MARYLAND - The Maryland Coastal Bays Program has unveiled its 2019-2020 Coastal Bays Report Card, an annual assessment on the health of the Maryland Coastal Bays, the five bays located behind Ocean City and Assateague Island.
The Report Card provides a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of the health of the Coastal Bays. Coastal Bays health is defined as the progress of four water quality indicators, and two biotic indicators toward scientifically derived ecological thresholds or goals. The six indicators are combined into one coastal bays health index, presented as a report card score. This year’s report combined two years of analysis due to analytical problems brought about by the Covid shutdown.
The Coastal Bays had an overall score of C+ for the combined 2019 and 2020 reporting cycle. The years were combined because of Covid shutdown which prevented timely water quality analyses. The current grade is a slight decline from the 2017 grade of B-, the last year data for all indicators were available for a complete analysis. The 2018 report card grade was incomplete due to complications of final indicator results.
This year’s data revealed that most areas remained unchanged except for Isle of Wight Bay and Newport Bay, which declined slightly. The main reason for the decline was due to decreased seagrass abundance and mixed hard clam results.
The Report Card is a scientific collaborative effort among the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science - Integration and Application Network, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the National Park Service. Funding for the publication is provided by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
This year’s report card release program included six Gold Star award presentations to recognize the contributions of partners and their efforts to protect the coastal bays. Recipients of this recognition were the Town of Berlin, the NOAA Youth Environmental Summit? Audubon Mid-Atlantic, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Maryland, local resident John Collins and volunteer group Protectors of the St. Martin River. The report card with the award highlights can be found at mdcoastalbays.org.
This years’ report card release program included the recognition of an extraordinary volunteer. MCBP’s prestigious Osprey Award was presented to Steven Taylor, Berlin, for his pioneering work in establishing the Coastal Bays Program and his continued support and leadership throughout the life of the Program.
Hundreds of volunteers work with MCBP, including residents and visitors, to support environmental initiatives to protect, promote, and preserve our coastal bays, by volunteering to count horseshoe crabs, terrapins, and birds; collect water samples, work on restoration projects, clean neighborhoods, wetlands, & dunes of trash, and assist in many other activities.
Part of the National Estuary Program, the Maryland Coastal Bays Program is a non-profit partnership among the towns of Ocean City and Berlin, the National Park Service, Worcester County, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Maryland Departments of Natural Resources, Agriculture, Environment, & Planning. One of only 28 such programs nationwide, the goal of the Maryland Coastal Bays Program is to protect and enhance the 175-square mile watershed, which includes Ocean City, Ocean Pines, Berlin, and Assateague Island National Seashore.
Report cards are available online at www.mdcoastalbays.org. If you would like to obtain copies for school projects and citizen groups, please contact Sandi Smith at sandis@mdcoastalbays.org or by calling 410-213-2297 ext. 106.