MBNEP Updates State Of The Bay

The Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) recently updated its 204-page State of the Bay publication, David Rainer of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced. MBNEP Director Jason Kudulis said there was an extensive effort to provide a status report on an ecosystem that encompasses not only Mobile Bay, but also the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and other estuaries that flow into the bay. “The Bay is just such a large system with so many influences and inputs,” Kudulis said. “This is our best concerted effort since 2008 to try to synthesize all of those different data points, regarding not only marine-based science, but also ecosystem management, land-use changes, geography and changes in population. We had to take all those ingredients and distill [them] into this pot of gumbo that gives us some kind of indication of where we’re at currently in the health and vitality of Mobile Bay system. It’s a comprehensive science-based snapshot of coastal health. The good news is we’ve had these generational, once-in-a-lifetime investments over the past 10-plus years as a result of [the] Deepwater Horizon [oil spill settlement].” Kudulis added that there is ongoing research to determine the effects of human activity, climate variability and extreme weather.