Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and estuary along the Gulf of Mexico on the west central coast of Florida, comprising Old Tampa Bay, Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, and New Tampa Bay.
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.
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.
A view of Tampa Bay from I-275, looking south. The industrial buildings are located near St. Petersburg, Florida
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.
