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A Sped h Anniversary Report Estuaries of the United States Vital Statistics of a National Resource Base U. S. Departmem of Commerce -ional Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministratIO11 I I National Occan Service NOAA's National Estuarine Inventory The National Estuarine Inventory (NEI) is a series of activities within the Office of Oceanography and Marine Assessment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to define and characterize the Nation's estuarine resource base and develop a national estuarine assessment capability. NOAA began the NEI in 1983 because no comprehensive inventory of the Nation's estuaries or their resources existed, despite increased conflicting demands forthe goods and services they provide: habitat for fish and wildlife, food, areas for recreation, waste disposal, energy, and transportation. Four major NEI atlases, six national data bases, and numerous technical reports, including a Supplement Series, containing thematic information about the Nation's estuaries, have been produced. The first volume of the National Estuarine Inventory data atlas series was completed in November 1985. This atlas identified 92 of the most important estuaries of the contiguous U.S., specified their fundamental physical and hydrologic characteris- tics, and defined consistently-cle rived spatial boundaries for each estuary. This volume established the NOAA framework for data collection and analysis of the Nation's estuarine resource base. Othervolumes in the atlas series have since been produced on land use and population, wetlands, and outdoor public recreation facilities. Data from other strategic assessment projects have been adapted to the NEI framework to characterize important resource themes. Projects on classified shellfishing waters, distribution of fishes and invertebrates, and pollutant suscepti- bility are a few examples. Development of the data bases and assessment capabilities of the NEI is a dynamic and evolOng: process. NOAA continues -.to evaluate the scale and scope of information in the NEI and to make the necessary additions and refinements to improve its capability to assess the Nation's estuaries. The information now assembled in the NEI can be used for comparisons, ranking, and other analyses related to the resources, environmental quality, and economic values among the Nation's estuaries. A Special NOAA 20th Anniversary Report Estuaries of the United States Vital Statistics of a National Resource Base Strategic Assessment Branch Ocean Assessments Division Office of Oceanography and Marine Assessment National Ocean Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 6001 Executive Boulevard Rockville, Maryland 20852 ;0 A-4.19doza PIT ENWT OF October 1990 US Department of commerce NOAA Coastal Services center Library @234 South Hobson Avenue Charleston, Sc 29405-2413 Report Team Anthony S. Pait, and Eileen F. Lavin, from SAB's National Coastal Pollutant Strategic Assessment Branch Discharge Inventory Team, assisted Ocean Assessments Division by providing data for numbers and types Office of Oceanography and Marine of point sources of pollution, the Assessment amounts of pesticides and fertilizers National Ocean Service applied, and land use information for National Oceanic and Atmospheric selected estuaries. Data on shellfish Administration landings and closures were provided Rockville, MD by Eric A. Slaughter and Dorothy L. Leonard, members of SAB's Shellfish Daniel J. Basta Team. Tony A. Lowery, a member of Maureen A. Warren the Estuarine Living Marine Resources Timothy R. Goodspeed Team, assembled the commercial fish- eries landings data used in Table 2. Carol M. Blackwell Barbara L. McDonald, from the Ocean Thomas J. Culliton Resource Economics Team, provided John J. McDonough III private coastal recreation information. Mitchell J. Katz Davida G. Remer Charles N. Ehler, Thomas F. LaPointe, John Paul Tolson Don W. Field, Mark E. Monaco, and C. John Klein Harold M. Stanford extensively re- S. Paul Orlando, Jr. viewed drafts of the report. Their careful David M. Loft examination of the text and overall lay- out and design helped make this report a more readable and usable document. Acknowledgments The Report Team is especially grateful to Kim Keeter Scott for providing edi- This report is a result of the dedication torial support throughout this effort. and cooperation of many individuals in NOAA's Strategic Assessment Program who have worked on the National Estua- rine Inventory since 1984. A multi- disciplinary team including geographers, engineers, and scientists organized and distilled the information presented. Some of those who assisted in this effort are not listed above. Farzad Shirzad and David A. Bontempo, members of the Strategic Assessment Branch's (SAB) Coastal and Estuarine Processes Team, helped or- ganize the physical and hydrologic fea- tures information. Daniel R.G. Farrow, Estuaries of the United States Introduction Society places a high value on estuarine areas as places for living, working, and This report describes briefly the recreating. It demands that estuaries Nation's estuarine resource base. It provide cooling waters for industry and updates information presented in a energy production, accommodate the number of previous NOAA reports needs of large ships and tanker traffic, and atlases developed through its sacrifice wetland and bottom habitat to National Estuarine Inventory (NEI) supply space for coastal development, program, characterizing the Nation's and filter pollutants from the Nation's estuaries. rivers and streams into coastal waters. Estuarine areas are among the most Estuaries, among the most productive densely populated and heavily used in natural systems, are important features the Nation; an estimated 45 percent of of coastal regions, especially along the the U.S. population now lives within these Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. areas (Culliton et al., 1990). They form a transition zone between freshwater and marine ecosystems. In spite of their high value, intense use, and frequent overuse, estuaries only Estuaries are most commonly defined recently have been recognized as a as semi-enclosed coastal bodies of wa- uniqueand important depleted resource ter having a free Estuaries are most commonly defined as base of national connection with semi-enciosed coastal bodies of water hav- significance. the open sea and ing a free connection with the open sea and Major oil spills, within which sea- withinwhich seawater is diluted measurably shellfish bed clo- water is diluted by freshwater from land drainage. sures, and habitat measurably by Bays are semi-enclosed areas connected losses have in- freshwater from with the open ocean in away that moderates creased aware- land drainage ness of the declin- (Pritchard, 1967). and controls their circulation, producing an ing quality of the environment and ecosystem different from The important role adjacent waters. They exhibit many estua- Nation's estuar- estuaries play in rine characteristics and processes. ies. Because of sustaining the "....Because many characteristic features of their importance to health and abun- estuaries extend into the coastal areas be- both economic dance of marine yond their mouths ..... the field of estuarine development and fishes, shellfish, oceanography is often considered to include ecological pro- and birds has long the study of some waters which are not cesses, estuaries been recognized. strictly, by the above definition, estuaries." are among the Estuaries are im- (Dyer, 1977). Nation's most portant coastal In this report, selected bays, sounds, and highly stressed habitat, particu- other coastal waters are included as "estu- natural systems. larly during early aries." As d mands for life stages of many increased use of animals. The freshwater and nutrients estuarine resources continue, so will they provide to coastal areas are criti- conflicts among competing users of this Ically important to living resources. important national resource base. Estuaries of the United States Unlike other resources, no Federal pro- Most decisionmakers and scientists gram is dedicated to developing a com- continue to address selected estuaries prehensive and consistent national policy on an individual basis only, with little or on the use and management of estuar- no directed, comprehensive national ies. Current Federal legislation (includ- framework. Without a comprehensive ing the Rivers and Harbors Act; Coastal national framework and data base, the Zone Management Act; Marine Protec- assessment and comparison of estu- tion, Research, and Sanctuaries Act; arine conditions and development of Clean Water Act; and Safe Drinking effective national policies to promote Water Act) only the long-term bal- partially or indi- When physical features (volume, freshwa- ance between de- rectly affects how ter inflow, and water surface area) only are velopment and the Nation's estu- considered, a small number (11) of large protection are not aries are used. estuaries and bays accounts for the major- possible. ity of the Nation's resource base. Chesa- In 1987, Congress peake Bay, Puget Sound, Albemarle/ This report pre- established the Pamlico Sound, and Long Island Sound are sents information, National Estuary most prominent. primarily from ex- Program (NEP) Estuaries in the North Atlantic contain the isting sources, on under the jurisdic- smallestwater surface area among regions, the physical and tion of the U.S. En- are the deepest, receive the least freshwa- hydrologic fea- vironmental Pro- ter inflow, and are dominated by tidal forces. tures, population tection Agency. Estuaries in the Middle Atlantic, e.g., and land use, wet- The program was Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound, lands, and se- established to are the most susceptible to pollutant retention lected economic identify the prob- because of their relatively large volumes, characteristics of able cause of ma- moderate to low freshwater inflow, and low 102 estuaries that tidalexchange. jor environmental describes the problems in estu- Nation's estuarine aries of national significance and to resourcebase. WNe the NEI currently promote and sustain long-term state and is limited to the contiguous U.S., estuar- local commitments to solving these prob- ies in Alaska and other coastal regions lems. The program is also intended to will be added as resources permit. Some generate meaningful public involvement estuaries included do not fit the tradi- and participation; focus existing regula- tional definition of an estuary, such as tory, institutional, and financial resources Cape Cod, Monterey, Santa Monica, on identifying problems; and to encour- and San Pedro bays. These "coastal age innovative management approaches. bays" are semi-enclosed areas con- The NEP currently includes 17 estuaries nected with the open ocean in a way that (identified in Appendix B) selected to moderates and controls their circula- reflect specific regional problems, as well tion, producing an environment and as problems common to all the Nation's ecosystem different from adjacent wa- estuaries. ters. In general, they illustrate on a large scale manyestuarine characteristics and processes. 2 Estuaries of the United States Although the information presented is age area, and comprising a significant only a sample of that available in NOAA's percentage of either freshwater inflow NEI data base, it nevertheless sets the or water surface area. nationwide context in which all estuaries may be considered. It enables a number Estuarine and Fluvial Drainage Ar- of simple rankings to be made of the eas. An estuarine drainage area or estuaries according to some of their most EDA is the land and water component of fundamental and important characteris- a watershed that drains directly into tics, and suggests those estuaries that estuarine waters (NOAA, 1985). EDAs may be most sensitive or most durable to are defined for all estuaries in the inven- the stresses society has placed on this tory. The EDAwas established by NOAA important resource base. to provide a spatial framework for orga- nizing information within the NEI. The Physical and Hydrologic assumption is that those natural pro- Features cesses and human activities in close proximity to estuarine waters generally affect them the Some of the most Although estuaries in the South Atlantic most. In most important factors contain the smallest volume among regions, cases, EDAs co- determining how their relatively shallow depths support ex- incide with hydro- estuaries work are tensive wetlands, second only to the Gulf of logic cataloging their physical and Mexico. Albemarle/Pamlico Sounds is by units of the U.S. hydrologic fea- far the largest estuary in this region. Geological Survey tures. These in- Estuaries in the Gulf of Mexico contain the (USGS). An EDA clude estuarine greatest amount of water surface area, are includes all or part and fluvial drain- the most shallow overall, and receive the of the cataloging age areas, water largest freshwater inflow among regions, unit containing the surface area, vol- even when the Mississippi River is not con- most upstream ume, tidal range, sidered. As a result, they support the largest extent of tidal in- salinity regime, wetlands area in the Nation and are the fluence. Depend- and freshwater least susceptible to pollutant retention. ing on the com- inflow. Together, Estuaries along the Pacific Coast are rela- plexity of coastal these characteris- tively small compared to other regions. drainage patterns, tics help define the Exceptions are Puget Sound, which ac- certain cataloging ecological pro- counts for almost 60 percent of estuarine units were modi- cesses and habi- volume and 40 percent of water surface fied to eliminate tats within an es- area in the region; and the Columbia River, the portion of the tuary and deter- which accounts for almost 60 percent of the drainage area not mine how human freshwater inflow. draining directlyto activities affect an estuarine waters. estuary's overall condition. The "vital Figure 1 shows the distribution and ex- statistics" described below are used tent of EDAs currently included in the throughout this report. Note that sub- NEI. Appendix A shows the EDA and estuaries are portions of a large estu- fluvial drainage areas for selected estu- ary having definable sub-basin drain- aries. 3 -n I-Tj Nort (D Atlan@tic Maine Washington Ne w rn Hampshire Cb Massachusetts :z (b Oregon CL Middle Co 4 a; Atianti New York Connecticut@ (I) Pacific Pennsylvania Rhode Island Marylan New Jersey Delaware California Virginia Gulf of Mexico North M Carolina Georgia Alabama South Texas Carolina South PaC .. C '(Callfo@r,nla Ississippi Louisiana Atlantic Florida Estuaries of the United States The extent to which the watershed of an land. Consequently, estuaries with large estuary is contained within an EDA de- freshwater inflow, such as the Missis- termines the degree to which actions sippi and Columbia rivers, Chesapeake taken in close proximity to an estuary and Delaware bays, and Albemarle/ may effect its overall quality. For ex- Pamlico and Mississippi sounds, receive ample, for many estuaries, especially significant contaminant inputs from up- those with small watersheds along the stream agricultural runoff and municipal Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the EDA and industrial facilities. comprises the entire watershed. For estuaries with watersheds that have Estuarine Water Surface Area. Es- large inlandfluvial areasoutsideof EDAs, tuarine water surface area i's approxi- actions taken within EDAs may have mated at mean tide level. It is needed to little impact, depending on the problem estimate an estuary's volume, flushing of concern. For example, while the rate, and pollutant susceptibility. Water Mississippi and Columbia rivers drain surface areas range from less than one huge inland areas, their EDAs comprise square mile for small estuaries along only a small fraction of their watersheds. the Pacific Coast to nearly 4,000 square Estuarine drainage areas range in size miles for Chesapeake Bay. The 31 from 14 square miles (Netarts Bay) to estuaries in the Gulf of Mexico contain over 21,000 square miles (Chesapeake nearly 12,000 square miles of water Bay). Table 1 summarizes selected surface. No single estuary in this region characteristics of the Nation's estuar- accounts for more than 20 percent of ies. this total. In contrast, the 28 estuaries on the Pacific Coast have about 2,400 Fluvial drainage areas or FDAs are the square miles of water surface area, over land and freshwater portions of water- half in Puget Sound and San Francisco sheds upstream of estuarine drainage Bay. areas. FDAs coincide with hydrologic cataloging units of the USGS and in- Estuarine Volume. The volume of an clude a majority of the Nation's hinter- estuary helps determine its ability to Table 1. Summary of Selected Characteristics of the Nation's Estuaries PHYSICAL and HYDROLOGIC FEATURES NATURAL RESOURCES ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES Classified Shellfi.h Point Sources Waters La so (1 Dos rri.) (% of of Poilltio, (10 Region Jr, North Atlantic 23 36 2 48 65 4 12 10 12 211 7 7 2 1 3 Middle Atlantic 48 123 7 20 172 6 35 63 74 822 19 27 18 9 10 South Atlantic 55 148 4 12 158 2 92 30 40 104 4 22 4 8 3 Gulf of Mexico 96 1,562 12 8 970 3 166 38 88 122 5 30 20 13 4 Pacific 38 362 2 37 449 9 18 1 5 529 12 11 7 3 7 INational 260 2,231 27 23 1,814 24 323 142 219 309 9 23 51 34 27 Note: All values are rounded. 