The Coastal Bays Program

What is the Coastal Bays Program?

Part of the National Estuary Program, the Coastal Bays Program is a partnership among the towns of Ocean City and Berlin, National Park Service, Worcester County, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Maryland Departments of Natural Resources, Agriculture, Environment, and Planning, which have come together to produce the first ever management plan for the coastal bays.

Established in 1987 under the Clean Water Act, the National Estuary Program was developed to protect economically and environmentally sensitive estuaries across the United States by engaging all user groups.

The Coastal Bays Program is one of only 28 such programs nationwide.

The Coastal Bays Program protects the land and waters of Assawoman, Isle of Wight, Sinepuxent, Newport, and Chincoteague bays.

Maryland's coastal bays make up one of the richest, most diverse estuaries on the eastern seaboard. For more than a century, agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, and more recently tourism, have sustained ways of life built on the land and water resources in this coastal community.

To the east of Route 113, the 175-square-mile watershed of the coastal bays includes Berlin, Ocean City, parts of Snow Hill and Pocomoke and the Assawoman, Isle of Wight, Sinepuxent, Newport, and Chincoteague bays.

Here, more than 300 species of migratory waterfowl, songbirds, and birds of prey seek the shallow bays for food and shelter. Rare species of plants and animals join blue crabs, flounder and clams in calling this estuary home.

At the same time, the coastal bays' multi-million-dollar tourism industry is fueled by 11 million annual visitors who flock to the coastal bays to fish, boat, swim or just enjoy the atmosphere in their favorite bayside restaurant.

But the history of this unique estuary extends beyond its marketability. A way of life in this community for over 400 years, farming and forestry continue to define the character and culture of this rustic jewel. Today, Worcester's forests and 474 farms contribute hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the local economy. Both also provide the open space and natural land essential to the wildlife which calls this part of the Eastern Shore home.

Yet these very attractions are paving the way for additional stress on the land and water resources that make up this coastal paradise. Population trends suggest that Worcester County will double in size east of Route 113 by the year 2020. Balancing growth with natural resource protection will be the ultimate challenge this estuary faces in the next millennium.

To achieve this balance, Worcester County residents from all walks of life have been working together to devise common sense ways of protecting the bays behind Ocean City and Assateague. This effort, the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, has culminated in a comprehensive conservation and management plan aimed at preserving this precious coastal resource.

Created by representatives from the development, farming, golf, tourism, and fishing industries, the plan represents a consensus of the best means needed to preserve the economic and ecological prosperity of the coastal bays in the next century. With help from local, state and federal planners and scientists, the strategies in this plan include reachable scientific goals and the most effective means for implementing them.

This plan, which you can download on this website, pinpoints conservation goals and the strategies needed to accomplish those goals. The plan also depicts how much each strategy will cost, who will be responsible for implementing it, and a timetable for implementation of each strategy. An Implementation and Finance Plan shows how each strategy will be funded.

Community support has created this plan and will drive it in the future. Ultimately it is the residents of this estuary who are the arbiters of its prosperity.

posted: 05 Feb 2004

This site is a

content management system.

Home | About Us | Contact Us | Site Directory
Copyright 2007 - Coastal Bays Program
Questions? Email: mcbp@mdcoastalbays.org