State Sen. Richard H. Stuart (R., 28th District) is launching a public-private Virginia task force of various local, state and federal officials, environmental and conservation groups and interested individuals for an all-out attack on Chesapeake Bay pollution aimed at restoring the estuary’s health.

Named the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Task Force, Stuart announced the effort Thursday at an organizational meeting of the new Virginia State Waterman’s Association at the Virginia Watermen’s Museum in Yorktown.

His objective, Stuart said, is to hold educational workshops in the Bay region and to develop legislation and other approaches to fix the Bay’s problems. He said he hopes to expand the effort with similar task forces elsewhere in the Bay watershed, especially in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

“This is absolutely a non-partisan group,” says Stuart. “We are not seeking individuals with political agendas. The only agenda members of this task force will have is to fix the Chesapeake Bay.”

Stuart grew up in Westmoreland County and as a youth worked as a waterman on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

“The condition into which we have let the Bay and its tributaries lapse is nothing less than criminal,” says Stuart. “Having grown up on the water and crabbed and fished all my life, I’m afraid now to let my children swim in the Potomac River. This precious watershed must be restored.”

As the task force’s organizer, Stuart already has brought on board Congressman Rob Wittman (R., 1st District); State Sens. Ralph Northam (D., 6th District) and Ryan T. McDougle (R., 4th District), members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources; House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell (R., 28th District); Del. Albert C. Pollard, Jr. (D, 99th District); Del. Harvey B. Morgan (R., 98th District), chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources; and R. Michael McKenney (D), a member of the Virginia State Water Control Board and Northumberland County commonwealth’s attorney.

Stuart said he also will seek to enlist the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Virginia Farm Bureau, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, The League of Conservation Voters, The Virginia State Waterman’s Association, and others who exhibit a clear dedication to restoring the Bay.

Volunteers are being sought, Stuart said, to work with the task force in organizing and carrying out the regional educational workshops.