2023 STATE OF THE BAY

Dr. Marcus Beck, , Kerry Flaherty-Walia

Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Management Board Meeting

Feb, 2024

2023 SEAGRASS TRANSECT RESULTS

2023 SEAGRASS TRANSECT RESULTS

  • Gains observed in Old Tampa Bay and Hillsborough Bay

WATER QUALITY REPORT CARD

https://tbep-tech.github.io/wq-static/wq.pdf

Management

Regulatory

MANAGEMENT RESULTS

MANAGEMENT OUTCOMES

  • Matrix shows attainment of chlorophyll and light attenuation targets
  • All segments in 2023 as “Stay the Course”
  • More info at https://shiny.tbep.org/wq-dash/

REGULATORY OUTCOMES

  • Matrix shows attainment of chlorophyll threshold (red/green only)
  • All segments in 2023 met the annual threshold
  • More info at https://shiny.tbep.org/wq-dash/

CHLOROPHYLL BY SEASON

RAIN AS A DRIVER

PYRODINIUM IN 2023

TAKE HOME

  • Hopeful that 2022, 2023 water quality is a beginning to longer-term improvements
  • Hopeful that seagrasses will continue to rebound, but drought is not a management strategy
  • Stick to our nitrogen load reduction efforts, but investigate other management actions to kickstart seagrass recovery
  • Old Tampa Bay Assimilative Capacity Study ongoing this year

NEKTON RESULTS

  • Nekton index reports on the health of fish and inverts
  • Responds to water quality and habitat degradation
  • 2022 results show all bay segments as intermediate
  • More info at https://shiny.tbep.org/nekton-dash/

BENTHIC RESULTS

2023 HABITAT RESTORATION

NUMBER OF PROJECTS: 2021-2023

HABITAT MASTER PLAN PROGRESS

FOCUSING RESTORATION EFFORT

Prioritize

Keep it up

Doing fine

Seagrass, salt marsh, freshwater wetlands

Oyster bars, uplands (coastal/non-coastal)

Mangroves




Questions??


Marcus Beck,

Kerry Flaherty-Walia,

https://tbep.org/estuary/state-of-the-bay

EXTRA SLIDES

PYRO vs WATER QUALITY SAMPLING

Tampa Bay Estuary Program 2023 State of the Bay