5 Estuaries of the United States dilute pollutants. When volume is used Of particular concern are wetlands and in conjunction with freshwater inflow and fisheries, especially shellfishing. the portion of total volume that is fresh- water, the susceptibility of an estuary to Wetlands. Wetlands are a vital compo- concentrate pollutants can be assessed. nent of the Nation's estuarine resource base. They are unique areas between Freshwater Inflow. Freshwater inflow terrestrial and aquatic systems that pro- is a major determinant of the physical, vide critical habitat for fish, shellfish and chemical, and biological characteristics wildlife; filter and process residential, ag- of most estuaries. It affects the concen- ricultural, and industrial wastes; and buffer tration and retention of pollutants, the coastal areas against storm and wave distribution of salinity, and the stratifica- damage. Wetlands also generate rev- tion of fresh and salt water within an enue and provide employment from rec- estuary. Freshwater inflow statistics reational activities such as fishing and were estimated for gaged and ungaged hunting. areas of an estuary's watershed. For gaged areas, data were compiled from The Nation's estuaries presently con- USGS streamflowgage records (USGS, tain over 32,000 square miles of wet- 1990) and from records of significant lands (NOAA, 1990a), about 12 percent flow diversions not accounted for in the of the total estuarine drainage area. USGS data. For ungaged areas, NOAA Despite their apparent abundance, wet- precipitation data were used to estimate lands are disappearing rapidly in many freshwater runoff and direct precipita- areas due to urbanization, agriculture, tion to an estuary. hydrocarbon exploration, shoreline ero- sion, and other factors. Between the Fifty-three percent of all freshwater in- mid-1950s and the late 1970s, over flow into the Nation's estuaries is dis- 17,000 square miles of wetlands have charged into the Gulf of Mexico (nearly been lost in inland and coastal areas one million cubic feet per second). throughout the Nation due to human However, over halt of the inflow into the activity and natural processes (Frayer et Gulf comes from the Mississippi and al., 1983). Atchafalaya rivers. The amount dis- charged into the estuaries of the Gulf of Estuarine and coastal wetlands alone Mexico is more than twice that dis- are decreasing nationally by an average charged into estuaries along the Pacific of 31 square miles peryear (Tiner, 1987). or Atlantic coasts. Chesapeake Bay, for example, which has over 1,500 square miles of wetlands Natural Resources (Reyer et al -, 1 990a), lost approxi mately six percent of its coastal wetlands an- Estuaries provide the Nation with highly nually between 1955 and 1980 (Tiner, productive habitats and important living 1987). resources. Intensive use of these eco- systems for industrial, residential, and A major concern over wetland losses is recreational activities has had adverse the long-term impact on the many spe- effects on many estuarine resources. cies of fish and shellfish that depend on 6 Estuaries of the United States these habitats. Wetland habitat losses and management. However, these ac- can translate into economic losses that quisitions represent only a fraction of affect entire regions. Estimates of the the privately-owned land base. For ev- value of coastal wetlands to commercial ery square mile of privately-owned and recreational fisheries may range coastal conservation land, another 200 from about $2,200 per acre along the square miles of privately-owned land Pacific Coast, to almost $10,000 per remain unprotected, either being used acre along parts of the Florida coast or available for development (NOAA, (Bell, 1989). 1990b). In addition to wetland loss, rising devel- Fisheries. Estuaries provide food, ref- opment costs and the demand for wa- uge from predation, and habitat for a terfront property promote increased wide variety of fishes and invertebrates. competition for limited space in estua- Many of these species are economically rine and coastal areas. This, combined important and use various estuarine with industrial pressures and natural habitats to complete their life cycle. stresses, makes wetland preservation a Estuaries are especially important as more important issue than ever before. nursery areas for many species during their early and juvenile life stages. As a Recognizing the need to preserve result, the economic viability of many of coastal ecosystems, private and non- the Nation's commercial and recreational profit conservation organizations have fisheries is also estuarine dependent. been active in coastal land acquisition Table 2. Economic Value of Selected, Commercially Important Estuarine- Dependent Fisheries, 1989 (millions of dollars) FISHES INVERTEBRATES Region 19 North Atlantic 0 <1 4 8 0 1 3 0 13 250a Rank 40 18 13 - 28 19 - 8 - Middle Atlantic 0 1 18 0 42 22 26 0 7 500a Rank - 31 9 - 2 7 6 - 14 - South Atlantic 0 2 11 54 18 3 12 0 0 169 Pank - 16 6 1 2 12 5 - - - Gulf of Mexico 0 52 <1 374 24 41 <1 0 0 648 Rank - 2 26 1 4 3 30 - - - Pacific b 84 0 0 0 0 16 4 37 0 337 Rank 1 - - - - 5 14 2 - - Total 84 55 33 436 84 83 45 37 20 1,904 Note: All values are rounded. Rank indicates rank among all commercial fisheries in region. a. Values are estimated. b. Does not include Alaska fisheries values. -Source: NOAA, 199of, and unpublished 1989 statistics Estuaries of the United States Table 2 shows the value and rank of by NOAA indicates that urban stormwater commercially important "estuarine- runoff, sewage treatment plant effluent, dependent" species by region. Estua- agricultural runoff, and increased boat- rine-dependent fisheries are among the ing activity are the primary causes of most valuable within regions and across harvest restrictions in most areas of the the Nation. For example, the species Nation (NOAA, 1 990c). comprising the top four fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico (shrimp, menhaden, oys- In 1985, almost 22,000 square miles of ter, and blue crab) use estuaries exten- estuarine waters were classified as sively. The first, second, fifth, and sixth shellfish harvest areas (Broutman and most valuable South Atlantic fisheries Leonard, 1988; Leonard et al.,1989; (shrimp, blue crab, hard clam, and sum- Leonard and Slaughter, 1990). How- mer flounder) are also estuarine depen- ever, many areas were restricted for dent. In the North Atlantic, the eighth harvesting at certain times of the year mostvaluable fishery (softclam) is found due to public health threats from bacte- only in estuaries. The Pacific region's rial orviral contamination. About 15,000 first, second, and fifth most valuable square miles were approved for shell- fisheries (salmon, clungeness crab, and fishing without restriction, a decline of oyster) are estuarine dependent. The about six percent from 1980. Nation's second most valuable fishery is for the penaeid shrimp along the Gulf of Despite the continued harvest of shell- Mexico, South and North Atlantic coasts. fish in the Gulf of Mexico and Middle In total, estuarine-dependent fisheries Atlantic regions, degradation of harvest generated most of the Nation's seafood areas remains a national concern. Rapid landings income in 1989 (NOAA, 1990f). development has placed increased envi- ronmental stress on many estuarine re- Shelifishing. Molluscan shellfish fish- sources. Shellfish are indicators of such eries are of special concern because changing conditions. Once waters are these bottom-dwelling organisms com- closed to shellfish harvest, they soon plete their entire life cycle within estuar- become unavailable for recreation and ies. Because of their bottom-dwelling the support of other recreational and nature, they may be affected more di- commercial species. rectly by human impacts than other es- tuarine-dependent marine organisms. Human Uses Molluscan shellfish are filter-feeders, In addition to their ecological importance, capable of pumping large volumes of estuaries are valuable sources of food, water through their bodies and accumu- recreation, housing, and aesthetic plea- lating particles and pollutants. The bac- sure. Continued modification of their terial orviral pathogens that accumulate ecosystems seems probable. Conse- in shellfish tissue in heavily polluted quently, understanding the distribution areas may be passed on to humanswho and extent of human activities affecting consume raw or partially cooked shell- the Nation's estuaries is fundamental to fish. The National Shellfish Register of improving and maintaining their environ- Classified Estuarine Waters conducted mental quality. 8 Estuaries of the United States Population Growth. Estuarine and ban, industrial, and agricultural land coastal regions include some of the uses; and restricted access to outdoor Nation's most densely populated areas, recreation opportunities. where growth rates and population con- centrations are highest. Current popula- Land Use. The use of land in estuarine tion patterns reflect historical develop- drainage areas is a function of historical ment and population pressures, location development. The type and extent of relative to transportation networks, and certain land uses are a partial indicator the characteristics and natural resources of the pollutants entering estuarine wa- of the coastal areas themselves. ters and the extent to which the environ- ment of the surrounding drainage basin Population in these areas has increased has been altered. Land use may also be by about 30 million people over the last indicative of the economic value placed three decades (almost half the total U.S. on estuarine areas. population increase), and is expected to continueto increase, although at reduced The development of urban and agricul- levels (Culliton et al., 1990). Population tural lands and the activities associated densities in estuarine drainage areas are with them alter the landscape and gen- greatest in the Middle Atlantic and Pacific erate most of the pollution entering estu- regions, reflecting the major population ariesfrom human activities. Stormwater corridors extending from New York to runoff from urban areas and agricultural Washington, Los Angeles to San Diego, runoff contribute significantly to the dis- and within the San Francisco Bay met- charge of sediments, nutrients, pesti- ropolitan area. cides, and other pollutants into estua- rine waters. Industrial, commercial, The pattern of population growth in es- residential, and municipal activities in tuarine areas ranges from the traditional urban areas are major dischargers in growth outward from an inner city, char- most estuarine drainage areas. acteristic of the older urban centers in the North Atlantic and Middle Atlantic Urban or agricultural land uses are sig- regions, to the suburban sprawl along niticant (accounting for 25 percent or narrow coastal strips characteristic of more of land use in an estuarine drain- sections of the South Atlantic and Gulf of age area) in almost half (50 of 102) of the Mexico regions. estuaries in the inventory. Almost 20,000 square miles are classified urban and Evidence is mounting that increasing 52,000 square miles as agricultural. As development pressures are at the heart population patterns indicate, urban land of many environmental quality problems use in estuarine drainage areas is con- affecting the Nation's estuaries. Prob- centrated in the Middle Atlantic and lems associated with population growth southern portion of the Pacific region. and development include changing and conflicting land uses; the growing infra- In the Pacific region, although large ur- structure needed to support increased ban expanses surround San Francisco population; pressures and demands for and extend from Los Angeles to San services; pollutant discharges from ur- Diego, urban land use in many EDAs is 9 Estuaries of the United States overshadowed by large areas of agricul- nomicgrowth and stability in mostcoastal tural and forested land. Estuaries with communities. However, private outdoor extensive agricultural lands are concen- recreation sites and activities also place trated in the Gulf of Mexico and South added stress on coastal and estuarine Atlantic regions. resources. Over 3,800 private marinas and over 4,500 private charter boats are Demands for Recreation. With a located within the Nation's coastal ar- growing population and continued ur- eas (NOAA, 1990d). banization of coastal areas, the Nation is experiencing an ever-growing demand While the ability of estuaries to sustain for open space, wilderness areas, and recreational activities at current levels of other places for recreating that are close quality is uncertain, recent public reac- to population centers. Between 1972 tion to beach closures and coastal pollu- and 1984, public recreation lands in tion underscores the high value our so- estuarine and coastal areas increased ciety places on coastal and estuarine by about 27 percent (NOAA, 1988). recreation. In economic terms, this re- Given the large populations surround- flects the fact that recreation resources ing estuaries, the increasing demand for might well be undervalued, particularly estuary-based recreation opportunities with respect to other commercial uses. is not surprising. Estuaries in the Middle Atlantic region With over 50,000 miles of estuarine and contain the greatest number of public coastal shoreline (Outdoor Recreation outdoor recreation sites (over 10,000) Resources Review Commission, 1962) and the largest number of private mari- and almost 44,000 square miles of out- nas, over 42 percent of the national total door public recreation area along the (NOAA, 1990d). However, the amount Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico of land area available for recreation is coasts offer a wide variety of marine- significantly less than in all other regions based outdoor recreation opportunities. (less than 3,000 square miles), except They also provide other recreation ac- the North Atlantic. Pacific estuaries tivities that are enhanced by their prox- have the second largest number of out- imity to the coast. Although only nine to door public recreation sites (over 6,500) 14 percent of the outdoor public recre- and contain the most land area set aside ation sites (e.g., parks, boat ramps, fish- for recreation in EDAs (over 14,500 ing piers, beaches, picnic areas) in square miles) (NOAA, 1988). coastal areas provide access to estua- rine waters, they provide increasingly Pollution Stresses. Many of the envi- important recreational opportunities ronmental quality problems affecting the (NOAA, 1988). Nation's estuaries stem from natural and human-induced pollution produced both Privately provided outdoor recreation within and upstream of EDAs. Both can opportunities also are increasingly im- affect dramatically the biological pro- portant to the public. Private enter- ductivity of estuarine waters, as well as prises offer a wide variety of outdoor reduce the appeal of these