The Maryland Coastal Bays Program (MCBP) is one of the 28 United States

National Estuary Program In the United States, the National Estuary Program (NEP) provides grants to states where governors have identified nationally significant estuaries that are threatened by pollution, land development, or overuse. Governors have identified a total of ...

s created in the 1987 Amendments to the

Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...

. The program, organized by the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

, is a non-regulatory federal-state-local collaboration working to restore water quality and conserve the natural resources of the bay system adjacent to

Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic resort town in Worcester County, Maryland along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 U.S. census, although during summer weekends the city hosts b ...

and

Assateague Island Assateague Island is a long barrier island located off the eastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula facing the Atlantic Ocean. The northern two-thirds of the island is in Maryland while the southern third is in Virginia. The Maryland sect ...

. The partnership works with municipalities, non-profits, governmental agencies, and businesses; and helps develop, find funding for, and implement projects and programs aimed at improving the health of the estuary. The partnership either directly implements these projects, or administers and manages grants, holds educational workshops and highlights project results. The program operates the Maryland Coastal Bays Foundation, a private, non-profit corporation which develops and implements of a Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan for Maryland’s Coastal Bays, and supports conservation and educational activities. The bays managed under the program are: *

Assawoman Bay Assawoman Bay (), once called Assawoman Sound, is a lagoon that is located between Ocean City, Maryland and mainland Delmarva. The bay is located on the northern end of the city, the bay on the southern end is called the Isle of Wight Bay. Anot ...

Chincoteague Bay Chincoteague Bay () is a lagoon between the Atlantic barrier islands of Assateague and Chincoteague and the mainland of Worcester County, Maryland and northern Accomack County, Virginia. At the bay's northern end, where it narrows between Assatea ...

Isle of Wight Bay Isle of Wight Bay is a lagoon that separates part of mainland Worcester County, Maryland from the midtown part of Ocean City, also in Worcester County. To the north, it connects to the Assawoman Bay just south of the Assawoman Bay Bridge, and to ...

* Newport Bay *

Sinepuxent Bay Sinepuxent Bay is an inland waterway which connects Chincoteague Bay to Isle of Wight Bay, and is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Ocean City Inlet. It separates Sinepuxent Neck, in Worcester County, Maryland from Assateague Island, and Wes ...

* St. Martin River.

Water quality

In 2021 the program reported that overall

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through ...

in the bays declined during 2019-2020, mainly associated with decline in

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families ( Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the ...

and

hard clam The hard clam ('' Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Princ ...

Nutrient pollution Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters (lakes, rivers and coastal waters), in which excess nutrients, usually nitrogen or ...

in the bays were at moderate levels, and the program continues to monitor for

harmful algal bloom A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are sometimes ...

s (HABs), which are often caused by excess nutrients.

Projects

The program has conducted environmental monitoring of HABs offshore from the bays, focusing on nutrient pollution and occurrences of '' Dinophysis,'' '' Karenia'' and '' Pseudo-nitzschia''. In 2021 the program worked with the

Maryland Department of Natural Resources The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is a government agency in the state of Maryland charged with maintaining natural resources including state parks, public lands, state forests, state waterways, wildlife, and recreation areas. ...

to establish a nesting project for

Common tern The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migrat ...

s on an artificial island in Chincoteague Bay.

References

{{authority control Charities based in Maryland Environmental organizations based in Maryland Coastal Bays United States Environmental Protection Agency