About the Narragansett bay region

Narragansett Bay is central to our regional identity and culture—from Battleship Cove to Beavertail, from Waterplace Park to the Newport Bridge. Our rich history of native communities and colonial settlement; our historic mill towns; our soaring bridges and waterfront parks; our fishing and sailing traditions; our boatbuilding expertise; our Naval heritage—even our recipes for quahog chowder—have all been shaped by the Bay, just as we, in turn, shape the Bay, and have done so for hundreds of years.

Narragansett Bay is an estuary—a semi-enclosed body of water open to the ocean at its mouth or entrance, and connected to the land by rivers, streams and groundwater. More than two billion gallons of fresh water flow daily, on average, from Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts into the salt waters of Narragansett Bay. This flow has a profound effect on the Bay environment—creating unique estuarine habitats for the many creatures which thrive in the zone between fresh and ocean water, while carrying thousands of tons of pollution into the Bay each year. To understand the Bay as a complete ecosystem, Currents of Change looks at the Narragansett Bay Region, or NBR—the lands, waters and communities which affect the Bay each day. NBR encompasses the Bay itself as well as the fresh waters that flow into it, by way of its drainage basin or watershed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. NBR also includes the adjacent estuaries and watersheds of the Wood-Pawcatuck river system and Rhode Island’s coastal Salt Ponds—areas which are closely linked culturally and politically, if not hydrologically, to Narragansett Bay.

The Narragansett Bay Region is 2066 square miles in area, of which 1028 square miles (50%) are in Massachusetts, 984 square miles (48%) are in Rhode Island, and 57 square miles are in Connecticut. The Narragansett Bay estuary is 192 square miles in area, of which 95% are Rhode Island waters, with only nine square miles in Massachusetts (at the eastern end of Mount Hope Bay). Narragansett Bay’s watershed is 1707 square miles, 60% of which (1028 square miles) is in Massachusetts, with the remaining 40% (677 square miles) in Rhode Island. The Narragansett Bay Region is home to two million people in 100 cities and towns. Our daily decisions—from how we get to work, to where we live, to how we vote—affect Narragansett Bay’s ecosystem in myriad ways.

The Bay is thousands of years old, and yet it is a dynamic environment which changes constantly as a result of wind and weather, rain and snowfall, tides and seasons. The Bay is subject to longer-term trends as well: multi-year climatic cycles such as the North Atlantic Oscillation, which affects winter temperature and precipitation in the Northeast, and a long-term warming trend linked to global climate change and sea level rise. Average surface water temperature in Narragansett Bay has risen by more than one degree Celsius over the past 50 years, while sea level is rising at a rate of roughly an inch per decade. Most scientists and managers believe these to be natural trends which have been accelerated by human activity—particularly carbon emissions from consumption of fossil fuels. The warming trend appears to be causing shifts in Narragansett Bay’s estuarine fish communities—leading southern migratory species like menhaden and striped bass to become more abundant, while traditional Bay residents such as winter flounder decline.

Human activity affects the Bay ecosystem in many other ways. Invasive plants and animals, unintended consequences of international trade, have become established throughout NBR in salt water, fresh water and upland environments—and more are expected to arrive, in some cases displacing or even eliminating native species. Hundreds of dams on rivers and streams prevent migratory fish such as river herring and shad from reaching their historic spawning grounds. Stormwater from roads and parking lots carves streams into drainage ditches, destroying habitat for native species like brook trout while washing pollution into the Bay. Wastewater treatment plants discharge hundreds of tons of nitrogen into Narragansett Bay each year, with impacts on water quality, fisheries, shellfish and sea grass habitats.

There are many areas of progress and improvement in managing the Bay ecosystem, as well. Rhode Island and Massachusetts have increased regulation of waste-water treatment plants and financed extensive upgrades, leading to steep reductions in nutrient pollution. Governmental and non-governmental organizations are leading projects to restore rivers, wetlands and other habitats—removing dams, for example—using new sources of state and federal funding. New storage tunnels in Providence and Fall River will reduce sewage contamination of shellfish beds following rainstorms. And New England’s largest power plant, the Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset, Mass., is building new cooling facilities to reduce impacts to fish populations in Mount Hope Bay.

No single report could do justice to an area as large and diverse as the Narragansett Bay Region. Currents of Change is, therefore, best viewed as a beginning rather than an end. It will serve as a platform or baseline for future analysis and reporting regarding Narragansett Bay and its ecosystem, while highlighting the gaps in our knowledge. Over time, the measures provided here will be added to, improved and, in some cases, replaced. NBEP and its partners believe that Currents of Change is a vital first step toward better understanding and management of the Narragansett Bay Region. We dedicate this report to the many organizations and individuals working to preserve and restore Narragansett Bay, and express our sincere thanks to the dozens of scientists, resource managers and others who assisted in its development.

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