TAMPA BAY WATCH INC

Tampa Bay Watch is working to preserve the delicate ecological balance that exists in Tampa Bay. A nonprofit organization established in 1993, Tampa Bay Watch performs a variety of habitat restoration and protection activities throughout the year, utilizing thousands of volunteers to help the bay recover from its environmental problems. Individuals of all ages from community groups, scout troops, schools and others participate in salt marsh plantings, storm drain markings, oyster bar creation, coastal cleanups, and wildlife protection each year, demonstrating environmental stewardship in its purest form.

The efforts of Tampa Bay Watch to restore and protect the bay's habitat through stewardship and community awareness provide effective long term improvements to the bay, and empower our community with the knowledge to counteract our environmental problems. Learning how to achieve and maintain a healthy environment is a legacy that will touch our children and their children for years to come.

In order to achieve our goals, on an annual basis, Tampa Bay Watch will construct 1,000 feet of new oyster shell reef communities, install ten acres of salt marsh and coastal native plant communities, construct and install 1,000 oyster domes along urban and eroding shorelines, accomplish community-based coastal cleanups three times each year in targeted locations, coordinate derelict crab trap removal events in priority areas and implement the fishing line removal event at area nesting sites. Staff follow monitoring protocols to assess value and function of all of these restoration activities. In regards to education, Tampa Bay Watch delivers advanced marine science based educational field trips and service-learning opportunities to Tampa Bay area schools and offers a summer camp program unique to the Gulf coast and Tampa Bay area. We seek corporate and private donor sponsorships/scholarship opportunities to support general education programs as well as Title I schools.

Incorporated in 1993, Tampa Bay Watch is the first organization of its kind in the southeastern United States and has proven highly effective in mobilizing the Tampa Bay community to participate in restoration and protection activities. The Tampa Bay estuary is one of the only estuaries in the nation to have shown significant indications of improved water quality due to the efforts of community habitat restoration projects. A great strength of Tampa Bay Watch is the support the organization receives from the community. Volunteers' participation in Tampa Bay Watch projects provides them with an investment in our environment and empowers them to spread the Tampa Bay Watch message to their friends and family. More than 250,000 volunteers, students, and campers, installed 15,000 oyster reef units and 2,500 tons of oyster shell to create more than two miles of oyster shell reef communities, planted more than 1,000,000 salt marsh grasses to restore 250 acres of coastal tidal ponds to Tampa Bay. In 2005, Tampa Bay Watch completed construction of the $4 million Marine and Education center in Tierra Verde, and in 2019 the new $3 million Discovery Center on the St. Pete Pier. In addition, the efforts of Tampa Bay Watch to restore and protect the bay's habitat through stewardship and community awareness provide effective long term improvements to the bay and empower the community with the knowledge to counteract environmental problems.

Peter Clark founded Tampa Bay Watch in 1993 and it has emerged as a celebrated community-based habitat restoration organization that has made a significant impact on improving the health of Tampa Bay. More than 10,000 youth and adult volunteers are involved each year in a variety of hands-on habitat restoration projects such as oyster dome and reef construction, salt marsh plantings and coastal cleanups to help the bay recover from its devastating environmental problems.

Oyster communities in Tampa Bay have been heavily impacted by construction activities and overfishing. Tampa Bay Watch's Community Oyster Reef Enhancement program accomplishes two types of oyster restoration programs, oyster reef balls (ORBs) and oyster shell bars, to create natural oyster communities similar to those found along the shoreline of Tampa Bay. ORBs and shell bars are placed along seawalls and shorelines to restore hard bottom habitat, improve water quality and reduce shoreline erosion. Tampa Bay Watch builds and installs 1,000 ORBs annually with the help of community volunteers.

In addition to the community-based habitat restoration projects, Tampa Bay Watch has a strong focus on environmental education. Bay Grasses in Classes is a coastal wetland nursery program initiated in 1994 by Tampa Bay Watch established at middle and high schools across Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties. Students monitor and maintain the nurseries which ultimately provide a source of native wetland plants for use in regional coastal habitat restoration projects. Since its inception, the BGIC program has restored over 170 acres of habitat in Tampa Bay. Additionally, BGIC has been duplicated by environmental organizations in Louisiana, North Carolina, Long Island Sound, Baltimore Harbor and others.

In 2005, Tampa Bay Watch constructed a Marine Education Center at the entrance to Fort De Soto Park. The Marine Center features an indoor classroom, an outdoor wet lab and two 5,000 gallon touch tanks, all of which are utilized for Estuary EDventures, an environmental education program featuring school field trips and summer camp programs. The Estuary EDventures curriculum builds environmental literacy and encourages stewardship while educating students about estuarine science and habitat restoration. The Gulf of Mexico program of the Environmental Protection Agency awarded Estuary EDventures with the 2011 “Gulf Guardian Award" in the Youth Education category as a way to recognize and honor the program for taking positive steps to keep the Gulf healthy, beautiful and productive.

Tampa Bay Watch more thandoubled our size in July 2020 by opening the Discovery Center on the new St. Pete Pier. We’ve expanded our mission to inspire visitors to become stewards of their own environment by sharing the
story of the recovery and ongoing restoration of Tampa Bay. The goal of the Discovery Center is to advance environmental stewardship by engaging, informing, and inspiring visitors.