By becoming a Baykeeper, you are helping Coastal Alabama become a better, healthier, and safer place to live. You are part of a movement that is growing stronger every day. The more Baykeepers we have in our coastal communities, the better defended our natural resources will be.
We’ll know we are successful when no one has to question whether the fish are safe to eat or the water is safe to swim in, when our seagrasses and oyster reefs recover, and our coastal communities take responsibility for the health of the water.
No one should have to fear eating the fish of Coastal Alabama. Baykeeper will prevent heavy metals and chemicals from reaching our waterways. Through monitoring, government/ agency review, and influencing decision-makers, Baykeeper commits to lowering the chemical and heavy-metal pollution in our waters.
Our children should be able to swim in the waterways of Coastal Alabama without fear of disease or carcinogenic exposure. Baykeeper will track, mitigate, and reduce the impacts of sewage spills and stormwater runoff in our watershed. We will reduce the amount of fecal matter, fertilizers, and other contaminants entering our waterways and swimming spots after rainstorms.
Seagrasses should be more present in our watershed as they are the foundation of our coastal ecosystem. Baykeeper will restore our lost seagrasses and fight the pollution that has affected them so greatly in the past. Seagrass not only provides food and shelter for redfish, crabs, shrimp, and tarpon, it also provides ecosystem benefits such as sediment stabilization, nutrient filtration, and carbon dioxide absorption.
Oysters should be more present in our watershed as they are a natural solution to myriad water quality issues and provide critical ecosystem infrastructure in our Bay. Baykeeper will revive our oyster populations to improve water quality throughout the Bay and will stop the destruction of the few oyster reefs that currently exist.
September 1-October 12 marks Mobile Baykeeper’s Fall Member Drive. Our goal is for 200 people to become a member or renew their membership during this member drive. We hope that you’ll share our work with friends and family or donate in their honor to help us reach our goal.
For this year’s Fall Member Drive, your support will fund Baykeeper’s work to improve water quality through the restoration of Mobile Bay’s oysters. The Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is an iconic food and cultural resource in the Mobile Bay. As an important indicator of the Bay’s health, oysters form reefs that provide habitat for other estuarine species, reduce long-term erosion of the shoreline, and filter pollutants from the water. A single oyster can remove harmful nitrogen and sediments from approximately ten gallons of water per day. Unfortunately, local populations of the Eastern oyster continue to dramatically decline due to both human and environmental impacts, and it is estimated that over 80% of Mobile Bay’s oyster populations has decreased since 1950 according to commercial landings data.
Oysters are a biological cornerstone in Coastal Alabama and provide valuable resources for the ecosystem. The health status of our oysters is inextricably tied to the health of the Bay. That is why we’ve sought ways to bolster oyster restoration efforts with the help of local experts like P.J. Waters, Ph.D., who runs the Alabama Volunteer Oyster Gardening Program through the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center. Since the program’s inception 23 years ago, more than one million oysters have been grown in cages on private docks by volunteers for outreach and educational purposes. Mobile Baykeeper is partnering with both Auburn’s program and local property owners to add 500,000 oysters to restoration reefs by 2027.
At Baykeeper, we are focused on water quality and its effect on our lives. If we pollute our waters, we’re poisoning ourselves. If our communities can unite over what makes Coastal Alabama special — our waters — we can achieve the future we desire.
By becoming a member or renewing your membership with a $50 tax-deductible gift this fall, you will enjoy benefits like receiving a year’s worth of CURRENTS magazine, our quarterly publication telling the stories of the Delta, Bay, and Gulf, plus FREE entry and oysters at the Fall Member Drive Oyster Jamboree, Saturday, October 12, from 4pm-7pm at The Hope Farm in Fairhope.
Thank you for your support and commitment to our waters.
If you’d like to avoid processing fees that come from donating online, please mail a check to 450C Government St, Mobile, AL 36602
“We have a responsibility to ourselves and to future generations to defend and revive the health of our waters. I am encouraged by the progress we’ve made and by the fact that we inspire more people every day to appreciate these natural gifts.” – George Talbot, Baykeeper Member
“Water is one of our most important natural resources and it’s important to me to protect that resource for future generations.” – Lyndsey Dixon, Baykeeper Member
“As a person who has grown up enjoying life on Mobile Bay and the surrounding waterways, the BP oil spill woke me up to the fragility of their existence. I have respected the work Baykeeper has done fighting to protect clean water and our quality of life for decades and the current coal ash issue inspired me to get more actively involved with the organization.” – Jeremy Milling, Baykeeper Member
