Agency on Bay Management

COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION CASE STUDY

Willingness to Work Together Overcomes Obstacles

Location: Southeastern

Project Summary: The Agency on Bay Management (ABM) is a 20-year collaboration of resource stakeholders focused on the wise management of Tampa Bay.

Three lined ponds and one partially lined pond are situated atop the Piney Point phosphogypsum stack ponds. (Photo Credit: FL Dept. of Envionmental Protection)

Resource Challenge

Throughout the late 1970s, untreated sewage discharge, rampant dredge-ﬁll to create developable waterfront, and unregulated industrial activity destroyed more than 50 percent of Tampa Bay’s natural shoreline and severely degraded its aquatic habitats. The industrial, municipal, conservation, and ﬁsheries-dependent communities were widely polarized, with no existing mechanism to bring the disparate interests together to address resource problems

Examples of Key Partners

The counties and cities bordering Tampa Bay; four regional, ﬁ ve state, and four federal agencies; three port authorities; four nonproﬁ t environmental, recreation, and conservation groups; eight industrial and commercial users of Tampa Bay; and three research institutions

Results and Accomplishments

The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council established the Agency on Bay Management (ABM) in 1985 as the primary organization committed to managing the Tampa Bay estuary. It provides a broad based forum for discussing the myriad issues involving the estuary and advocates for Bay restoration. Sound science and economics meet in consensus-based recommendations that are dramatically improving habitat and water quality while supporting a thriving economy. The ABM achievements include:

Established the Piney Point Task Force to help the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) manage an abandoned phosphogypsum operation that was contributing nutrient-laden acidic process water.
Conceived the highly successful statewide Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) program, completing 59 habitat restoration and stormwater quality projects that restored 1,600 acres of coastal habitat and signiﬁcantly improved the Bay’s seagrass habitat and water quality.
Formed the Manatee Protection Strategies Task Force, generating management recommendations that were later incorporated into boating regulations and voluntary protection measures.
Organized and produced the 1991 Proceedings of the Bay Area Scientiﬁc Information Symposium (BASIS 2), using information collected about the Tampa Bay Watershed, and put together the 1996 BASIS 3 proceedings, discussing research to protect, restore, and manage the bay’s estuary.
Produced the annual State of Tampa Bay report for the public for 16 years, recently replaced by Bay Soundings, an independent quarterly publication dedicated to reporting the challenges, programs, and successes in the Tampa Bay estuary and its watershed

Innovation/Highlight

Created a single forum for constructive dialogue to regularly address bay-wide problems and gain buy-in on solutions. The 20-year commitment to ABM participation is a striking testament to the importance of collaborative management to all involved parties.

Project Contact

Suzanne Cooper
Principal Planner
Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council

,
727-570-5151 x 32
suzanne@tbrpc.org

Website: http://www.tbrpc.org/abm/default.htm

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