environ- recreation choices and promote eco- ments for living and recreating. Beach 10 Estuaries of the United States closures, fish consumption advisories, cent of all point source discharges into and evidence of toxic substances in EDAs in the region. Both the Mississippi sediments and fish tissue are all indica- River and Mississippi Sound estuaries tions of pollution-related declines in the contain over 100 power plants. The quality of estuarine and coastal waters Middle Atlantic region contains 89 facili- (NOAA, 1989a). ties, the second largest number of power plants among regions. Industrial facilities and municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWTPs) Agriculturally applied nutrients andpes- are the major point ticides may also sources of pollu- Several estuarine areas (EDAs) contain have an impact on tion discharging significant concentrations of industrial and the productivity directly into the municipal point sources: and health of the Nation's estuar- Nation's estuaries. ies. Over 9,000 Galveston Baycontains 747 industrial point Nutrients are es- EPA-permitted sources, the largest concentration in any sential for the pro- point sources are EDA nationwide. It also contains 566 ductivity of an es- MWTPs, or 45 percent of all those located located within the in the Gulf of Mexico region. tuary. However, EDAs of the 102 an overabun- estuaries in the Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of all indus- dance of nitrogen inventory; 17per- trial facilities and 61 percent of all MWTPs and phosphorus cent of these are in the Middle Atlantic are located in the en ering a system Hudson River/Raritan Bay or Chesapeake considered "ma- Bay EDAs. fromsourcessuch jor" point sources. as agricultural Estuaries in the Puget Sound contains one-quarter of the runoff and waste- Gulf of Mexico re- industrial and municipal point sources in water treatment gion contain the the Pacific region. plants can cause greatest number AlbemarlelPamlico Sounds contains one nutrient enrich- of point sources quarter of the industrial facilities in the ment problems. among the re- South Atlantic region, 40 percent of all For example, low- gions, 41 percent MWTPs in the region are located in the St. ered oxygen lev- of the national to- Johns River estuary. els and decreased tal. The Middle 111@@@ light penetration Atlantic region contains the second most, caused by algal blooms degrade the approximately 31 percent of all point environmental quality of an estuary. A source dischargers located in estuaries. number of coastal areas, including This concentration of dischargers has a Chesapeake Bay, New York Bight, and direct impact upon water quality, shell- the Louisiana coast, have experienced fishing, recreation, and estuarine qual- eutrophication and/or hypoxia in recent ity in general. years. Power plants, as sources of pollution, Fertilizers applied to agricultural lands are of concern mostly in the Gulf of contribute to nutrient loadings in estuar- Mexico, where 436 facilities are located. ies and coastal rivers. The highest This represents approximately 12 per- regional application of nitrogen and 11 Estuaries of the United States phosphorus fertilizers in coastal areas mary information on selected character- occurs in the Gulf Coast. Over 800,000 istics by estuary and region. Maps de- tons of fertilizers were applied in 1982. picting all counties intersecting estua- The South Atlanticwasthe second high- rine drainage areas are contained in est, with over 160,000 tons of fertilizer Appendix C. applied. The North Atlantic was the lowest, with only 5,000 tons of fertilizer applied in 1982 (NOAA, 1990e). Pesticides can enter an estuary from runoff, atmospheric deposition, or groundwater discharge. The amount of pesticides that run off from agricultural land with precipitation ranges from one to five percent, While not enough is known to state that pesticides are a major cause of degradation in the Nation's estuaries, they may be a factor in individual estuarine systems. Agri- cultural pesticide use decreased slightly in the U.S. during the 1980s (NOAA, 1990e). Large quantities of pesticides are ap- plied to agricultural lands in the drain- age basins of several estuaries in the Middle Atlantic and South Atlantic re- gions. The Chesapeake Bay EIDA, for example, led the Nation's EIDAs with approximately 5.3 million pounds ap- plied in 1982, followed by Albemarle/ Pamlico sounds (4.1 million pounds) and Winyah Bay (3.2 million pounds). In the Gulf of Mexico, large quantities of pesticides are applied in the estuarine drainage area of both Upper and Lower Laguna Madre (1.9 million pounds) (Pait et al., 1989). The sections thatfollow present addi- tional information on the estuaries in each region. Appendix B presents sum- 12 Estuaries of the United States Near infra-red LANDSA T image of Galveston Bay showing a coastal portion of its estua- rine drainage area. fd ij Iz" P.% Z" ;Tv K. @@, V Courtesy of NASA 13 Estuaries of the North Atlantic Figure 2. Population Density in North Atlantic EDAS, 1980 Maine 2 5 New 4 Hampshire 7 6 9 Persons per Square Mile a 500 or Greater Massachusetts ston 12 0 100 to 499 F-1 50 to 99 3 10to49 14 All North Atlantic The North Atlantic region extends smallest among regions. Cape Cod Bay from the U.S.-Canada borderin Maine has the largest water surface area (548 to the tip of Cape Cod in Massachu- square miles) followed by Massachu- setts. The 13 estuaries and one sub- setts and Penobscot bays, 364 and 361 estuary shown in Figure 2 account square miles, respectively. for more than 23,000 square miles of estuarine drainage along the North Hydrologic Characteristics. The Atlantic coast. strong tides and basin geometry in these - estuaries result in tidally-dominated cir- North Atlantic Estuaries culation patterns. Tides in the North Atlantic region are semidiurnal and range 1 Passamaquoddy Bay from about 19 feet in northern Maine to 2 Englishman Bay about nine feet at Cape Cod. Estuarine 3 Narraguagus Bay water volumes range from about two 4 Blue Hill Bay billion cubic feet in the Merrimack River 5 Penobscot Bay to one trillion cubic feet in Cape Cod 6 Muscongus Bay Bay, and are about average when 7 Sheepscot Bay compared to other regions. However, 8 Casco Bay North Atlantic estuaries are generally 9 Saco Bay deeperthan those found in other regions. 10 Great Bay Figures 3a and 3b show estuarine drain- 11 Merrimack River age and water surface areas in the North 12 Massachusetts Bay Atlantic. 12a Boston Bay 13 Cape Cod Bay Precipitation averages 40-46 inches per year across this region. Sheepscot Bay Physical Features. Estuaries in this and Penobscot Bay have, by far, the region were formed by glaciers that re- greatest freshwater inflows in the re- moved soil cover, leaving rocky shore- gion, approximately 17,600 and 16,100 lines and steep-sided river channels. cubic feet per second, respectively. Estuarine drainage areas (EDAs) in the However, their inflows are lower than region range from about 300 the mean for all U.S. estuaries (about (Muscongus Bay) to about 6,200 square 20,000 cubic feet per second). The miles (Sheepscot Bay). EDAs in the timing of peak freshwater inflow to estu- region are smaller on average than in aries is a function of spring melting, with other regions, except for the Pacific. high-flow periods occurring from March EDAs account for about two-thirds of through May. Low-flow periods occur total drainage into estuaries in the re- from July through September. During gion, suggesting that activities occur- low-flow periods, low precipitation and ring within EDAs may impact estuaries high evaporation rates result in increased the most. Sheepscot Bay has both the salinities within estuaries. North Atlan- largest fluvial drainage area (over 10,000 tic estuaries account for about one-sixth square miles) and EDA. Total water of the freshwater discharge to coastal surface area of the estuaries in the re- waters along the Atlantic Coast. gion (about 2,000 square miles) is the 15 North Atlantic Figure 3. Selected Characteristics, North Atlantic Estuaries a. Estuarine Drainage Area b. Estuarine Water Surface Area ME ME 2 2 3 3 4 4 6 5 6 6 7 7 Lu Lu 8 9 9 10 10 MA MA 11 11 2 12 13 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 ;00 ;00 ;00 ;00 !6 - 600 Area (thousand square miles) Area (square miles) c. Total Wetlands d. Urban and Agricultural Land Use 1 1 ME 2 ME 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 7 7 W a ui 8 NH NH 9 9 10 10 MA MA I 'I 12 12 13 13 17 r 0 50 100 150 200 260 10 @G 3'0 4'0 Area (square miles) Percentage of EDA E Urban [3 Agricultural Notes: Sub-estuaries are not shown separately. All values are in Appendix B. 16 North Atlantic Wetlands. The amount of coastal wet- least densely populated in the Nation. lands in the region, about 1,200 square Population increase for the region as a miles, is small comparedto other regions whole was about four percent between (NOAA, 1989b). This is due to the 1970 and 1980. However, Cape Cod rugged relief, rocky shorelines, and Bay was one of the fastest growing steep-sided river channels of the region, EDAs in the Nation, with a 57 percent and incomplete data for the inland por- population increase. Population in the tions of most EDAs. Passamaquoddy 31 counties in this region is projected to Bay contains the most wetlands in the grow by 16 percent over the next 20 region, about 240 square miles. Wet- years, making it the second slowest lands in the North Atlantic are primarily growing coastal region in the U.S. forested and scrub-shrub, with lesser (Culliton et al., 1990) Appendix C iden- amounts of salt and fresh marsh, and tifies counties falling entirely or partially tidal flats present. Figure 3c shows the in EDAs in the North Atlantic region. wetland area in each EDA. Pollution Sources. Despite the pres- Land Use. Three of the largest popu- ence of several large cities, the North lation centers in the region (Boston, MA; Atlantic has fewer point sources of pol- Manchester, NH; and Portland, ME) are lution (less than 400) than any other located in EDAs. However, urban land region (NOAA, 1990e). There are almost use makes up only about seven percent twice as many industrial sources as of estuarine drainage areas in the re- municipal wastewater treatment plants. gion. Urban land is dominant only in the The greatest number of point sources, Boston Bay sub-estuary. Agricultural 69 or about one-fifth of the region's total, lands also account for about seven per- are found in Boston Bay. The ratio of cent of land use in the region's EDAs. industrial to municipal point sources is The remaining majority of land in the about four to one in Boston Bay. In- EDAs is forested. Figure 3d shows the dustrial sources include chemical percentage of land that is urban and manufacturing, metal fabrication, and agricultural in each EDA. machinery and transportation equipment production. Great Bay has almost as Population. The North Atlantic is the many point sources (59) as Boston Bay, third most densely populated coastal although most are small facilities. Point region in the U.S. Figure 2 shows the sources in Great Bay are evenly divided population density in each of the EDAs between industrial and municipal facili- in the North Atlantic. Population de- ties. creased in the Boston Bay estuarine drainage area by about five percent The application and runoff of pesticides between 1970 and 1980. Even so, it is may be a concern in many estuarine still seven times more densely populated drainage areas. In 1982, over one- than any other EDA in the region, and is quarter million pounds of commonly used one of the most densely populated in the pesticides were applied to agricultural Nation. Passamaquoddy and English- lands in the North Atlantic region (Pait et man bays are the least densely popu- al., 1989). The intensity (average an- lated EDAs in the region and among the nual application per square mile of 17 North Atlantic A salt marsh within a North Atlantic estuary. Many species of plants and animals depend on estuarine ecosystems. a Courtesy of NOAA cropland) of pesticide application was inputs of either phosphorus or nitrogen) approximately 276 pounds. This rela- in Passamaquoddy, Englishman, tively low volume reflects the Narraguagus, Muscongus, and Casco region's limited agricultural activity. The bays. distribution of pesticides was: herbi- cides (57 percent), insecticides (13 per- Fishery Resources. The estuaries and cent), and fungicides (30 percent). Ap- bays of this region support an array of plication was highest in the Cape Cod commercially and ecologically impor- EDA (1,227 pounds per square mile). tant fish and invertebrates. Over 300 million pounds of seafood, with an esti- In 1982, the application of fertilizer to mated ex-vessel value of over 250 mil- agricultural lands in the region's estua- lion dollars, were landed at ports in the rine drainage areas was the lowest region in 1989 (NOAA, 1990f). The among the five regions. Approximately American lobster and the sea scallop 3,000 tons of phosphorus and 9,000 are currently the top commercial species tons of nitrogen fertilizers were applied. in the region, providing more than 60 Sheepscot, Saco, and Penobscot bays million pounds of seafood valued at more received the highest applications. Ex- than 193 million dollars in 1989. Atlantic cluding nutrients from upstream fluvial cod was the most commercially impor- sources, fertilizer runoff from agricul- tant fish in 1989, with nearly 74 million tural land is a significant nutrient source pounds valued at 45 million dollars (i.e., greater than 25 percent of the total (NOAA, 1990f). 18 North Atlantic Estuarine-dependent species of eco- in the region is approximately 500 square nomic importance include the soft clam miles. Most of these sites are concen- and summer flounder, whose combined trated in Massachusetts, as is most of landings totaled 17 million dollars in the recreation land. 1989 (NOAA, 1990f). Ecologically im- portant species include sand lance and Slightly more public recreation areas spiny dogfish. Several species which are set aside for hunting than for conser- contribute to the significant Georges vation in this region. Most sites (88 Bank fishery rely on North Atlantic es- percent) are managed by local govern- tuaries for nursery areas (winter floun- ments; however, most of the land is der and red hake) and seasonal forag- under Federal control (40 percent), with ing (bluefish and spiny dogfish). state and local governments each con- trolling 30 percent (NOAA, 1988). Approved shellfish growing areas in North Atlantic estuarine waters exceed Privately-owned outdoor recreation sites 1,000 square miles, or about 83 percent follow the same general distribution pat- of the total area classified by state tern as public sites. The North Atlantic shellfish sanitation officials in the region contains fewer sites in all recreation (Leonard et al., 1989). Penobscot Bay categories than the other regions (NOAA, has the greatest amount of approved 1990d). This is the result of many fac- and total shellfish waters in the region. tors including population levels, climate, The North Atlantic ranksfourth in amount and the physiography of the region. of classified waters and second in per- centage of waters approved forshellfish harvest among regions. The remaining 17 percent of growing waters are re- As of mid-1 990, Casco Bay, Massachu- stricted from harvesting all or part of the setts Bay, Cape Cod Bay, and Boston year. Harvest restrictions are due to Bay were included in EPA's National identified declines in water quality asso- Estuary Program. ciated with: (1) municipal wastewater treatment plants and combined sewer More detailed information on each estu- systems, (2) increasing coastal popula- ary can be found in Appendix B. Maps tions resulting in increasing shoreline showing the counties in each EDA are in development and boating activities, and Appendix C. (3) increased monitoring and aware- ness of nonpoint pollution. Recreation. The supply of public out- door recreational resources in North Atlantic estuarine drainage areas is the lowest among coastal regions. There are more than 2,600 public outdoor rec- reation sites in the North Atlantic, of which almost 400 are adjacent to es- tuarine waters. The total area of all sites 19 Estuaries of the Middle Atlantic Figure 4. Population Density in Middle Atlantic EDAs, 1980 New York assachusett n Rhode Pennsylvania Island Philadelphi New York Baltimo Washington, D.C. New Jersey 7 Maryland 12 12 8 2a 2-9 12 7 V Delaware 12h 10 Virginia \ 12d*"- 12e Persons per Square Mile 1500 or Greater 600 to 1499 E] 300 to 599 5 to 299 20 Middle Atlantic The Middle Atlantic region extends Chesapeake Bay. EDAs account for from Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts almost 40 percent of total drainage through Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. (estuarine plus fluvial) into estuaries in The 12 estuaries and nine sub-estu- the region. At almost 70,000 square aries shown in Figure 4 account for miles, Chesapeake Bay has the largest more than 48,000 square miles of total drainage area in the region. The estuarine drainage along the Middle total water surface area of Middle Atlan- Atlantic coast. tic estuaries (over 7,000 square miles) is exceeded only by the Gulf of Mexico Middle Atlantic Estuaries region. Chesapeake Bay's water surface area (3,830 square miles) is almost 1 Buzzards Bay three times that of Long Island Sound 2 Narragansett Bay (1,281 square miles), the region's sec- 3 Gardiners Bay ond largest estuary in water surface 4 Long Island Sound area. Figures 5a and 5b show estuarine 4a Connecticut River drainage and water surface areas in the 5 Great South Bay Middle Atlantic. 