Tampa Bay Area Scientific Information Symposium (BASIS) Conference
by Chris Pratt
The Tampa Bay Area Scientific Information Symposium (BASIS) conference series provides a forum for sharing state-of-the-art research on Tampa Bay and its watershed. Hosted by the Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP), BASIS is held every 5-6 years. 2022 marks the conference's seventh year of the conference. EPC staff has participated in every BASIS conference since its inception in 1982.
This year, the BASIS 7 conference was coordinated in conjunction with the annual Association of National Estuary Program's Technological Transfer meeting. The forum highlighted “cutting-edge science, research, education, management, and policy findings to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Tampa Bay watershed and improve estuary management throughout the nation.”
EPC's Environmental Resources Management (ERM) staff members attended the conference virtually and in person. Among the various topics discussed were community-based science, tracking contaminants in bays and estuaries, harmful algal blooms, debris monitoring, coastal acidification, debris monitoring, and novel restoration techniques. Staff shared several reports and provided updates detailing long-term benthic community and water quality trends in Tampa Bay (see below). Additionally, EPC's water quality data was often cited in partnering agencies' conference presentations, a testament to the importance of the EPC's water monitoring program, which has been operating and collecting data continuously for over 40 years.
During the conference, David Karlen, Ph.D. participated in the poster session, presenting “Long-term Water Quality Trends in Tampa Bay (1974-2020)” conveying the status of individual Bay segments on overall water quality relative to management targets and regulatory thresholds, based on ERM Water Quality Monitoring Data. He also presented EPC’s report entitled “Twenty-five-year Trends in the Benthic Community and Sediment Quality of Tampa Bay 1993 – 2017.”
In addition to contributors from the Tampa Bay watershed, BASIS 7 featured speakers from throughout Florida and across the United States including: Massachusetts Bays National Estuary Partnership, Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, New York-New Jersey Harbor and Estuary Program, Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, San Francisco Estuary Institute, University of Delaware, Maryland Coastal Bays Program, Morro Bay National Estuary Program, Sarasota Bay Watch, Coastal and Heartland National Estuary Partnership, Manatee County Coastal Watershed Program, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.