FEATURED STORIES:
The State of the Bay Report
2019 TBERF Grantees
Nurdles: The Charismatic Macroplastic
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Presenting..
The 2019 State of the Bay Progress Report
Every three years the Tampa Bay Estuary Program releases a "State of the Bay" progress report highlighting the research, restoration, and community engagement and education efforts of the Program and its many partners. The report is distributed to our network of community members, policymakers, and environmental resource professionals in the region.
This year's report, highlighting the Program's accomplishments from 2016 to 2018, showcases projects as they relate to three guiding themes from our Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). Following core information on the TBEP, our management charge, and funding sources are 13 pages of the most up-to-date findings of the Bay's condition with input from our many valued partners. From water quality results to citizen science projects, the report speaks to the breadth of work our program has been involved in, ultimately concluding with "A Brief Look Ahead" at some of the projects our team is excited to bring to fruition in the near future.
While these reports serve as a sort of reflection, they are also a reminder of our responsibility to continuing filling these pages with stories of hard work and sound science. Our thanks and appreciations go out to our many partners, without whom these projects would not exist.
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8 Projects Awarded $770,000 Through Tampa Bay Environmental Restoration Fund
The Tampa Bay Estuary Program and Restore America's Estuaries (RAE) are pleased to announce the 2019 Tampa Bay Environmental Restoration Fund (TBERF) award recipients.
TBERF awards competitive grants to water quality improvement, habitat restoration, applied research, and innovative community outreach projects that contribute to our mission to protect and restore Tampa Bay and its watershed. To date, TBERF has provided more than $5.3 million to support 63 projects throughout the Tampa Bay watershed.
This year, 8 diverse projects have been awarded a combined total of more than $770,000.
Projects include:
- Kracker Avenue Restoration ($250,000)
- Philippe Park Living Shoreline Project ($180,000)
- Whiskey Stump Key Oyster Restoration ($77,052)
- Little Bird Key Shoreline Restoration ($37,349)
- MRSA in Tampa Bay ($70,872)
- Fish Assemblages, Habitat Connectivity & Red Tide Effects ($33,888)
- Maximo Park Water Quality Improvement and Habitat Restoration Project ($87,796)
- Red Tide Environmental, Social & Economic Impact Assessment ($40,000)
Click the link below to learn more about these projects.
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Nurdle Discovery in Tampa Bay Sparks Local Patrol Efforts
When Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve director Jace Tunnell started a citizen science project in 2018 called "Nurdle Patrol", he enlisted citizens to scour the shorelines of the Gulf of Mexico for small plastic pellets, also known as "nurdles". The goal of the Nurdle Patrol is to collect as much data as possible to better understand how plastic pollution spreads and address the pollution at its source. Although thousands have been collected across the Texas Gulf coast, it wasn’t until this April that the first nurdles were documented in Florida. Maya Burke, TBEP Science Policy Coordinator, discovered two nurdles on a beach near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
Since then, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program has been encouraging local citizens to join the Nurdle Patrol Facebook group where they can easily report findings from visits to local beaches. The discovery has also sparked an important conversation about how these plastic pellets got here and what they mean for the Gulf ecosystem.
Compared to the thousands of plastic pellets documented along the Texas coast, the presence of a few nurdles in the Tampa Bay region seems minor. However, Burke still encourages local residents to spend 10 minutes at the beach searching for these tiny plastics. "Even if you don't find any nurdles, that data is valuable!" She calls nurdles "charismatic macroplastics" and is hopeful that they help to raise awareness about other plastic pollution in Tampa Bay. Should you decide to embark on your own 10-minute patrol, any data you collect can be shared on the Nurdle Patrol Facebook page and on other resources like
NOAA’s Marine Debris Tracker App
(available in the app store). Citizen science efforts like this one is a fun and easy way to make a difference for Tampa Bay.
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TBEP staff went snorkeling to check out the hard bottom habitats found right here in Tampa Bay!
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Solutions To Avoid Red Tide (START)
and the TBEP were given the Natural Environment award at the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council's 27th Annual Future of the Region Awards.
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Terrie Dahl Thomas submitted this stunning sunrise photo to our State of the Bay Photo Contest, winning 1st place.
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TBEP Program Manager Misty Cladas accepted
Keep Pinellas Beautiful's
Outstanding Environmental Partner Award on behalf of the Estuary Program.
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Gary and Joe took a trip to the
Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI)
to check in on a TBEP funded
"continuous exposure" experiment to examine the ability of American oysters to grow when subjected to
Pyrodinium bahamense
in a controlled environment.
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EPA staffers Felicia Burks, John Bowie, and Amy Newbold spent a week with us checking out Bay Mini Grants, visiting RESTORE project sites, and sitting in on our Advisory Committee meetings.
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We 're looking for
a passionate environmental scientist with strong statistical and open data science skills to
join the TBEP team!
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↓ GET INVOLVED ↓
CLICK THE PICTURE TO LEARN MORE
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Friends of Crescent Lake Team Up to Launch Friends of Round Lake
July 4th
Bring your kids to the Friends of Crescent Lake table at Historic Uptown's July 4th Celebration at Round Lake. Enjoy kids activities like water cycle bracelets to make, estuary bookmarks to color, and posters of Florida's animals and plants. There will be Florida Friendly Landscape books for the grown-ups. All are free and provided by SWFWMD.
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Steward with Audubon Florida this Holiday Weekend.
July 4th - July 7th
St. Pete
As many of you know, the most popular beach weekends of the summer fall within the nesting season of various species of shore birds. Audubon Florida is encouraging volunteers to help protect these bird's ability to successfully raise their chicks by stewarding with them this weekend. All ages are welcome and you do not have to be a bird expert to make a difference. Contact Holley Short hshort@audubon.org to get involved.
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Be the Change. Sea the Change.
Tampa Bay Watch Coastal Clean Up.
Get ready for a DIY “Do it yourself” Coastal Cleanup! Tampa Bay Watch encourages YOU to hit those places in YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD where you’ve noticed sadly forgotten or misplaced trash. Everyone who lives in the Tampa Bay region is welcome to participate.
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Clean Beaches Week 2019
July 1st to July 7th is Clean Beaches Week, a week dedicated to the celebration of our beaches. The initiative invites community members from all around the world to visit their local beach, spend a few minutes picking up trash, and learn more by watching a documentary like Mission Blue, The Blue Planet, or A Plastic Ocean.
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About the Tampa Bay Estuary Program
The Tampa Bay Estuary Program is an intergovernmental partnership dedicated to restoring and protecting Tampa Bay, Florida's largest open-water estuary. The TBEP is one of 28 "Estuaries of National Significance" designated by Congress.
Our Policy Board is comprised of representatives from Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco and Pinellas counties; the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater; the Southwest Florida Water Management District; the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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EPA Chief Scientists:
Keeping Our Oceans Safe and Clean
Watch the video below to see how EPA Chief Scientists monitor ocean disposal sites like the Tampa Ocean Dredged Material Site in the Gulf.
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Produced by Joe Whalen
Joe@tbep.org
727.893.2765
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