6 Hudson River/Raritan Bay 7 Barnegat Say Hydrologic Characteristics. Tides in 8 New Jersey Inland Bays the Middle Atlantic are semidiurnal and 9 Delaware Bay rangefrom about seven feet in Delaware 10 Delaware Inland Bays Bay to one to two feet in tributaries of 11 Chincoteague Bay Chesapeake Bay. Average depths of 12 Chesapeake Bay estuaries in the Middle Atlantic rank 12a Patuxent River third among regions and vary signifi- 12b Potomac River cantly, from four feet in the Delaware 12c Rappahannock River Inland Bays to 62 feet in Long Island 12d York River Sound. Estuarine water volumes in the 12e James River region range from about four billion cu- 1 2f Chester River bic feet in the Delaware Inland Bays to 12g Choptank River more than 2.5 trillion cubic feet in 12h Tang ier/Pocomoke Sounds Chesapeake Bay. The Middle Atlantic has the second largest estuarine vol- Physical Features. Middle At- ume of all regions. lantic estuaries are geomorphologically different from those in the North Atlantic Middle Atlantic estuaries account for 44 region. Rising sea level, resulting from percent of the total freshwater discharge melting glaciers, drowned the mouths of to coastal waters along the Atlantic ancient rivers extending across the Coast. Long-term precipitation, ap- continental shelf. The resulting coastal proximately 40-48 inches per year, in- plain estuaries generally are restricted creases slightly from north to south. The to temperate latitudes. Estuarine drain- timing of peak freshwater inflow to estu- age areas (EDAs) range from about 300 aries is primarily a function of spring square miles in the Delaware Inland snow melt. Low freshwater inflows oc- Bays to nearly 22,000 square miles in cur from July through September and 21 Middle Atlantic Figure 5. Selected Characteristics, Middle Atlantic Estuaries a. Estuarine Drainage Area b. Estuarine Water Surface Area MA MA RI RI 2 2 3 NY 3 NY NY-CT NY-CT 4 4 5 NY NY 6 a NJ NJ 7 7 LU IJj a PA-DE-NJ 9 PA-DE-NJ to DE (32) DE MD-VA MD-VA 12 12 -4 5 10 is 20 25 0 @W IODD 160 ;000' 2500 3000 3500 400D Area (thousand square miles) Area (square miles) c. Total Wetlands d. Urban and Agricultural Land Use 1 MA 1 MA 2 RI 2 Rl 3 NY 3 NY 4 NY-CT NY-CT 5 NY 5 6 7 NJ 7 NJ (A (A ILU LU D PA-D Wil 10 D DE 10 DE 11 MD-VA MD-VA (1557) 2 12 16 (1 7 '0'0 ' @O 300 400 500 600 1700 0 20 40 60 so Area (square miles) Percentage of EDA Q Urban Agricuftural Notes: Sub-estuaries are not shown separately. All values are in Appendix B. N/D - no data. 22 Middle Atlantic result in higher salinities in estuarine drainage areas in the region as a whole. waters during this period. Chesapeake This is even the case in the Hudson Bay has the greatest freshwater inflow River/Raritan Bay estuary where forest (85,800 cubic feet per second) and ac- and agricultural lands accountfor nearly counts for almost half of all freshwater three-quarters of land use. Similar land entering estuaries in the region. The use patterns are found in other Middle Delaware Inland and Chincoteague Atlantic estuaries containing large met- bays have the lowest inflows. Freshwa- ropolitan areas, such as Narragansett ter inflow significantly affects estuarine and Delaware bays and the Potomac circulation throughout the region, com- River. These are large EDAs extending bining with tides to create relatively inland well beyond the limits of urban complex circulation patterns, compared growth. Nevertheless, estuaries in the to other regions where either tides or Middle Atlantic contain the greatest per- freshwater inflow predominate. centage of urban land among regions. While agricultural land use is modest in Wetlands. Despite the urbanized na- the region as a whole, it occupies over ture of the Middle Atlantic, it contains 30 percent of the estuarine drainage more than 3,500 square miles of wet- areas of Delaware, Chincoteague, and lands (Reyer et al., 1990a) and ranks Chesapeake bays, and the Delaware third behind the Gulf of Mexico and Inland Bays. South Atlantic regions in total wetland area in EDAs (NOAA, 1990a). Figure 5c Population. The Middle Atlantic is the shows the amount of wetlands in each most densely populated coastal region EDA in the region. The Chesapeake in the U.S. This is shown by the large Bay estuarine drainage area alone populations and amount of urban land contains more than 1,500 square miles in estuarine drainage areas. Figure 4 of wetlands. The second largest amount shows the population density in each of of wetlands is in Delaware Bay (641 the EDAs. Population density is highest square miles). Forested wetlands are in Great South Bay, followed by Hudson the most common, accounting for nearly River/Raritan Bay, Delaware Bay, Nar- 58 percent of the region's wetlands, ragansett Bay, and Long Island Sound. followed by salt marsh (28 percent). Although population growth for the re- Land Use. The Middle Atlantic had a gion was relatively low between 1970 population of almost 33 million in 1980, and 1980, afew areas, such as Barnegat concentrated in an urban corridor ex- Bay, and the York and Rappahannock tending from Providence, RI to Norfolk, rivers, had significant growth (47, 40, VA. The major population centers in the and 27 percent, respectively). Popula- region are New York, Philadelphia, Bal- tion decreased by about five percent in timore, and Washington, DC. Despite the Hudson River/Raritan Bay and the size of these metropolitan areas, Chincoteague Bay EDAs, and by about urban land isthe leading land use in only one percent in Long Island Sound and one EDA, Great South Bay, NY (Figure Delaware Bay. The 155 counties with 5d). Urban land use ranks behind forest land area in EDAs are projected to grow and agricultural land uses in estuarine by almost 10 percent over the next 20 23 Middle Atlantic Sunset over a Middle Atlantic estuary. Wetland areas in this region support a wide variety of plants and animals, and provide food and cover for many migratory species of birds. - - - - - - - - - - Ilk ' W Courtesy of Art Weber, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 24 Middle Atlantic years, making it the slowest growing 100,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizers were coastal region in the U.S. (Culliton et al., applied. Chesapeake Bay and Dela- 1990). Appendix C identifies counties ware Bay had the highest applications. failing entirely or partially in EDAs in the Both contain a high percentage of agri- Middle Atlantic region. cultural lands. Excluding nutrients from upstream fluvial sources, fertilizer run- Pollution Sources. The region's large off from agricultural land is a significant population centers have created a pro- nutrient source (i.e., greater than 25 liferation of major point sources of pol- percent of the total inputs of either phos- lution. Over 2,700 point sources are phorus or nitrogen) in Chincoteague Bay. contained in estuarine drainage areas, second only to the Gulf of Mexico region Fishery Resources. About 1. 1 billion (NOAA, 1990e). Most of these sources pounds of seafood with an approximate are industrial facilities (almost 1,800). ex-vessel value of 500 million dollars Municipal wastewater treatment plants were landed in the region in 1989. Al- (over 900) make up most of the re- though the sea scallop was the leading mainder. Hudson River/Raritan Bay commercial species in the region, the and Chesapeake Bay contain more point estuarine-dependent blue crab was the sources than any other EDA in the Na- second-most valuable, worth more than tion, with the exception of Galveston 41 million dollars. Approximately halt of Bay in Texas. the Nation's total blue crab catch was taken from the region, the majority from In 1982, almost nine million pounds of Chesapeake Bay (NOAA, 1990f). commonly used pesticideswere applied to agricultural lands in the region (Pait E)t Middle Atlantic coastal plain estuaries al., 1989). The distribution of pesticides are characteristically shallow and sub- was: herbicides (76 percent), insecti- ject to strong tidal circulation (NOAA, cides (16 percent), and fungicides (seven 1985), creating ideal conditions for bio- percent). The intensity of application logical productivity. Seasonal condi- was relatively high in 1982, with ap- tions can dramatically change the diver- proximately 1, 148 pounds of pesticides sity and species compositions of these applied per square mile of cropland. estuaries (White, 1989). Middle Atlantic Gardiners Bay (1,636 pounds per square estuaries provide year-round habitat for mile) and Great South Bay (1,468 pounds such species as white perch and bay per square mile) received the highest anchovy, and attract foraging marine application rates in the region. The predators like bluefish and Atlantic intensity of application in the Chesa- croaker. They also serve as nursery peake Bay EDA was 1,118 pounds per areas for earlier life stages of marine square mile. species such as Atlantic menhaden, and anadromous fishes such as American In 1982, the application of fertilizer to shad and striped bass. Hence, Middle agricultural lands in the region's estua- Atlantic estuaries are directly linked to rine drainage areas was the third high- many offshore fisheries. est among the five regions. Approxi- mately 28,000 tons of phosphorus and 25 Middle Atlantic Classified shellfish growing waters in Privately-owned outdoor recreation sites the region exceed 7,300 square miles, are also numerous. Almost 42 percent with about 6,300 square miles approved of the Nation's coastal marinas and more for harvest. This is the largest amount than one-quarter of the charter boats and the highest percentage (85 percent) and coastal golf courses are located in of growing waters approved for harvest the region. Intense development has among regions (Leonard et al., 1989). placed growing pressure on available Chesapeake Bay contains more than land near urban populations. High land half of the approved shellfish-growing values and lack of open space make waters in the region and about one- privately-owned outdoor recreation sites quarter of the waters in the contiguous attractive to many users in the region U.S. Long Island Sound contains the (NOAA, 1990d). second largest amount of approved waters (over 1,100 square miles), about one-fifth of the region's total. Hudson River/Raritan Bay has no approved As of mid-1990, Buzzards Bay, shellfish-growing waters. In recentyears, Narragansett Bay, Long Island Sound, reductions in harvestable shellfish re- New York/New Jersey Harbor (part of sources have occurred throughout the the Hudson River/Raritan Bay estuary), region due to disease, overharvesting, Delaware Bay, and Delaware Inland predation, and pollution. Bays were included in EPA's National Estuary Program. Recreation. The concentration of population in the region has created a More detailed information on each estu- high demand for recreational opportuni- ary can be found in Appendix B. Maps ties in its estuarine areas. Of the more showing the counties in each EDA are in than 10,000 public outdoor recreation Appendix C. sites in the region, over 1, 100 are adja- cent to tidal waters, with the majority in the Long Island Sound and Hudson River/Raritan Bay EDAs (NOAA, 1988). The Middle Atlantic has more public outdoor recreation sites than any other region, encompassing approximately 2,800 square miles. Most sites (91 percent) are managed by local governments; however, most of the land is under state control (61 per- cent), with Federal and local govern- ments controlling the remainder equally (NOAA, 1988). More than half of the lands are set aside for hunting; less than one-quarter are set aside for conserva- tion, preservation, or scenic value. 26 Middle Atlantic Emergent wetlands provide critical habitat for many aquatic organisms. IT Courtesy of NOAA 27 Estuaries of the South Atlantic Figure 6. Population Density in South Atlantic EDAs, 1980 North Carolina 4 South Carolina 6 Georgia 10 9 Charleston 11 Savannah 1 12 14 15 Jacksonville Persons per Square Mile 300 or Greater 100 to 299 17 Florl 40 to 99 0 0 to 39 Miami 28 South Atlantic The South Atlantic region extends Estuarine drainage areas (EDAs) in the from North Carolina to southern region range from about 500 square Florida. The 18 estuaries and two miles in New River to almost 11,600 sub-estuaries shown in Figure 6 ac- square miles in Albemarle/Pamlico count for almost 56,000 square miles Sounds. Although both Winyah Bay of estuarine drainage along the South (9,500 square miles) and St. Marys River/ Atlantic coast. Cumberland Sound (7,000 square miles) - have large EIDAs, each has a relatively South Atlantic Estuaries small water surface area. New River 1 Albemarle/Pamlico Sounds (470 square miles), Bogue Sound (680 1 a Pamlico/Pungo Rivers square miles), and North/South Santee lb Neuse River Rivers (680 square miles) have the 2 Bogue Sound smallest EIDAs in the region. New River 3 New River and Bogue Sound are bar-built estuar- 4 Cape Fear River ies without fluvial drainage areas since 5 Winyah Bay they are surrounded by areas draining 6 North/South Santee Rivers into Albemarle/Pamlico Sounds and 7 Charleston Harbor Cape Fear River estuaries. In addition, 8 St. Helena Sound the head of tide in each is relatively 9 Broad River close to the open ocean. Figures 7a and 10 Savannah River 7b show estuarine drainage and water 11 Ossabaw Sound surface areas in the South Atlantic. 