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BARNEGAT BAY ESTUARY PROGRAM DRAFT FINAL COMPREHENSIVE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN
Citation:
BARNEGAT BAY ESTUARY PROGRAM DRAFT FINAL COMPREHENSIVE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., 2000.
Description:
The Barnegat Bay Estuary is a 75-square-mile environmentally sensitive estuarine system, consisting of aquatic vegetation, shellfish beds, finfish habitats, waterfowl nesting grounds, and spectacular vistas. Its 660-square-mile watershed is now home for approximately 500,000 people, a population which more than doubles during the summer season. Municipalities on the barrier islands bordering the bay on the east may experience a ten-fold increase in population. Moreover, the entire watershed has undergone dramatic growth since 1950. During the 1990s the municipalities surrounding the bay reported population expansions that on average exceeded 20 percent. The development accompanying the increasing population growth has resulted in land use changing from principally undeveloped and agricultural to suburban. Boat traffic, including personal watercraft, has also significantly grown on the bay, raising concerns with respect to both use conflicts and the cumulative impacts on the bay's water quality. The magnitude and intensity of different land uses in the Bamegat Bay watershed are having significant, and often degrading, effects. Surface and groundwater quality in the watershed are being degraded by nonpoint sources of pollution. The relationship between land use and water quality and quantity has been clearly established. It is generally recognized that the increase in impervious surfaces associated with development exacerbates this situation by reducing the opportunities for infiltration of water into the ground. Development also impacts the estuary's fisheries and other biological resources through nonpoint source pollution and habitat loss. It is the cumulative impacts of everyday activities in the Barnegat Bay watershed that are slowly degrading the environmental quality of this sensitive ecosystem. An assessment of the estuary, presented in Chapter Two, indicates that human activities in the watershed and estuary have led to measurable degradation of water quality, destruction of natural habitats, and reduction of living resources in the system.