U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Delaware Bay Estuary ProjectConserving the Nature of America

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Slide 1
Horsehoe crabs spawning in Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay hosts the world's largest concentration of spawning horseshoe crabs.
Credit: Gregory Breese/USFWS
Slide 2
Horsehoe crabs spawning in Delaware Bay
Succeeding waves of spawning crabs dig up previously laid eggs.Credit: Gregory Breese/USFWS
Slide 3
Horsehoe crab eggs on the beach at Delaware Bay
Migratory shorebirds rely on the eggs for food. Credit: Gregory Breese/USFWS
Slide 4
Migratory shorebirds relying on Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay hosts the second largest shorebird stopover in the United States.
Credit: Gregory Breese/USFWS
Slide 5
Researcher studying threatened red knots at Delaware Bay
Scientists and volunteers monitor the shorebirds and horseshoe crabs at Delaware Bay.
Credit: Gregory Breese/USFWS
Slide 6
Delaware Bay salt marsh
Expansive salt marshes provide valuable habitat to fish and wildlife and protect our Delaware Bayshores.
Credit: USFWS
Slide 7
Building future forests in Delaware
Many migratory birds of conservation concern and other wildlife rely on forest habitat.
Credit: Brian Marsh/USFWS
Slide 8
North America's smallest turtle and one of its most threatened
The bog turtle relies on isolated early successional wetlands in the Delaware River Watershed.
Credit: Gary Peeples
Slide 9
The future of conservation relies on people connected to nature
Helping people have meaningful experiences with nature improves health, community, and the future foundation of conservation
in the Delaware River watershed. Credit: Brian Marsh/USFWS
Slide 10
Improving aquatic connectivity
Removing barriers to the flow of water and the fish and wildlife, nutrients, and sediments it carries.
Credit: Ryan Haggerty
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The Delaware Bay Estuary Project (DBEP) is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Coastal Program. We work through partnerships to conserve the ecological integrity of fish and wildlife resources of the Delaware Bay and its watershed. We partner with private individuals, non-governmental organizations, states, municipalities, and Federal agencies. We strive to provide a meaningful contribution to the conservation and restoration of our priority natural resources.

 

We are a small and flexible program able to work with a variety of partners on strategic priorities. We set our priorities based on our knowledge of the conservation needs of the landscape we work in as well as careful consideration of partner interests outlined in State Wildlife Action Plans, Watershed Plans, scientific reports, and other sources.

 

The Delaware Bay Estuary Project is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Coastal Program. The Coastal Program focuses on working with partners to conserve fish and wildlife and their habitats in bays, estuaries and watersheds around the U.S. coastline at 24 priority coastal areas along the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, and in the Caribbean.

 


 

Check out the 2019 Coastal Program Accomplishment Report.

Contact Us

Delaware Bay Estuary Project
2610 Whitehall Neck Rd.
Smyrna, DE 19977
(302) 653-9152

Brian Marsh
Team Leader, Fish and Wildlife Biologist

Flavia Rutkosky
Fish and Wildlife Biologist

Kaitlyn Ripple
Fish and Wildlife Biologist

Danielle McCulloch Prosser
Fish and Wildlife Biologist

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Report a tagged horseshoe crab

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Last updated: April 14, 2021
    Delware Bay Estuary Project
    2610 Whitehall Neck Rd.
    Smyrna, Delaware 19977-2910
    (302)653-9152
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Northeast Region


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