12 St. Catherines/Sapelo Sounds 13 Altamaha River Over 4,400 square miles of estuarine 14 St. Andrew/St. Simons Sounds water surface area make this the third 15 St. Marys River/Cumberland largest among regions. The region's Sound largest estuary, Albemarle/Pamlico 16 St. Johns River Sounds, contains over 2,900 square 17 Indian River miles of water surface area, second 18 Biscayne Bay nationwide only to Chesapeake Bay. This vast estuary stretches from the Physical Features. Estuaries in the North Carolina/Virginia border south to South Atlantic region are characterized Cape Lookout, and includes the Chowan, by two general shoreline formations. The Neuse, Pamlico, and Pungo rivers. In- first is a low-lying, marshy shoreline with dian River and Biscayne Bay are physi- adendritic pattern of tributaries flowing to cally similar to Albemarle/Pamlico the sea and is most prevalent along the Sounds and have the second and third South Carolina and Georgia coasts. The largest estuarine water surface areas in second is represented by lagoons the region, respectively. bounded by extensive barrier island sys- tems and is found in North Carolina and Hydrologic Characteristics. Tides central Florida. An exception to this is the throughout the region are semidiurnal St. Johns River, a large river with limited and range from about 2.5 feet in North accesstothesea, but tidally influenced a Carolina, to about seven feet in Geor- considerable distance upstream. gia, to two feet in Florida. The flat 29 South Atlantic Figure 7. Selected Chatacteristics, South Atlantic Estuaries a. Estuarine Drainage Area b. Estuarine Water Surface Area Iff 2 NC 2 (2949) 3 NC 4 4 SC SC 7 9 cc 9 10 GA 10 GA Lu Lu 1 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 FL Is FL 16 17 la Is 0 '2 'a is 12 0 ;0 100 ;50 @00 250 300 30M Area (thousand square miles) Area (square miles) c. Total Wetlands d. Urban and Agricultural Land Use 1 1 2 NC 2! NC 3 4 SC SC s 7 a a 9 M 10 (4) 10 GA 40 10 GA Lu Uj 12 ,2 13 13 14 14 is NID is is FIL is FIL 17 17 Is is i0co ;000 ;500 0 0 Soo 20 40 Area (square miles) Percentage of EDA M Urban [3@ Agricultural Notes: Sub-estuaries are not shown separately. All values are in Appendix B. N/D - no data. 30 South Atlantic coastal plain, small tidal range, and bar- tuaries contain the largest amounts of rier islands combine to minimize tidal wetlands in the region (Figure 7c). For- influence on estuarine circulation in this ested wetlands account for three-quar- region. Consequently, circulation is less ters of all wetlands. Two well-known dynamic than in the river- or tide-domi- and extensive areas, the Great Dismal nated estuaries of other regions and is Swamp (Virginia and North Carolina) more dependent on the influence of and the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia wind. and Florida), are examples of the for- ested wetlands of the South Atlantic. Water volumes of South Atlantic estuar- Another prominent feature is the sea ies range from about 2.1 billion cubic islands complex of South Carolina and feet in the North and South Santee riv- Georgia, a vast area of intricate estua- ersto 1.1 trillion cubic feet in Albemarle/ rine channels and marshlands at the Pamlico Sounds. Because of their shal- mouths of estuaries extending from St. low to moderate depths, water volumes Helena Sound to St. Andrew/St. Simons for South Atlantic estuaries are among Sounds. The wetlands of Biscayne Bay the lowest in the Nation. Albemarle/ are part of the huge Everglades com- Pamlico Sounds, for example, average plex of southern Florida. only 13 feet in depth. The estuary with the highest average depth is the Broad Land Use. Forested lands are the River (24 feet). dominant land use in 13 estuaries, ac- counting for about one-third of all land in South Atlantic estuaries account for EDAs. The region's forests constitute a about 40 percent of the freshwater in- significant percentage of the Nation's flow to estuaries along the East Coast, commercial forest lands (NOAA, 1987). The rivers flowing into Albemarle/Pam- Extensive forested lands are found in lico Sounds discharge about 46,000 the St. Johns River, St. Andrew/St. Si- cubic feet per second, the highest in the mons Sounds, and Albemarle/Pamlico region. The highest freshwater inflows Sounds estuaries. Agriculture also is a in the region occurfrom Januarythrough major land use, accounting for 22 per- May, except in southern Florida where cent of all EDA lands (Figure 7d). In peak flows occur from June through Albemarle/Pamlico Sounds, about 59 September due to summer storms. percent of the EDA land area is in agri- Average precipitation is about 48 inches culture. Winyah Bay, Ossabaw Sound, per year in the northern portion of the Broad River, and Indian Rivereach have region, drops slightly in the central por- over 30 percent of their EDA classified tion, then increases to about 56 to 64 as agricultural land. inches per year in southern Florida. Although urban lands comprise only four Wetlands. Wetlands cover over 9,000 percent of the region's EDAs, Florida square miles of the region's EDAs, the has a heavily developed coastal corri- second highest among regions (NOAA, dor extending north from Miami on 1 990a). The Albemarle/Pamlico Biscayne Bay to Jacksonville at the Sounds, St. Johns River, Winyah Bay, mouth of the St. Johns River. Unlike and St. Andrew/St. Simons Sounds es- most of the urban areas of the North and 31 South Atlantic Middle Atlantic regions that have devel- include: Charleston, SC; Savannah, oped outward from the core of cities, GA; and Jacksonville and Miami, FIL. urban areas of east Florida have spread Appendix C identifies counties falling along the narrow coastal strip in a series entirely or partially in EDAs in the South of suburban, second home, and resort Atlantic region. developments. Urban areas account for 21 and 17 percent of EDA land in the Pollution Sources. The South Atlantic Biscayne Bay and Indian River estuar- ranks third among regions in the num- ies of South Florida, respectively. ber of municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWTPs). About three-quarters Population. The South Atlantic is the of the industrial facilities in the region least densely populated coastal region are located in EDAs north of Florida in the U.S. St. Mary's River/Cumberland (NOAA, 1990e). However, because of Sound (nine persons per square mile) Florida's much higher population den- and the North and South Santee Rivers sity, its EDAs contain more than half of (22 persons per square mile) are the all MWTPs. Florida's most densely least densely populated estuaries in the populated estuaries, St. Johns River, region. Biscayne Bay, and Indian River, contain most of the large (over one million gal- The most densely populated South At- lons perday of discharge) MWTPs in the lantic estuaries are in Florida. Biscayne region. Bay, the most heavily populated estu- ary, includes the southern portions of In 1982, over 11 million pounds of com- the Miami metropolitan area. Although monly used pesticides were applied to the population density for Biscayne Bay agricultural lands in EDAs in the region, (1,030 persons per square mile) is the the second highest amount of the five highest in the South Atlantic, it is only coastal regions. The distribution of pes- the tenth highest among the Nation's ticides was: herbicides (67 percent), estuaries. Indian River has the second insecticides (20 percent), and fungicides highest population density (327 persons (seven percent). The South Atlantic per square mile) in the region, largely region had the highest intensity of appli- because of resort/retirement communi- cation (over 1, 170 pounds per square ties. mile of cropland) among regions in 1982. Albemarle/Pamlico Sounds (1,682 The region is growing rapidly, especially pounds per square mile) and New River in Florida's Broward and Dade counties (1,540 pounds per square mile) were (Biscayne Bay EDA). The populations the EDAs with the highest per square in these two counties are projected to mile application intensity in the region increase by436,000 and 366,000 people (Pait et al., 1989). respectively over the next two decades - Population in the 126 counties in the In 1982, the application of fertilizer to region is projected to increase by more agricultural lands in the region's estua- than about 24 percent between 1988 rine drainage areas was the second and 2010 (Culliton et al., 1990). The highest among regions. Approximately major population centers of the region 30,000 tons of phosphorus and 132,000 32 South Atlantic Fort Pierce Harbor, Florida is part of the Indian River estuary. Coastal development has a direct impact on estuarine environments. MW@Wy"'Mffi IIt-1 Courtesy of NOAA tons of nitrogen fertilizers were applied. inputs of either phosphorus or nitrogen) Albemarle/Pamlico Sounds and St. in Albemarle/Pamlico Sounds, Bogue Johns River received the highest appli- River, New River, Broad River, and In- cations. The former contains a high than River (NOAA, 1990e). percentage of agricultural lands. Ex- cluding nutrients from upstream fluvial Fishery Resources. About 250 million sources, fertilizer runoff from agricul- pounds of seafood with an approximate tural land is a significant nutrient source ex-vessel value of 169 million dollars (i.e. greater than 25 percent of the total were landed at South Atlantic ports in 33 South Atlantic 1989 (NOAA, 1990f). Over half of this largest estuary, Albemarle/Pamlico harvest was comprised of estuarine- Sounds, contains 3,088 square miles of dependent species, including Atlantic classified shellfishing waters. These menhaden, Atlantic croaker, blue crab, Sounds are a commercially important and penaeid shrimp. Although the com- source of clams and oysters, account- mercial harvest is relatively small com- ing for about 1.2 million pounds in 1988. pared to other regions, South Atlantic St. Helena Sound (389,000 pounds) and estuaries are nevertheless important to St. Catherines/Sapelo Sounds (39,000 many species. pounds) are also majorsources of shell- fish in South Atlantic estuaries. The region also supports important es- tuarine-dependent recreational fisher- Recreation. There are almost 2,700 ies. Some species comprising South public outdoor recreation sites account- Atlantic recreational fisheries are impor- ing for about 5,200 square miles of land tant commercial species in other re- in the region's EDAs. Over 60 percent of gions. For example, red drum histori- these lands are managed for hunting, cally has been commercially harvested while about 32 percent are set aside for in the Gulf of Mexico, whereas it has conservation, preservation, and scenic been primarily a recreational species value. Most sites (90 percent) are man- along the Carolina coasts (Manooch, aged by local governments; however, 1984). Although a region's relative im- most of the land is under either Federal portance is often measured by commer- (53 percent) or state (45 percent) con- cial catch and value, many ecologically trol. Almost 900 of the public outdoor important species support these fisher- recreation sites provide access to wa- ies. For example, the South Atlantic ter. Of these, 61 percent are adjacent to region and its associated low-lying, den- estuarine waters, and 36 percent provide dritic, marshy shoreline and bar-built access to open waters of the Atlantic estuaries provide essential habitat to Ocean. Florida has about two-thirds of killifish and anchovies. These species all sites and more than half of all recre- are important links in the estuarine food ational lands in the region (NOAA, 1988). chain (Stickney, 1984). As with the public sites, the largest con- The South Atlantic accounts for about centration of private sites (70 percent of one-fifth of all classified shellfish-grow- the region's total) is in Florida (NOAA, ing waters in all regions. Of the 4,044 1990d). The South Atlantic region has square miles of classified waters, al- fewer marinas than the Middle Atlantic most 75 percent are approved for har- and Gulf of Mexico regions. The profile vest (Leonard et al., 1989). Agricultural of privately-owned sites in the South runoff, septic systems, and recreational Atlantic is similar to that in the Gulf of activities (e.g., boating) are the primary Mexico region, in part because of similar factors affecting the quality of shellfish physiography and climate. waters in the region. Shellfish landings in the South Atlantic, although small compared to other regions, have in- creased in recent years. The region's 34 South Atlantic The barrier islands that form the Outer Banks of North Carolina separate AlbemarlelPamlico Sounds, the region's largest estuary, from the Atlantic Ocean. Courtesy of Timothy Goodspeed, NOAA As of mid-1990, Albemarle- Pam I ico Sounds and Indian River Lagoon (part of the Indian River estuary) were in- cluded in EPA's National Estuary Pro- gram. More detailed information on each estu- ary can be found in Appendix B. Maps showing the counties in each EDA are in Appendix C. 35 M CD c 00 CD 0 Mississippi M Alabama (;) CD Georgia C exas Louisiana 0 13 12 Houston 23 9 (D 21 8 x 10 F 20 0 26 New Orleans Tampa Florida 28 2 St. Petersburg rn -30a 30 6 31 Persons per Square Mile 4 3 ca 400 or Greater 2 Q) Ell 1 100 to 399 50 to 99 0 to 49 Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico region extends Physical Features. Like the South At- from the southern tip of Florida west lantic and much of the Middle Atlantic, to the TexaslMexico border. The 31 the Gulf of Mexico is part of a vast estuaries and four sub-estuaries coastal plain of sedimentary deposits. shown account for more than 96, 000 Major features include the Mississippi square miles of estuarine drainage and Atchafalaya deltas, where large along the Gulf of Mexico coast. amounts of land-derived sediments have been deposited in shallow coastal wa- Gulf of Mexico Estuaries ters. These deltaic environments form a 1 Florida Bay complex, interconnected web of estua- 2 South Ten Thousand Islands rine channels and extensive coastal 3 North Ten Thousand Islands wetlands that are important habitat for 4 Rookery Bay many recreational and commercial fish- 5 Charlotte Harbor eries. In other areas, sediment trans- 5a Caloosahatchee River ported and deposited by oceanic cur- 6 Sarasota Bay rents formed offshore bars enclosing 7 Tampa Bay shallow, and sometimes extensive, 8 Suwannee River bodies of water. Such bar-built estuar- 9 Apalachee Bay ies are common along the Texas shore- 10 Apalachicola Bay line. 11 St. Andrew Bay Over 96,000 square miles of estuarine 12 Choctawhatchee Bay drainage area (EDA) make this the larg- 13 Pensacola Bay est of all regions. EIDAs range from 14 Perdido Bay about 200 square miles (Rookery Bay) 15 Mobile Bay to more than 12,000 square miles (Mis- 16 Mississippi Sound sissippi Sound). More than one-third 16a Lake Borgne have EIDAs coinciding with their fluvial 16b Lake Pontchartrain drainage areas. The notable excep- 17 Breton/Chandeleur Sounds tions are the Mississippi and Atchafalaya 18 Mississippi River rivers, whose fluvial drainage areas ex- 19 Barataria Bay tend far into the Nation's hinterland and 20 Terrebonne/Timbalier Bays drain more than half of the contiguous 21 Atchafalaya/Verrn i I ion Bays U.S. Consequently, they receive enor- 22 Calcasieu Lake mous amounts of runoff from outside 23 Sabine Lake their EIDAs. Figures 9a and 9b show 24 Galveston Bay estuarine drainage and water surface 25 Brazos River areas in the Gulf of Mexico. 26 Matagorda Bay 27 San Antonio Bay With about 11,700 square miles of water 28 Aransas Bay surface area, the Gulf is first among 29 Corpus Christi Bay regions in total water surface area, and 30 Upper Laguna Madre contains two (Breton/Chandeleur and 30a Baffin Bay Mississippi Sounds) of the top five estu- 31 Lower Laguna Madre aries with water surface areas greater than 1,000 square miles. 37 Gulf of Mexico Figure 9. Selected Characteristics, Gulf of Mexico Estuaries a. Estuarine Drainage Area b. Estuarine Water Surface Area FL FL 3 4 4 5 7 10 11 12 12 13 13 14 AL 14 AL 15 16 MS-LA 17 LA (A I LA Lu is L" is 19 19 20 20 21 21 22 22 23 TX 2 TX 24 25 25 25 26 27 27 29 26 209 29 30 30 31 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 12 14 2000 2500 0 2 4 6 0 @10 1000 1500 Area (thousand square miles) Area (square miles) c. Total Wetlands d. Urban and Agricultural Land Use I FL 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6WD 6 7 7 a= a 9 9 '0 10 1, 11 12 12 is 13 14 AL 14 AL 15 15 is - MS" 16 '7 LA 17 LA 1 a : I 2NO Lu 20 21 21 22 2M2 23 11 23 TX U 25 25 2H6 26 27 27 28 2WO 29 29 30 30 FL J@@A L LA (2) 31 31 0 sw 1OW 1SW 2= MO 3OW 3SOO 0 20 40 60 so 100 Area (square miles) Percentage of EDA E Urban 0 Agricultural Notes: Sub-estuaries are not shown separately. All values are in Appendix B. N/D-nodata. 