Estuaries support many human uses including commercial and recreational fisheries, marine transportation, and receiving waters for chemical and thermal wastes. Traditionally, coastal conditions have been described in terms of the effects human activities have on environmental indicators. Scientists are now using the degree to which estuaries are meeting desired human uses as another measure of ecosystem health.
NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, in coordination with federal and state agencies, has begun to assess the health of estuaries based on the estuaries' ability to meet the desired human uses. The questions asked include: what are society's stated uses for an estuary; how well are those uses being met; and where desired uses are not being met, how might improving one or more of the indicators affect a particular use? For the assessment of Galveston Bay, Texas, an emphasis was placed on the commercial and recreational fisheries.
Results from the first assessment indicate that with the exception of fish contamination in a small area of the bay, and restrictions on oyster harvest over wider areas, Galveston Bay is meeting the many demands placed on it by society.
The results of the case study will appear as a chapter in the National Coastal Condition Report II, jointly published by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of the Interior, and US Department of Agriculture.
A paper from this work has been published in the proceedings from The Coastal Society's 19th Biennial Conference.
Additional assessments of human uses of estuaries are planned.
Project Partners
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
US Environmental Protection Agency
US Department of the Interior
US Department of Agriculture
