardians.

As a third-generation waterman from Hoopers Island, Johnny crabbed and oystered on the Chesapeake for 30 years. Intrigued by the opportunities surrounding aquaculture, he launched Hoopers Island Oyster Company to create a sustainable oyster population and provide a new way forward for Maryland’s Watermen. In 2019 Johnny co-founded Blue Oyster Environmental to accelerate the growth of oyster aquaculture and the health of the Chesapeake Bay. In addition to BOE & HIOC, Johnny serves on Maryland’s Agriculture Commission and MD’s Oyster Advisory Commission.