ANEP: About Estuaries

About Estuaries:
Insights on the NEPs - Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP) is a partnership of local governments surrounding Tampa Bay, agencies responsible for water resource management, and a host of technical and citizen advisors. Following adoption of a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) in 1997 to guide bay restoration, TBEP partners signed a landmark agreement pledging to implement the CCMP. TBEP’s industry partners committed to do their part through a separate Nitrogen Management Action Plan developed by a consortium of industry, governments, and agency leaders.

Highlights of progress toward CCMP goals through 2003 include:

Habitat and Water Quality
The goal of recovering approximately 12,000 acres of underwater seagrasses took a step backward between 1996 and 1999 when a 2000-acre loss was recorded, probably the result of record-breaking El Nino rains. However, more than 1,200 acres were regained from 2000-2002, putting seagrass recovery back on track.

Currently, 30 habitat restoration projects totalling 3,000 acres are planned or underway in the bay watershed. More than 2,300 acres of estuarine habitat had been restored by the end of 2003, including 370 acres of low-salinity tidal streams - a critical habitat for juvenile fish.

Fish and Wildlife
An extensive network of local and state manatee protection zones has been adopted in Tampa Bay. These zones are reinforced by a strong educational program focused on providing tools and information that help boaters safely navigate in shallow areas where manatees feed and rest.
Colonial waterbird rookeries in Tampa Bay remain among the most diverse and important in the nation, annually attracting some 25,000 pairs of 26 different species of wading and shorebirds. A record 370 pairs of roseate spoonbills nested in Tampa Bay in 2004.

Spill Prevention and Response
A state-of-the-art Vessel Traffic and Information System is now operational on the bay, providing Tampa Bay Pilots with state-of-the-art navigational aids and real-time information about weather conditions to help safely navigate the 40-mile long shipping channel.

Dredging and Dredged Material Management
The first bay-wide Dredged Material Management Strategy, completed in 2000, reveals a 15 million cubic yard shortfall in capacity of approved disposal areas and presents a conceptual plan for addressing the shortfall through beneficial use of dredged material and other projects.

Public Education and Involvement
A cornerstone of TBEP’s outreach strategy is the Bay Mini-Grants program, which provides grants of up to $7,500 to community groups for bay restoration and education projects. As of 2004, TBEP has awarded more than $380,000 in Mini-Grants to more than 50 different organizations. Money for the program comes from sales of the Tampa Bay Estuary license tag, featuring a "silver king" tarpon.

New Issues
Four new, priority issues have been raised since adoption of the CCMP in 1997, including: (1) control of invasive species, spurred by the discovery of Asian green mussels in the bay; (2) better coordination of data and information exchange among bay partners; (3) coordinating development of Total Maximum Daily Load allocations for tributaries and lakes; and (4) an increasing incidence of algae blooms in the bay, indicating other potential water quality problems.
Please visit our website at http://www.tbep.org