Estuaries are the coastal areas where rivers meet the ocean. These areas provide critically important habitat to many fish and shellfish species, and support a variety of important activities (e.g. fishing, shipping, recreation, etc.). These areas, as the transition zone between the land and the sea, are also at high risk for negative effects from human activities including pollution, habitat conversion and loss, and changes to water flows. Understanding how human activities are affecting estuary habitats is important so resource managers can better manage these impacts, and ultimately, sustain estuaries and the fish populations that they support. To analyze estuary condition, a cumulative disturbance index was developed for the contiguous [...]