38 Gulf of Mexico Hydrologic Characteristics. Tidal three-quarters of the freshwater inflow cycles vary within the region. A semi- into the region's estuaries. Long-term diurnal tide predominates from the precipitation, approximately 48 inches Florida Keys to Apalachicola Bay and per year in western Florida, increases to from the Mississippi Delta area west 56 inches per year in coastal Alabama, through Texas. A diurnal tide exists Mississippi, and Louisiana, then de- between these two areas. Tidal range is creases dramatically westward through small throughout the region, with a Texas to about 24 inches per year in maximum of 3.5 feet in Florida and a Laguna Madre. Periods of high fresh- minimum of one foot in Louisiana and water inflow vary with precipitation pat- Texas. Hurricanes have a dramatic terns in the region. Central and south- effect on Gulf estuaries due to accom- ern Florida receive their heaviest pre- panying storm surges and increased cipitation from June through October. freshwater inflow from intense precipi- Freshwater inflow into Texas estuaries tation. Hurricane season extends from is particularly variable by season. June through October; the probability of one hurricane per year making landfall Wetlands. The greatest amount of ranges from 20 percent in Florida to five coastal wetlands of any region is found percent in Texas (NOAA, 1985). in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 16,600 square miles. Wetlands are most heavily Gulf estuaries generally are the most concentrated in the Mississippi Delta shallow among the regions. They also region and southwestern Florida (Figure have less volume on average than most 9c). Forested wetlands and f resh marsh other U.S. estuaries, despite their large are important along the Gulf coast of water surface areas. Mississippi Sound, Florida; forested wetlands dominate from for example, has the largest water vol- the Florida Panhandle to Mississippi ume in the Gulf (568 billion cubic feet); Sound. Salt marsh dominates in the however, at least nine estuaries in other western Gulf, from Mississippi Sound regions are larger. The combination of westward (Reyer et al., 1988). shallow depths and large surface areas with minimal tidal range, geomorphology, Wetlands provide important habitat in and sediment deposition has generated the life cycle of shrimp and menhaden, abundant wetlands throughout most Gulf the two most important commercial estuaries. fishery resources in the Gulf, especially in the area around the Mississippi Delta. The Gulf of Mexico region's vast drain- However, an estimated 50 square miles age system creates tremendous fresh- of these wetlands have been lost per water inflow into estuaries. About half of year between the mid-1950s and late all the water discharged to estuaries in 1970s (Day and Craig, 1981). This has the NEI is found in this region. The resulted from a rise in sea level, land Mississippi River (464,400 cubic feet subsidence, and human alterations such per second) and Atchafalaya/Verm i lion as channelization of estuaries, canal Bays (223,800 cubic feet per second) dredging through wetlands to accom- dominate the inflow of water into the modate oil and gas production, and im- Gulf of Mexico, accounting for almost poundments. 39 Gulf of Mexico Land Use. Early settlement of the re- ton, and Tampa. Sarasota Bay has the gion was associated with ports such as highest population density in the region New Orleans, situated on the Mississippi (923 persons per square mile), followed River, that provided access to the inte- by Galveston Bay (665 persons per riorof the continent. Thedenseswamps square mile) and Tampa Bay (476 per- and marshes of much of the region sons per square mile). restricted coastal settlement. However, draining the wetlands uncovered an Population in the 159 counties in the immensely fertile soil that helped expand region is expected to grow by almost 26 agricultural activity, particularly in the percent over the next 20 years, higher Mississippi Delta region and areas near than any other coastal region (Culliton the Florida Everglades. The subtropical et al., 1990). Appendix C identifies climate and significant rainfall have led counties falling entirely or partially in to the growth of dense forests, most EDAs in the Gulf of Mexico region. prevalent from northern Florida to the Mississippi River. Forested lands are Pollution Sources. The Gulf of Mexico an important land use in this region. region has more point sources of pollu- Pulpwood for making paper is the major tion (over 3,700) than any other region in forest product. the Nation (NOAA, 1990e). This is a region with concentrations of industrial Agricultural activity accounts for 31 per- activity associated with oil and gas cent of the land use in the Gulf of Mexico production and development. Over half (Figure 9d). The region east of Sabine of the point sources are industrial facili- Lake is one of the Nation's major pro- ties, with many based on the petro- ducers of sugarcane, rice, vegetables, chemical industry. Municipal wastewa- and fruits. Florida is the Nation's leading ter treatment plants are also numerous grower of citrus fruits. West of Sabine and are located throughout the region. Lake, rainfall rapidly diminishes and Galveston Bay has the greatest con- agriculture becomes irrigation-based centration of point sources, followed by with vegetables, fruit, and cotton as the Mississippi Sound. dominant crops. In 1982, approximately 11.7 million Population. The Gulf of Mexico is the pounds of commonly used pesticides second fastest growing coastal region in were applied to agricultural lands in the the Nation. Between 1970 and 1980, Gulf of Mexico region, most among re- the population grew by more than 30 gions. The distribution of pesticides was: percent. In spite of this growth, only five herbicides (70 percent), insecticides (19 percent of the region is considered ur- percent), and fungicides (eight percent). ban. Petroleum and natural gas activity, In 1982, the average application of pes- agricultural activities, and tourism are ticides was 366 pounds persquare mile. important components of the regional Apalachicola Bay had the highest inten- economy. Figure 8 shows population sity of application in the region (1,041 density in EDAs in the Gulf of Mexico pounds per square mile), followed by region. Major urban areas surround Apalachee Bay (1,023 pounds per port cities such as New Orleans, Hous- square mile) (Pait et al., 1989). 40 Gulf of Mexico In 1982, the application of fertilizer to Fishery Resources. The coast along agricultural lands in the region's EDAs the Gulf of Mexico is one of the most was the highest among regions. Ap- productive fishery areas in the world. proximately 62,000 tons of phosphorus The region produced almost 1.8 billion and 758,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizers pounds of seafood in 1989 with an esti- were applied. Galveston Bay, Matagorda mated ex-vessel value of 648 million Bay, and Lower Laguna Madre received dollars, making it the leading seafood the highest applications. All contain a producer among regions (NOAA, 1990f). high percentage of agricultural land. Over three-quarters of this harvest com- Excluding nutrients from upstream flu- prised species dependent on estuarine vial sources, fertilizer runoff from agri- waters and coastal wetlands. For ex- cultural land is a significant nutrient ample, it has been demonstrated on a source (i.e., greater than 25 percent of Gulf-wide basis that inshore shrimp the total inputs of either phosphorus or yields are related directly to the area of nitrogen) in South Ten Thousand Islands, available estuarine intertidal vegetation North Ten Thousand Islands, Charlotte (Turner, 1977). Although the harvest of Harbor, Suwannee River, Lower Laguna brown, white, and pink shrimp is second Madre, Apalachee, Choctawhatchee, to Gulf menhaden in terms of volume, it Pensacola, Perdido, Matagorda, San accounts for more than half of the value Antonio, Aransas, and Corpus Christi of landings in the region. Gulf estuaries bays (NOAA, 1990e). support abundant populations of eco- The Gulf of Mexico region leads the Nation with approximately 17,000square miles of coastal wetlands. 4i & W 0. ... ........ .. .... .... Courtesy of Dorothy Leonard, NOAA 41 Guff of Mexico logically important species such as bay set aside for conservation, preserva- anchovy and sheepshead minnow. tion, or scenic value. Most sites (92 Dominant estuarine-dependent demer- percent) are managed by local agree- sal species in the region include spot ments; however, most of the land is and croaker (Stickney, 1984). Spot, under either Federal (53 percent) or croaker, and many other species use state (44 percent) control (NOAA, 1988). Gulf estuaries primarily as nursery ar- eas for larval and juvenile life stages Private outdoor recreation sites are also (Williams et al., 1990). numerous in the region, second only to the Middle Atlantic region in total num- The Gulf of Mexico region contains the bers (NOAA, 1990d). The region con- most classified shellfish-growing waters tains almost one-third of the Nation's (almost 9,000 square miles) of all the private charter boats and private camp- regions. About 3,800 square miles of grounds. Almost one-quarter of the these are approved for harvesting. Nation's marinas are found in the re- However, more than half (about 55 per- gion. Because tourism is a growing cent) of all classified waters in the region industry in the Gulf, private outdoor have regulatory limitations on harvest recreation sites are likely to remain im- (Broutman and Leonard, 1988). portant, and the number of sites may increase in the future. Almost 15 million pounds of oyster meats were harvested in Gulf waters in 1989 (NOAA, 1990f). Commercial harvest occurs throughout the region, from As of mid-1990, Sarasota Bay, Tampa Charlotte Harbor to Laguna Madre, and Bay, Galveston Bay, and the Barataria/ is especially significant in Apalachicola Terrebonne Estuarine Complex were Bay and Breton/Chandeleur Sounds. included in EPA's National Estuary Pro- Most harvest limitations are on a condi- gram. tional basis, depending on freshwater inflowfrom highlyvariable rainfall events. More detailed information on each estu- Most of the region's productive reefs are ary can be found in Appendix B. Maps in these conditional areas. showing the counties in each EDA are in Appendix C. Recreation. The supply of public out- door recreational resources in estuarine areas is third highest among regions. There are more than 3,700 public out- door recreation sites in the region, of which 564 are adjacent to estuarine waters. The total area of all sites is almost 8,700 square miles. The major- ity of these sites and most of the area are located in the Mississippi Delta region. Over half of the recreation area is man- aged for hunting and over one-third is 42 Gulf of Mexico Wading birds, such as the egret, feed in the shallow waters of many Gulf estuaries. 4Z7F,,- Courtesy of NOAA 43 Estuaries of the Pacific Figure 10. Population Density in Pacific EDAS, 1980 28b Seattle 28 27 28 Washington 26 Portland 2 25 22 21 20 1 18 Oregon 5 14 13 Persons per Square Mile 12 2500 or Greater 500 to 2499 50 to 499 0 0 to 49 San Francisco California 7 Lo ngeles 4 5b It, 3 San Diego 44 Pacific The Pacific region extends from Ti- Physical Features. The size and distri- juana Estuary to Puget Sound. The bution of estuaries along the Pacific 28 estuaries and six sub-estuaries Coast are directly related to the region's shown in Figure 10 account for ab geomorphology. The Pacific Coast is most 38,000 square miles of estua- characterized by uniformly uplifted, re- rine drainage along the Pacific coast. sistant rock, except for coastal flats and islands along parts of the Washington Pacific Estuaries coast. Coasta@ -mountain formations have restricted the area of low-lying 1 Tijuana Estuary coastal plainsand rivers that flow toward 2 San Diego Bay the sea. This has resulted in narrow, 3 Mission Bay deep, and steep-sided estuaries. The 4 Newport Bay large estuaries of San Francisco Bay 5 San Pedro Bay and Puget Sound formed when sections 5a Alamitos Bay of the continent containing former river 5b Anaheim Bay valleys sank below sea level due to 6 Santa Monica Bay active mountain building. In Puget 7 Morro Bay Sound, additional deepening and elon- 8 Monterey Bay gation occurred due to glacial activity. 8a Elkhorn Slough 9 San Francisco Bay Estuarine drainage areas (EDAs) in the 9a Central San Francisco/ region range from 14 square miles in San Pablo/Suisun Bays Netarts Bay to about 8,000 square miles 10 Drakes Estero in Puget Sound (Figure 11 a). Nineteen 11 Tomales Bay of the 28 estuaries in the region have 12 Eel River EDAs coinciding with their fluvial drain- 13 Humboldt Bay age areas. The fluvial drainage areas 14 Klamath River for Puget Sound, Columbia River, and 15 Rogue River San Francisco Bay extend great dis- 16 CoosBay tances inland. These three estuaries 17 Umpqua River account for about 53 percent of the 18 Siuslaw River estuarine drainage along the Pacific 19 Alsea River coast. 20 Yaquina Bay 21 Siletz Bay Because of the geomorphology of the 22 Netarts Bay region, estuaries along the Pacific Coast 23 Tillamook Bay generally have small water surface ar- 24 Nehalem River eas. Half of the region's estuaries have 25 Columbia River water surface areas less than or equal to 26 Willapa Bay five square miles (Figure 11 b). Although 27 Grays Harbor Puget Sound contains over one-third of 28 Puget Sound the estuarine water surface area in the 28a Hood Canal region, it contains only one-quarter the 28b Skagit Bay water surface area of Chesapeake Bay. 45 Pacific Figure 11. Selected Characteristics, Pacific Estuaries 1 a. Estuarine Drainage Area b. Estuarine Water Surface Area 2 CA A3) CA 2 4 3 a 9 1 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 Is Is 14 14 OR 15 OR is 16 1? 7 Ia 1: 1: 20 20 21 21 22 22 23 24 24 as 25 26 WA 26 WA 27 27 (931) 20 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I now 0 1 2 3 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 430 1000 Area (thousand square miles) Area (square miles) c. Total Wetlands d. Urban and Agricultural Land Use I No CA I CA NJO 4 N/D 4 5 7 N/D 7 a (909) 9 1: 10 11 11 12 2 13 13 14 14 OR OR 17 17 18 WD is 19 N/D is 20 NID 20 21 NID 21 22 NIO 22 23 NID 23 24 1N/D 24 25 - 25 26 1 WA 26 WA 27 27 J N'D NID 2 NID 20 28 1100 2;0 4,0r, 1.0 2.0 31) ;0 5.0 60 7.0 so Area (square miles) Percentage of EDA 9 Urban E3 Agricultural Notes: Sub-estuaries are not shown separately. All values are in Appendix B. N/D-nodata. 46 Pacific Hydrologic Characteristics. Tides The large freshwater inflows into the throughout the region are semidiurnal estuaries in the northern portion of the and range from about seven feet in region are a function of the size of their Washington to less than four feet in drainage areas and the climate of the Southern California. Circulation in large Pacific Northwest. Freshwater inflows estuaries such as San Francisco Bay are highest in estuaries north of San and Puget Sound tends to be dominated Francisco Bay, with peak inflows occur- by tides, while circulation patterns in the ring from December through April. smaller estuaries are directly effected Runoff and freshwater inflow into South- by freshwater inflow. For example, es- ern California estuaries are intermittent tuaries such as Eel River and Humboldt from May through October when the Bay are influenced heavily by river dis- flow of some coastal streams disap- charge. During high-flow periods, these pears. Long-term precipitation is highly estuaries are composed almost entirely variable within the region, ranging from of freshwater. During low-flow periods, over 100 inches per year in northern discharge is not sufficient to maintain a Washington, to less than 16 inches in good connection with the ocean, and Southern California. long-shore processes tend to cut off the entrances to these estuaries. Wetlands. The estuarine drainage ar- eas of the Pacific contain the least coastal Because of the unique geomorphology wetlands (1,792 square miles) among of the Pacific region, characterized by regions (Reyer et al., 1 990b). San Fran- deep submarine canyons (depths to cisco Bay contains over half of all wet- 3,000 feet) in Southern California bays lands in this region (909 square miles) and shallow coastal estuaries in Or- (Figure 11 c), even though it is estimated egon, the average depth and volume of to have lost almost 95 percent of its the bays and estuaries vary consider- wetlands since the time of settlement ably. Santa Monica Bay, Monterey Bay, (Josselyn, 1983). Wetlands in San and Puget Sound are among the deepest Francisco Bay include extensive tidal in the Nation, whereas Oregon estuar- flats and salt ponds along the southern ies are among the most shallow. shores of the Bay, tidal flats and salt marshes in San Pablo and Suisun bays, Although most estuaries along the Pa- and vast areas of rice fields where the cific coast are relatively small, freshwa- San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers ter inflow to them can be quite large. For empty into Suisun Bay. California has example, the average daily freshwater lost approximately 90 percent of its wet- discharge