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DELAWARE INLAND BAY COMPREHENSIVE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN
Citation:
Impact/Purpose:
Healthy Waters
Description:
The Inland Bays Estuary Program began in 1988 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) convened a Management Conference at the request of Governor Michael Castle. A Management Conference is an organized group of committees charged with deciding what actions to take to protect or restore an estuary: a biologically productive waterway where fresh water drained from the land mixes with salt water from the ocean. Under the federal Clean Water Act, which established the National Estuary Program, Management Conferencesmust carry out seven major tasks to improve estuaries like the Inland Bays:
- Assess trends in the estuary's water quality, natural resources, and uses.
- Identify causes of environmental problems by collecting and analyzing data.
- Assess pollutant loadings in the estuary and relate them to observed changes in water quality, uses, and natural resources. (These first three required tasks comprise the characterization of the Bays. See Appendix F. The Characterization of the Inland Bays and Chapter 2. State of the Bays.)
- Recommend and schedule priority actions to restore and maintain the estuary and identify the means to carry out these actions
- the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.
- Ensure coordination on priority actions among federal, state, and local agencies involved in the conference.
- Monitor the effectiveness of actions taken under the CCMP.
- Ensure that federal assistance and development programs are consistent with the goals of the plan.
URLs/Downloads:
Delaware Inland Bays CCMP (PDF, NA pp, 32510 KB, about PDF)Delaware Inland Bays, Chapters 1-5 and Appendices
Delaware Inland Bays (PDF, NA pp, 6454 KB, about PDF)