We first became aware that this week is “Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week” on Friday, while reading about it in a daily paper.

We checked the Virginia Marine Resources Commission website. We couldn’t find anything about it there.

Google was the next resource. Lots of items note that from this year forward, the second week of June will be designated as Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week.

Not until the weekend did the first press release about the topic come to this newspaper, which serves two counties on the Chesapeake Bay. Not that it really matters; we are innately aware of the Chesapeake Bay, its importance, and the impact of its health upon our local economies.

Law or not, we who live here must be aware of the bay. Its salt permeates our bloodstreams. Its salt air increases our humidity. Its northeast storms bring flooding and pounding waves, and the resulting erosion claims more land and increases the bay area. Then the mosquitoes come; with the threat of Zika virus, ...