of the Columbia River is over lands since being settled (Gosselink and 270,000 cubic feet per second, the sec- Baumann, 1980). ond highest in the Nation behind the Mississippi River. Puget Sound, San Puget Sound contains the second larg- Francisco Bay, and the Klamath River est amount of wetlands (387 square estuaries also receive some of the miles), almost halt of which are tidal highest freshwater inflows in the Nation. flats. The Columbia River EDA, third with 158 square miles, is comprised mostly of forested wetlands and 47 Pacific marshlands. Wetland loss in Pacific tuaries in the Nation: San Pedro and estuaries historically can be attributed Santa Monica bays. The estuarine to human activities such as agriculture, drainage areas of both these estuaries urbanization, and diking (Gosselink and are within the Los Angeles metropolitan Baumann, 1980). Because of diking by area (Figure 10). Although its drainage settlers and recent human pressures, area is small, the population of San 11 major deltas surveyed in Puget Sound Pedro Bay (over six million in 1980) is lost about 30 square miles of wetlands greater than the total population of ei- from the late 1800s to 1980 (Bartleson ther the North or South Atlantic regions. et al., 1980). San Francisco Bay, another densely populated estuary, includes the cities of Land Use. Although California is the San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, most populous state in the U.S., urban and San Jose. Population densities land dominates only two relatively small decrease dramatically in Northern Cali- drainage areas: San Pedro and Santa fornia, Oregon, and Washington, and Monica bays. Other land uses, espe- are among the lowest in the Nation. cially forest land, dominate the region's estuaries due to the large inland extent The population in the 62 counties with of their drainage areas. Forest land, for land in EDAs in California, Oregon, and example, is the major land use in estu- Washington is expected to increase by aries north of San Francisco Bay. The about 22 percent over the next two de- cool, moist climate of the Pacific North- cades (Culliton et al., 1990). Appendix west has encouraged the growth of the C identifies counties falling entirely or most productive forest land in the Nation partially in EIDAs in the region. (NOAA, 1987). Puget Sound and Co- lumbia River, the two largest EDAs, Pollution Sources. There are almost each have more than three-quarters of 1,000 point sources of pollution in EIDAs their land in this category. In San in the Pacific region, the second fewest Francisco Bay, however, agricultural among regions (NOAA, 1990e). Almost land dominates due to the inclusion of a 70 percent of these sources are indus- large portion of the Central Valley along trial facilities. Three-quarters of these the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. industrial sources are concentrated in Newport Bay also has a relatively large Puget Sound, Columbia River, San percentage of agricultural land use. The Francisco Bay, and San Pedro Bay. Pacific has the second highest percent- The largest industrial dischargers are age of urban land (112 percent) and the concentrated in Columbia River and fourth highest percentage of agricultural Puget Sound. Three of the region's five land (11 percent) among the regions. largest facilities are pulp and paper mills Figure 11d shows the distribution of located along the Columbia River. These urban and agricultural land in the region mills discharge at least 30 million gallons per day of process wastewater. Mu- Population. The region contains about nicipal wastewater treatment plants, in- one-quarter of the Nation's population cluding the region's largest, are con- residing in estuarine drainage areas, as centrated in San Pedro, Santa Monica, well as the most densely populated es- and San Francisco bays, Columbia 48 Pacific River, and Puget Sound estuarine pendent species, over half of the dollar drainage areas. Puget Sound has the value was associated with this catch. most point sources, followed by Co- This was primarily due to the high price lumbia River. per pound of the anadromous Pacific salmon. In 1982,1.5 million pounds of commonly used pesticides were applied to agricul- The estuaries and bays of the Pacific tural lands in the EIDAs in the region. region support a wide diversity of fishes The distribution of pesticides was: her- and invertebrates, including over 400 bicides (69 percent), insecticides (26 species of adult and juvenile fishes percent), and fungicides (5 percent). (NOAA, 1990f). The northern portion of The Pacific region had a pesticide appli- the region provides stream and lake cation of about 250 pounds per square spawning habitats for many species, mile of cropland in 1982, making it the including salmon. The small but highly region with the lowest average intensity saline estuaries in the southern portion of application. San Pedro Bay (612 of the region support populations of eco- pounds per square mile) and San Fran- logically important fishes, such as smelts cisco Bay (346 pounds per square mile) and anchovies. The region's large ma- were the EIDAs with the highest applica- rine bays are home to many species, tion intensity in the region (Pait et al., including abundant populations of white 1989). croaker and kelp bass (Monaco et al., 1990). In 1982, the application of fertilizers to agricultural lands in estuarine drainage The Pacific contains the least amount of areas was the fourth highest among the shellfish-growing waters (about 455 five regions. Approximately 19,000 tons square miles), two percent of the total of phosphorus and 128,000 tons of ni- for all regions. More than 70 percent of trogen fertilizers were applied. San these growing waters are in harvest- Francisco Bay, Monterey Bay, and Puget limited status. Shellfish-growing water Sound received the highest applications. quality is affected most by industrial San Francisco Bay also contains a high discharges, followed by urban runoff, percentage of agricultural lands. Ex- sewage treatment plants, and agricul- cluding nutrients from upstream fluvial ture. Over 80 percent of the region's sources, fertilizer runoff from agricul- approved waters are in Washington. tural land is a significant nutrient source Washington's clam and oyster industry (i.e., greater than 25 percent of the total leads the region and is concentrated in inputs of either phosphorus or nitrogen) southern Puget Sound and Willapa Bay. only in Monterey Bay. Oregon's clam and oyster industry is centered in Tillamook, Yaquina, and Fishery Resources. About 750 million Coos bays. Commercial shellfish har- pounds of seafood with an approximate vest in California is based on aquacul- ex-vessel value of 337 million dollars ture and occurs in only five estuaries were landed atthe region's ports in 1989 (Leonard and Slaughter, 1990). (NOAA, 1990f). Although only one-fifth of this harvest was from estuarine-de- 49 Pacific Recreation. There are over 6,500 pub- More detailed information on each estu- lic outdoor recreation sites accounting ary can be found in Appendix B. Maps for almost 14,500 square miles in Pa- showing the counties in each EDA are in cific EDAs. Total public outdoor recre- Appendix C. ation land in Pacific EDAs is the largest among regions. About 43 percent of public recreation land is managed for hunting, while almost 37 percent has been set aside for conservation, pres- ervation, or scenic value. Most sites (88 percent) are managed by local govern- ments; however, most of the land is under either Federal (83 percent) or state (12 percent) control (NOAA, 1988). Of the 1,769 sites providing -access to water, almost half were adjacenttowater under tidal influence. The greatest con- centration of sites is in San Francisco Bay, followed by San Pedro and Santa Monica bays, and Puget Sound. Large tracts of recreation land are found in Oregon and Washington EDAs. Private outdoor recreation sites in the region exceed only the North Atlantic in number. However, the Pacific region does contains over one-quarter of the private campgrounds in all regions (NOAA, 1988). The large area of land under public ownership and the region's physical characteristics may accountfor the relatively small number of private recreation sites. California has the most privately-owned outdoor recreation sites in the region. As of mid-1990, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, and Santa Monica Bay were included in EPA's National Estu- ary Program. 50 Pacific Puget Sound, an estuary formed by tectonic and glacial processes, is typical of the mountainous terrain of north pacific coast estuaries. -VAIWa " @10 Courtesy of J. J. McDonough 111, NOAA -owl' 51 IR C) 01 ID CD Susceptibility to Retaining 0 Cb C'x-@] CDZ- -5M W:z- Particulate-Attached Pollutants (a (nW '-<.Q) N) C6 1< z Low Medium High 2) (D CD (D W- CD P- (D (D 'a Cb Q) (D (0 _0 r (j) 0 . ... ... 0_ :Z'W0CD Sb (D A Da (D U) Sb 00 __:............. Z3 a' cL ID :3 1, WCD D cn 0 iz-: -zr Cal LT CD =. cD ::t CD CDZ -a Z C- O'@ 0CT) C) I> E;3 CD E ..... ..... 13 Cb j-D, CD 'TJ 2)- z) LI).II I:@ C3 a' W9 a -(a -a C) Cb Zr >0000 (r 1. 0 0 U)K ZCD (D CD 0 0 0 rz Cb zr C') Z3 (b =;-0 :.... .. .... . . . ......... . ....... (D > > > Cb C) (b CDW CD X . . . ...... . . .... -(a n) Cb zr Cb Cb (n Susceptibility Susceptibility of Estuaries to Based on this index, estuaries in the Pollutant Effects North and Middle Atlantic regions ex- hibit the highest sensitivities to both One measure of an estuary's suscepti- dissolved and particulate-attached pol- bility to pollution is its ability to flush and/ lutants. In the North Atlantic, this is or dilute pollutants. Pollutants may en- primarily due to the relatively sluggish ter an estuary either in dissolved form or nature of its tidally-flushed estuaries. attached to suspended particles in wa- Freshwater inflows play a minor role in ter, such as silt or clay. In general, the estuarine circulation in this region. lower an estuary's flushing rate to the Muscongus and Narraguagus bays are open ocean and the smaller its volume examples of tidally-flushed estuaries in for diluting pollutants, the greater is its the region. By contrast, the high sensi- susceptibility to retain dissolved pollut- tivities of many Middle Atlantic estuaries ants. are due to limited flushing caused pri- marily by narrow inlets that restrict ex- Some portion of the pollutants adsorbed change with the open ocean. These onto suspended particles entering an narrow inlets are a feature of lagoonal estuary settle and become incorporated bar-built estuaries, such as Chin- into its bottom sediments. These sedi- coteague and Barnegat bays. ments and their attached pollutants ac- cumulate according to the rate at which Lower sensitivities are generally exhib- water travels through an estuary. The ited by estuaries throughout the South greater the water residence time, the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, except in greater the retention of these particles the lagoonal bar-built estuaries of Texas, and the higher the potential for them to e.g., Corpus Christi Bay, Laguna Madre, affect bottom-dwelling organisms and and San Antonio Bay. In the estuaries habitats. with low sensitivities, freshwater inflow to volume ratios are high. Consequently, NOAA has developed a relative classi- freshwater inflow significantly affects fication index to approximate the ability circulation and flushing in these systems. of an estuary to retain dissolved and particulate-attached pollutants. The in- Pollution-retention sensitivity varies dex is based on the "basic" physical and greatly in the Pacific region because of hydrologic characteristics of each estu- the many types of estuaries (river domi- ary (NOAA, 1985). Figure 12 presents nated, coastal bays, and fjords) found in a relative rating scale of high, medium, theregion. For example, Columbia River, or low. The ratings represent ten-fold a river-dominated system, has a low incremental changes in the susceptibil- sensitivity while San Pedro Bay, a coastal ity of an estuary to retain either dissolved bay, has a high sensitivity rating. or sediment-attached pollutants. A high rating on either axis indicates an estuary The index has been used with estimates having relatively high sensitivity to a of nitrogen and phosphorus loadings reduction or increase in pollutant input. from NOAA's National Coastal Pollutant Discharge Inventory to identify estuar- iesthat maybe most sensitive to changes 53 Summary in nutrient inputs (NOAA and EPA 1 989a, and up-to-date information about the 1989b, 1989c). Used in this way, the Nation's estuaries for use as a basis for index helps provide a basis for deter- setting national policy and program pri- mining which estuaries may be experi- orities. encing nutrient enrichment problems, and an indication of the extent to which The information in this report and other reductions in nutrient inputs may affect efforts by NOAA are beginning to pro- an estuary. The index will be evaluated vide this valuable service. With this further in the coming year as part of a information, we have a factual basis for nationwide survey of nutrient enrich- comparing estuaries, placing them in a ment in estuaries, sponsored jointly by regional or national context, assessing NOAA and EPA. their condition, and approaching man- agement of the Nation's estuaries on a comprehensive rather than a case-by- Summary case basis. This report shows that the Nation's estu- aries are an important "national resource base," especially in terms of fish and shellfish, habitat and wildlife, and recre- ational values. It also shows that estu- aries have been asked to meet many societal demands, directly or indirectly. Throughout our history, by developing shorelines, draining wetlands, dredging channels, and dumping pollutants, we have taken far more from our estuaries than we have given back. Like humans, some estuaries can respond to these demands; others cannot withstand the stress without developing symptoms of poor health. Each estuary is unique, described by its own set of vital statistics that define its natural processes and the level and impact of human uses. If, as a Nation, we expect to sustain the health of this important resource, ac- tions are needed for responsible stew- ardship, including continued monitoring and periodic examinations, planning preventative actions, and taking reme- dial or restorative actions where pos- sible. An important and fundamental step is to develop andmaintain accurate 54 References References S.P. Parker, pp. 139-144. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Co. 579 pp. Bartleson, G.C., M.J. Chrzastowski, and Frayer, W.E., T.J. Monohan, D.C. A.K. Helgerson. 1980. Historical Bowden, and F.A. Graybill. 1983. Sta- changes in shoreline and wetland at tus and trends of wetlands and eleven major deltas in the Puget Sound deepwater habitats in the coterminous region, Washington. Hydrologic Inves- United States, 1950s to 1970s. Colo- tigations Atlas, U.S. Geological Survey. rado State University, Department of 11 maps. Forest and Wood Sciences. Ft. Collins, CO. 32 pp. Bell, F.W. 1989. Application of wetland valuation theory to Florida fisheries. Gosselink, J.G. and R.H. Baumann. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Sea Grant 1980. Wetland inventories: Wetland College. 118 pp. loss along the United States coast. Z Geomorph. N.F. Suppl. Bd. 34:173- Broutman, M.A. and D.L. Leonard. 1988. 187. National estuarine inventory: The quality of shellfish growing waters in the Gulf of Josselyn, M.N. 1983. The ecology of Mexico. Rockville, MID: National Oce- San Francisco Bay tidal marshes: A anic and Atmospheric Administration, community profile. U.S. Fish and Wild- Strategic Assessment Branch. 43 pp. life Service, U.S. Department of the In- terior Report FWS/OBS-83/23. Slidell, Culliton, T.J., M.A. Warren, T.R. LA: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 102 Goodspeed, D.G. Remer, C.M. PP. Blackwell, and J.J. McDonough 111. 1990. 50 years ofpopulation change along the Leonard, D. L., M.A. Broutman, and K. E. Nation's coasts. Coastal trends series, Harkness. 1989. National estuarine Report No. 2. Rockville, MID: National inventory: The quality of shellfish Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- growing waters on the east coast of the tion, Strategic Assessment Branch. 