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, who 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 CBP, a non profit 501(c)(3), is of 28 such programs nationwide.