Mobile Bay National Estuary Program

The mission of the MBNEP is to promote wise stewardship of the water quality characteristics and living resource base of the Mobile Bay estuarine system. Administered through and funded by the EPA under provisions of the Clean Water Act of 1987, the initial task for the MBNEP was the development of a Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP) as a blueprint for conserving the estuary. Through the efforts of hundreds of participants and thousands of hours of volunteer time, our CCMP received final approval on April 22, 2002. The CCMP is updated every 5 years, taking environmental change into consideration. MBNEP works diligently to implement this plan and respond to emerging environmental challenges.

We are a non-regulatory program, so we implement the Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP) by bringing together citizens; local, state, and federal government agencies; businesses and industries; conservation and environmental organizations; and academic institutions to meet the environmental challenges that face the unique and imperiled resources that characterize our coastal estuaries. We engage these groups in determining how to best treat the Bay, our associated coastal waters, and their surrounding watersheds to ensure their protection and conservation for our lifetimes and beyond.