Use this tool to take action and send an email urging the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to strengthen the plan, not make it weaker.

Then, Please join us to demand a stronger Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves Management Plan!

• When: Thursday May 22, 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
• Where: FIU Biscayne Bay Campus Wolfe University Center, 3000 NE 151st St, North Miami Beach FL 33181
• What to Expect: Learn about the plan and an opportunity for public comment. You can also email comments to biscayne.bay@dep.state.fl.us

The Issue: FDEP has recently shared their draft management plan for the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves (BBAP). This management plan is only updated once a decade and lays out strategies and objectives for protecting and restoring Biscayne Bay. As the BBAP citizen support organization, it is the mission of Friends of Biscayne Bay to implement the goals in this doc. However, this management plan is significantly weakened compared to the current plan from 2012. Some deficiencies include:

• The 2025 plan lacks programs and efforts in the current plan objectives, such as mapping, coordinating with the Clean Marina program, and several youth engagement opportunities.
• We need clearer accounting behind the budget figures. For example if this plan accounts for inflation and the timeline on each action item.
• The plan must go into greater depth on the impacts of climate change to Biscayne Bay over the next decade and beyond. This includes extreme heating, coral bleaching, and greater specifics on sea level rise impacts.
• Include multilingual outreach strategies in Spanish and Haitian-Creole under the goals and objectives.
• This plan doesn't specify metrics of progress made since the 2012 plan. It also lacks enforcement measures and specificity compared to the 2012 plan.
• The Biscayne Bay Cape Florida Aquatic Preserve has been managed with heightened protections since 1969. This is over 4,000 acres of Biscayne Bay that are subject to reduced protections due to legislative changes (pink area on map below). This area should continue to be comanaged by BBAP staff under the same heightened protections as the rest of Biscayne Bay. Given it is the 50th anniversary of the BBAP, why are we backsliding on progress? Read our comment letter on this issue here.

Read the draft BBAP management plan here and our current BBAP management plan here.

We'd like to thank FDEP for listening to our comments and including metrics completed since the last plan and adjusting the budget figures since the previous draft.

Read Friends of Biscayne Bay's comments here on the issues with the draft BBAP Management plan, including a detailed analysis on what appropriate budget line items would look like. Stay tuned for revised comments on the newest draft.

In conclusion, this plan is weaker than our current plan and we have the opportunity to make it stronger.

Thank you,

Map of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves (blue and pink). The Preserves protect over 64,000 acres of Biscayne Bay from overfishing, dredging, and pollution.