The 2021 Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP) was developed by the Barnegat Bay Partnership (BBP), established as one of the 28 National Estuary Programs (NEPs) in accordance with section 320 of the Clean Water Act. The BBP works collaboratively with its various partners to protect the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary and its contributing watershed(s). The 2021 CCMP represents a revision of the BBP's original CCMP, completed in 2002, when the program was formally approved and accepted into the NEP by the Environmental Protection Agency.