Mobile Baykeeper

There is nothing quite like the taste of our fresh, steamed blue crabs on a warm evening by Mobile Bay. The Gulf breeze, the sound of the water, and the rich, buttery flavor of the crabs create an unforgettable experience.

In the summer, under a full moon with calm waters, you could see the lights moving slowly along the sandy shores of Mobile Bay. The lights belonged to softshell crabbers. They had only a few tools: a butane torch with a burning mantle, a small washtub, and a large-holed net on a pole. The scene was romantic and beautiful, only occasionally interrupted by a mosquito or a no-see-um bite.

Blue crabs have long been part of Mobile Bay’s coastal heritage. In the article "Love at First Bite: A Romantic Journey with Blue Crabs in Mobile Bay" from CURRENTS magazine, learn how locals once caught crabs under moonlit waters, explore Alabama’s blue crab fishery today, and get expert insights into their life cycle and sustainability. Read the full article at https://mobilebaykeeper.org/love-at-first-bite-a-romantic-journey-with-blue-crabs-in-mobile-bay/

🖋️: Susan Rouillier
📷: Flounder gigging and crabbing with a butane light on Mobile Bay around 1970. Photo courtesy of Michelle Garner-Janna

Meet Michael and Kerry Williams, who have spent years working the waters of Mobile Bay.

Those who make their living on the water understand oysters better than anyone. Oyster reefs create habitat for fish and crabs, filter pollution from the water, and support the seafood traditions that have defined this coast for generations.

As Baykeeper works to rebuild oyster reefs across Coastal Alabama, harvesters like Michael and Kerry are lending their expertise to help guide where and how oysters should be planted. And for them, this work is personal.

“I want to control my own destiny; I want to preserve this more than anyone does. It’s my livelihood. I want my kids to have this,” says Michael Williams

We are grateful to harvesters who are sharing their knowledge of our waters and helping make sure restoration is done the right way.

Learn more about the oyster planting project: https://mobilebaykeeper.org/oyster-planting-project/

There is only one town in the United States that receives its mail year-round by boat. So, it’s easy to grasp the appreciation the Magnolia Springs community has for its waterway. The postal practice dates back to 1916 and is still going strong more than a 100 years later, except now it’s done with a tiller outboard on an aluminum Jon boat loaded with crates of stamped mail, idling along the mailboxes perched on the docks.

Robert Turner has been residing in Magnolia Springs for more than 32 years. He’s served on the town council for the past five years. Turner had seen the Baykeeper SWIM reports and had attended a neighboring Wolf Bay Water Watch meeting. “Baykeeper drew my attention to the testing aspect,” he says, “and I knew of other water-watch groups, so I decided I wanted to get involved and keep an eye on our own watershed.”

That decision led Turner to resurrect the “Magnolia River Alabama Water Watch” organization, a group that had not been in operation for roughly 15 years.

Read the full article from CURRENTS magazine about a community taking responsibility for the health of its waters at https://mobilebaykeeper.org/hope-springs-eternal/

🖋️: Sam K. Wilkes
📷: Courtney Mason

From deploying thousands of pounds of oysters to surveying reefs and planting shell, our oyster team spends a lot of time on the water.

Last year, we introduced 240,000 oysters to waters across Coastal Alabama. This year, we are on track to double that impact.

Work at this scale takes strong partnerships and the right tools. Support from Yamaha Rightwaters has helped equip our team with a vessel that allows us to reach restoration sites and continue this important work across the watershed.

Restoring Coastal Alabama’s oyster populations will take all of us. Learn more about the work and how you can get involved at https://mobilebaykeeper.org/oyster-planting-project/

You can’t have a healthy bay without seagrass.⁠
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Seagrass is the lifeblood of our waters. It holds the shoreline in place, filters the water, and provides habitat for species like speckled trout, redfish, and shrimp. It also helps oysters thrive by calming the currents and keeping the water clear so sunlight can reach the reefs.⁠
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But like oysters, our seagrass beds have been disappearing.⁠
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We're working to restore the conditions that seagrass needs to grow, which means identifying the most significant point sources causing muddy water and tracking down the source of pollution. Learn more about our work: https://mobilebaykeeper.org/take-action/

Decisions about the future of our waterways shouldn't be made without the communities who live off them.

Earlier this month, the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission met to discuss the Draft Master Plan 2026, which will determine the county's future growth and its impact on our waterways.

The folks who attended shared similar frustrations. The main concern was a lack of public engagement throughout this process. Because people showed up and made their concerns heard, the P&Z Commission voted unanimously to withdraw the Draft Master Plan from the agenda.

Tomorrow morning, the Baldwin County Commission is meeting, and this is another opportunity to make your voice heard and have your questions answered.

Attend the meeting and tell them you support the stronger protections for our communities and waterways that are laid out in the Baldwin Smart Growth Blueprint, and urge them to adopt a master plan and regulations that put those protections in writing.

Baldwin County Commission Meeting
Tuesday, August 18th | 10 AM
Baldwin County Fairhope Satellite Courthouse
County Commission Meeting Chambers – 2nd Floor
100 Fairhope Avenue, Fairhope, Alabama 36532

We'll be at every County Commission meeting until the Community Smart Growth Scorecard is complete. baldwincountysmartgrowth.com/

Can't make the meeting? We've drafted a letter you can send to your county commissioner: baldwincountysmartgrowth.com/

When you think back over the years, what are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the Delta?

The most noticeable changes are the creeks that I used to go in, the sloughs that I used to go in, you can’t get in them anymore. There’s no water. It’s filled in, silted in.

The fish population is not as good. The size of the fish is not as good. And there’s less grass in the Delta, although recently it seems to be coming back a little. That is the biggest reason I think that the fish population has gone down in number and size because there’s no habitat or no food source.

Grass brings grass shrimp. There’s hardly any grass shrimp … crustaceans, snails, which the shell crackers eat. Bream eat snails and grass shrimp. They live off the grass. Not the grass itself, but what grows in the grass and lives in the grass. And when there ain’t no grass, there ain’t no food.

Darren Shirah has spent more than fifty years fishing the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, first as a boy riding with his uncle, and now as a retired angler who spends as much time on the water as he can. Read the full interview with Shirah in the latest edition of CURRENTS magazine at https://mobilebaykeeper.org/quills-bream-and-grass/

🖋️: Nick Williams

A community pool may look different from Mobile Bay, but it can still be where a lifelong connection to water begins.

This summer, our environmental education team joined the Africatown Swim Program for two days of hands-on learning. Students painted oyster shells, explored how stormwater pollution moves through a watershed, created a plastic gyre in the pool, raced to remove marine debris, and learned how seagrass supports life along the coast.

Just as importantly, they spent time becoming more comfortable and confident in the water.

We are grateful to the Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation for continuing to offer this free program and for welcoming us back year after year. Thank you also to the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program and Introducing Youth to American Infrastructure, Inc. for partnering with us through Claim Your Waterways Day.

Today, folks from across Coastal Alabama are coming together to celebrate the waters, communities, and way of life that connect us all.

This summer, communities spoke up about flooding, sewage spills, disappearing wetlands, and the future of growth along our coast. Ordinary folks showed up, shared their concerns, and helped shape Smart Growth regulation recommendations designed to protect healthier waterways and stronger communities for future generations.

And today, we celebrate the people carrying that work forward.

Join us at the Members-Only Beach Bash at Heron Pointe at The Wharf in Orange Beach.

Bring your family. Bring your neighbors. Bring somebody who loves these waters as much as you do.

Donate online or at the door to become a member.

https://mobilebaykeeper.org/memberdrive