Tampa Bay
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and estuary along the Gulf of Mexico on the western coast of Florida, comprising Old Tampa Bay, Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, and New Tampa Bay.
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[edit] Geography and Ecology
Tampa Bay is Florida's largest open-water estuary, extending over 1031 square km.[1] and forming coastlines of Hillsborough, Manatee and Pinellas counties. The freshwater sources of the Bay are distributed among over a hundred small tributaries, rather than a single river.[2]
Beginning the reversal of decades of unrestricted pollution, the bay was designated an estuary of national significance by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, for its fringe of mangrove and its prolific mud flats: more than 200 species of fish are to be found in Tampa Bay and 25 species of birds make it their year-round home. The warm water outfalls of power plants bordering the bay draw one out of every six endangered manatees to spend the winter. Equally significant though less immediately visible is the role of the Bay's waters as nurseries for shrimp and crabs, as well as less commercial invertebrates.
Two National Wildlife Refuges are located in Tampa Bay: Pinellas National Wildlife Refuge and the refuge on Egmont Key. Most of the smaller islands in the Bay are off-limits to the public, due to their fragile ecology and their use as nesting sites for brown pelicans, herons, egrets, Roseate spoonbills, cormorants and others. The Tampa Bay Estuary Program keeps watch over the Bay's health.[3]
[edit] Transportation
Due in large part to the Port of Tampa and the dredging of more than eighty miles of deep-water shipping channels, seaborne commerce has historically been a large part of the Tampa Bay Area’s economy. The area boasts the largest port in Florida and the 10th largest in the nation – the Port of Tampa. The port accommodates half of Florida’s cargo in the form of bulk, break bulk, roll-on/roll-off, refrigerated and container cargo. The port also has a large ship repair and building industry, and recently expanded cruise facilities.
The Port of Manatee, with more refrigerated dockside space than any other Gulf of Mexico port, is the closest of the three Tampa Bay deepwater ports to the Panama Canal. It is also one of the state's busiest, ranking fifth among Florida's fourteen seaports in total annual cargo tonnage.
The Port of St. Petersburg is home to a U.S. Coast Guard station. The smallest of Florida’s ports, it operates as a landlord port managed by the city of St. Petersburg.
[edit] Bridges that cross Tampa Bay
- Sunshine Skyway Bridge
- Gandy Bridge
- Howard Frankland Bridge
- Courtney Campbell Causeway
- Clearwater Bayside Bridge
[edit] See also
- Battle of Tampa, an American Civil War naval battle in Tampa Bay.
- St. Petersburg Pier, a tourist attraction that juts into the bay from downtown St. Pete
- Bayshore Boulevard, street near Downtown Tampa that runs along the bay, world's longest sidewalk
[edit] References
- ^ The Bay averages only 11 feet (3.4 m) deep, however (Tampa Bay Estuary Program website).
- ^ GulfBase: Tampa Bay and Keys
- ^ Tampa Bay Estuary Program website.