41 United States. Rockville, MID: National pp- Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion, Strategic Assessment Branch. 54 Day, J.W. Jr. and N.J. Craig. 1981. PP. Comparisons of effectiveness of man- agement options for wetlands loss in the Leonard, D.L. and E.A. Slaughter. 1990. coastal zone of Louisiana. Proceedings National estuarine inventory: The qual- of the conference on coastal erosion ity of shellfish growing waters on the and wetland modification in Louisiana: west coast of the United States. Causes, consequences, and options. Rockville, MID: National Oceanic and Baton Rouge, LA, October 5-7, 1981. Atmospheric Administration, Strategic Assessment Branch. 51 pp. Dyer, K.R. 1977. Estuarine Oceanog- raphy. In: McGraw-Hillencyclopediaof Manooch C. S. 1984. Fisherman's guide: ocean and atmospheric sciences, ed. fishes of the southeastern United States. 55 References Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State Mu- Coastal Pollutant Discharge Inventory seum of Natural History. 362 pp. Program. Rockville, MID: Strategic As- sessment Branch, Ocean Assessments Monaco, M.E., R.L. Emmett, D.M. Nelson, Division. and S.A. Hinton. 1990. Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- West Coast estuaries. Volume 1: Data ministration (NOAA). 1990f, Fisheries summaries. ELM R Rept. No. 4. Rockville, of the United States, 1989. Current MID: National Oceanic and Atmospheric fisheries statistics no. 8900. National Administration, Strategic Assessment Marine Fisheries Service. Silver Spring, Branch. 240 pp. MID: U.S. Government Printing Office. 111 pp. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- ministration (NOAA). 1990a. Coastal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- wetlands of the United States. Rockville, ministration (NOAA). 1989a. The na- MID: Strategic Assessment Branch, tional status and trends program for Ocean Assessments Division. In press. marine environmental quality. General program brochure. Rockville, MID: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- Coastal and Estuarine Assessments ministration (NOAA). 1990b. Private Branch, Ocean Assessments Division. non-profit conservation lands data base 13 pp. (unpublished). National Coastal Recre- ation Inventory Project. Rockville, MD: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- Strategic Assessment Branch, Ocean ministration (NOAA). 1989b. National Assessments Division. estuarine inventory: Data atlas, volume 3: Coastal wetlands-New England re- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- gion. Rockville, MID: Strategic Assess- ministration (NOAA). 1990c. 1990 Na- ment Branch, Ocean Assessments Di- tional shellfish register of classified es- vision. 20 pp. tuarine waters data base (unpublished). Rockville, MD: Strategic Assessment National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- Branch, Ocean Assessments Division. ministration (NOAA). 1988. National estuarine inventory: Data atlas, volume National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- 4: Public recreation facilities in coastal ministration (NOAA). 1990d. Private areas. Rockville, MD: Strategic As- commercial recreation data base (un- sessment Branch, Ocean Assessments published). National Coastal Recre- Division. 156 pp. ation Inventory Project. Rockville, MID: Strategic Assessment Branch, Ocean National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- Assessments Division. ministration (NOAA). 1987. National estuarine inventory: Data atlas, volume National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- 2: Land use characteristics. Rockville, ministration (NOAA). 1990e. National MD: Strategic Assessment Branch, coastal pollutant discharge inventory Ocean Assessments Division. 40 pp. data base (unpublished). National 56 References National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- Agricultural pesticide use in estuarine ministration (NOAA). 1985. National drainage areas: A preliminary summary estuarine inventory: Data atlas, volume for selected pesticides. Rockville, MD: /: Physical and hydrologic characteris- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- tics. Rockville, IVID: Strategic Assess- ministration, Strategic Assessment ment Branch, Ocean Assessments Di- Branch. 134 pp. vision. 103 pp. Pritchard, D.W. 1967. What is an estu- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- ary?: Physical viewpoint. In: Estuaries, ministration (NOAA) and U.S. Environ- ed. G.H. Lauff. AAAS Publication 83. mental Protection Agency (EPA). 1989a. Washington, DC: American Associa- Susceptibility of East Coast estuaries to tion for the Advancement of Science. nutrient discharges: AlbemarlelPam- pp. 3-5. lico Sound to Biscayne Bay. Rockville, MD: Strategic Assessment Branch, Reyer, A.J., D.W. Field, J.E. Cassells, Ocean Assessments Division. 32 pp. C.E. Alexander, and C.L. Holland. 1988. National coastal wetlands inventory: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- distribution and areal extent of coastal ministration (NOAA) and U.S. Environ- wetlands in estuaries of the Gulf of mental Protection Agency (EPA). 1989b. Mexico. Rockville, IVID: National Oce- Susceptibility of East Coast estuaries to anic and Atmospheric Administration, nutrient discharges: Passamaquoddy Strategic Assessment Branch. 18 pp. Bay to Chesapeake Bay. Rockville, MD: Strategic Assessment Branch, Ocean Reyer, A.J., B.D. Shearer, P.V. Assessments Division. 38 pp. Genovese, D.W. Field, J.E. Cassells, C.E. Alexander, and C.L. Holland. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- 1990a. National coastal wetlands in- ministration (NOAA) and U.S. Environ- ventory: The distribution and areal ex- mental Protection Agency (EPA). 1989c. tent of coastal wetlands in estuaries of Susceptibilityandstatus of Gulf of Mexico the Mid-Atlantic region. Rockville, MD: estuaries to nutrient discharges. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- Rockville, MD: Strategic Assessment ministration, Strategic Assessment Branch, Ocean Assessments Division. Branch. 22 pp. 36 pp. Reyer, A.J., B.D. Shearer, P.V. Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Genovese, D.W. Field, J.E. Cassells, Commission. 1962. Shoreline recre- C.E. Alexander, and C.L. Holland. ation resources of the United States. 1990b. National coastal wetlands in- Study Report No. 4. Washington, DC: ventory: The distribution and areal ex- Outdoor Recreation Resources Review tent of coastal wetlands in estuaries of Commission. the West Coast region. Rockville, IVID: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- Pait, A.S., D.R.G. Farrow, J.A. Lowe, ministration, Strategic Assessment and P.A. Pacheco. 1989. The national Branch. 23 pp. coastal pollutant discharge inventory: 57 References Stickney, R.F. 1984. Estuarine ecology of the southeastern United States and Gulf of Mexico. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press. 31 Opp. Tiner, R.W. Jr. 1987. Mid-Atlantic wet- lands: A disappearing national treasure. Cooperative Publication: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Environmental Protection Agency. Newton Corner, MA: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetland Inventory Project. 28 pp. Turner, R. E. 1977. Intertidal vegetation and commercial yields of penaeid shrimp. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University. pp. 411-416. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). 1990. WatStore database (unpublished). Reston, VA: Water Resources Division. White, C.P. 1989. Chesapeake Bay: Nature of the estuary, a field guide. Centreville, MD: Tidewater Publishers. 212 pp. Williams, C.D., D.M. Nelson, L.C. Clements, M.E. Monaco, S.L. Stone, L.R. Settle, C. lancu, and E.A. Irlandi. 1990. Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in eastern Gulf of Mexico estuaries. ELIVIR Report. No. 6. Rockville, MD: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Strategic Assessment Branch. 105 pp. 58 Appendix A: Estuarine and Fluvial Drainage Area Comparisons Columbia River: Apalachee Bay: Small Estuarine Drainage Area Large Estuarine Drainage Area Large Fluvial Drainage Area Small Fluvial Drainage Area British Columbia Fluvial D,a'n.g Are. Georgia Fluvisl Dra"'.9 Area Washington Montana Estuarine fstu"in: Idah. 1,aira,e Oregon Area Wyoming Estuarine Drainag 'Are. Nevada Utah Florida California Chesapeake Bay: Saco Bay: Large Estuarine Drainage Area No Fluvial Drainage Area Large Fluvial Drainage Area Drainage Area New York Maine Pennsylvania District of Columbia 3o Maryland Delaware West Virginia New Estuarine Hampshire Estuarine Drainage D.Inag Area Area Virginia Me @..d -o .clawa 'e kE E@'uar", D stu'"" Darn.g 'a,,agc Aea Area 59 Q) PHYSICAL and HYDROLOGIC FEATURES NATURAL RESOURCES ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES "t", /Classified Shellfish Susceptibility (b W ,at Land Use Z", (sq @ns cl Use Point Sources b to c f EDA) of Pollution Pollution zk Af Map NOAA q, @or ESTUARY ID#- code Z-10 I Zr 2) NORTH ATLANTIC ib, Cl) 1 N010 Passamaquoddy Bay 32 32 157, 72 612 315 238 52 62 11: 1 4 5 M: W 2 N020 Englishman Bay 9 9 76 38 16 80 178 88 93 12 2 4 9 4 M H 3 N030 Narraguagus Bay 4 4 7G 32 9 63 89 87 89 17 1 6 2 1 H H 4 N040 Blue Hill Bay 8 8 115 75 13 241 90 ill 117 28 4 1 15 8 H H 5 N050 Penobscot Bay 32 94, 361 72 161 725 153 309 362@ 58 :@4 6 29 16, M H 16 N060 Muscongus Bay 3 3 72 43 6 65 14 66 72 67 4 9 1 7 H H 7 N070 Sheepscot Bay 62 101 103 41 176 118 49 :56 @99 66 3, 10 8 12 L M 8 N080 Casco Bay c 12 12 164 42 21 191 61 144 168 172 14 10 40 10 M H Sb 9 N090 Saco Say 18 18 17 32 :, 36 15 78 15 20 71 4 4 w M "N. CID 10 N100 Great Bay 10 10 15 11 20 5 80 6 20 243 10 11 29 30 H L 11 N110 Merrimack River 23 50 6 12 84 2 96 0 4, 423 @13 7 29 7 L 12 N120 Massachusetts Bay c 12 12 364 77 29 786 N/D 7 40 2,228 45 3 56 16 M H 12a N120a Boston Bay 7 7. 69 26 18 150 69 @O 24 2,789 53, 2 55 14 H M 13 N130 Cape Cod Bay c 8 8 548 77 18 1,178 72 72 77 392 24 1 4 4 M H Total 233 361 2,068 48 651 3,804 1,198 1,013 1,223 211, 7 7 238 129 MIDDLE ATLANTfC 1 M010 Buzzards Bay c 6 6 228 .34 12 215 75 184 780: .13 6 7 5 H H 2 M020 Narragansett Bay c 13 18 165 30 32 139 155 110 165 1,065 26 9 113 24 M H 3 M030 Gardiners Bay 4 4 197 20@ 7 . Ill 22 194 198 . 227 26 17 5 3 H H 4 M040 Long Island Soundc 72 172 1,281 62 300 2,192 315 1,122 1,342 1,008 25 14 226 87 L H 4a M040a Clonnecli.cur.River 1 20 13 210 7 57 6 8 744 2,5 13 13 5 H A@ 5 M050 Great South Bay 8 8 151 9 7 37 70 118 160 2,583 69 7 49 23 H H 6 M060 Hudson River/Raritan Bay c 85 165 298 21 267 '172 269 0 257 1,471 24 25, 582 M 'M1 7 M070 Barnegat Bay 14 14 102 5 23 13 384 98 130 343 14 9 24 28 H M 8 M080 New Jersey Inland Bays 7 7 110 9 11 26 N/D 28 64 415 12 5 18 H M 9 , M090 , Delaware Bay c 48 135 768 21 198 448, 641 549 623,1,082 24 42 181 153 M M 10 M100 Delaware Inland Bays' 3 3 32 4 3 4 NID 19 30 126 10 46 9 7 H M 11 M110 Chincoteague Say 3 3 137 6 4 23 58 154 156 46 7 32 21 16 H H 12 M120 Chesapeake Bay 220 693 3,830 24 858 2,510 1,557 3,715 4,043 404 13 33 540 275 L M 1 2a M120a Patuxent River 9 9 47 19 9 25 AVE) NID NID 446 16 20 6 12 H M 12b M120b Potomac River 31 146 494 19 159 266 NID 395 407 942 26 24 59 58 H M 12c M120c Rappahannock River 12 27 145 16 29 66 NID 111 117 75 4 29 46 12 H M 12d M 120d York River 26 26 74 16 25 32 NID 51 60 56 4 25 9 22 H M 120 M120e James River 44 102 236 14 125 90 N10 71 @?38 399 12 24 126 63 H M 12f M120f Chester River 5 5 57 14 5 22 NID NID NID 76 3 40 13 11 H H 12g M120g Choplank River 9 9 110 13 10 40 NID NID NID 84 5 52 24 13 H H 12h M120h TangierlPocomoke Sounds 26 26 459 13 29 160 NID NID NID 78 7 26 47 22 H H Total 483 1,228 7,299 20 1,722 5,890 3,546 6,291 7,367 822 19 27 1,775 924 SOUTH ATLANTIC Isolo Albemarle/Pamlico Sounds c 116 296 2,949 13 460 1,081 1,768 2,524 3,088 182 9 59 103 84 M M la S010a PamlicolPungo Rivers 21 43 166 9 46 44 NID 82 177 72 4 39 21 4 H M Ib S010b Neuse River 22 56 173 12 62 55 Af/D 117 177 110 5 29 20 19 H M 2S020 Bogue Sound 7 7 102 5 13 13 149 66 118 70 8 12 24 11 H M 3S030 New River 5 5 32 6 a 5 39 0 36 219 11 14 19 29 H M 4S040 Cape Fear River 43 91 38 11 101 12 234 0 42 64 3 25 45 22 M L 5S050 Winyah Bay 95 181 30 11 204 9 923 1 30 72 3 34 31 30 M L 6S060 N. Santee/S. Santee Rivers 7 153 9 8 27 2 310 0 38 21 1 12 4 69 M L Q- 7S070 Charleston Harbor 12 158 37 18 161 19 299 4 10 206 8 11 42 0 H L 8S080 St. Helena Sound 15 48 85 13 46 31 672 80 81 34 2 22 3 14 M M 9S090 Broad River 10 10 100 24 9 67 330 ill 125 96 5 31 6 15 H H 10 Sloo Savannah River 9 104 33 15 128 14 453 7 27 67 3 22 34 14 M L 11 silo Ossabaw Sound 15 47 33 14 30 13 402 12 34 77 4 33 4 4 H M 12 S120 St. Cathennes/Sapelo Sounds 10 10 75 14 8 30 136 119 178 22 4 1 5 4 H H 13 S130 Altamaha River 15 142 15 10 149 4 178 0 4 30 1 18 0 0 M L 14 S140 St. Andrew/St. Simons Sounds 33 40 72 14 25 29 902 68 127 49 2 21 12 4 H M 15 S150 St. Marys River/Cumberland Scl 70 70 26 20 82 15 N/D N/D N/D 9 <1 1 9 8 H L 16 S160 St. Johns River e 65 94 258 12 78 86 1,638 N/D N/D 212 8 18 69 304 M M 17 S170 Indian River c,e 12 12 280 7 14 51 161 34 106 327 17 30 14 54 H H 18 S180 Biscayne Bay 15 15 269 8 32 58 589 N)D N/D 1,030 21 24 is 103 M M Total 554 1,483 4,443 12 1,575 1,539 9,183 3,026 4,044 104 4 22 442 769 cu Abbreviations: sq. mi., square miles; ft., feet; avg., average, cfs, cubic feet per second; cu. ft., cubic feet; EDA, estuarine drainage area; MWTP, municipal wastewater treatment plant; con., concentration; H, high; M, medium; L, low; N/D, no data. PHYSICAL and HYDROLOGIC FEATURES NATURAL RESOURCES ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES -et, Classified Shel/Itish Susceptibility (b 10 Waters Land Use P. to (% of EDA) ution CIL sq. Poll @Q, q, .5-6 z Map NOAA ESTUARY aor ID# Code GULF OF MEXICO Flo :538 0, 3 1 G010 , rida Say 11 8 N/D::@:: 1,110 N/D,: N/D 14 30 2 G020 South Ten Thousand Islands f,i 13 13 77 7 N/D 14 3,383 43 70 29 2 9 0 0 3 G030: North Ten Thousand Islands Y - 9 21:@ 19Z 6 N/D 31 9 22- :0 3 4 G040 Rookery Bay 2 2 14 5 N/D 2 N/D N/D N/D 31 2 8 0 1 5, G050 Charlotte Harlbor.@: 50, 975,, 86: .::50 :311 @8 48 73: 176 105, 5 36 56 22 M M 5a G050a Caloosahatchee River 14 14 26 5 19 3 NID 0 5 127 4 29 10 6 H L 6 G060 Sarasota Ba : c 3 3. 44, 6 _@:.4 8 N/D N11) N/D: 923. 28 :26. 6 11 H y 7 G070 Tampa Bay c 26 26 346 13 24 123 394 9 88 476 17 40 69 29 H H 3 M 8: G680 Suwartrfee River :19.:, 102 42@ 5., 112 6, 358 :10 26: 24::, 1@ 33 3 L CD 9 G090 Apialachee Bay 37 46 159 10 53 45 1,087 0 33 64 3 17 21 5 M M (7) :10, G100 Apalachicola Bay 30 205: 214, 291 @@54 924, 1 175, 15 2 7 3, 4: 11 G110 St. Andrew Bay' 11 11 94 12 45 31 392 0 100 65 5 3 12 7 M M 12, G120 Choclawhatchee Bay 23, 1154 129- 14 85 51 438 .@O :97 42 4, 24. 3@@ 8 M- IM 13 G130 Pensacola Bay 35 70 143 13 116 51 382 0 147 72 5 6 6 M 14 G140: Perdido Say 12 12 50 7 :22 10 1 266 0, 121 7 26 .:6 12:: H:: M, 15 G150 Mobile Bay 49 446 409 10 793 113 1,023 0 407 85 3 12 101 41 L L 1@ 6160, Mississippi SoundQ 121 269 1,B50 1,1 436 @5613 1,670. 413, 1,857: 125 6 23 197 M- M 16a G 160a Lake Borgne 79 148 282 9 251 74 NID 293 391 134 9 26 1 119 H L 16b :G160b Lake Pontchartrain 55 55, :710 1 1:@@ :: 107, :220 NID 710 122 7 116 H M 17 G170 Breton/Chandeleur Sounds h 25 25 2,086 8 103 420 532 1,534 1,592 384 3 1 1 9 M H h,i 18, G1 80, Mississippi River 19. 11,317 :@ 600 . 26 4,644 386 251 0 0,. 326: 4 19 11 16: L L 19 G190 Barataria Bay C'h 22 22 646 5 55 90 897 158 199 203 6 17 1 21 H M :2oWoo Te nreborine/Timbali Ier IBa IyIs 16-"::: : 15- 680 ::13:: 46:' 110 :::,%l:: 465 583 :67::: 3: 3 M 21 G210 Atchafalaya/Verm i lion Bays' 72 1,006 703 7 2,238 137 721 20 718 76 3 34 7 71 L L 22 G220 Calcasieu Lake 11 43 63 26 . 191 39 8@ 117 6 38 1 8 H M 23 G230 Sabine Lake 48 209 94 8 172 21 615 0 0 92 5 14 164 56 M L 16 50 24 IG240 I Galveston Bay,c,' 1 45 245 540 6 152 92 1 374 0 547 1 665 1. 747 5661 M :M 4, @and of 25 G250 Brazos River' 28 468 2 8 74 @1 31 0 2 57 5 71 40 49 H L 26 G260 Matagorda Bay 59 503 422 7 53 78 134 0 375 26 2 58 113 46 M M 27 G270 San Antonio Say 5 109 205 4 41 25 105 0 238 10 3 16 17 2 H M 28 G280 Aransas Bay 28 28 208 5 10 31 152 99 212 33 4 34 104 16 H M 29 G290 Corpus Christi Bay 20 176 192 8 12 42 46 171 225 152 5 47 183 21 H H 30 G300 Upper Laguna Madrei 55 55 216 3 6 15 704 794 848 84 2 23 50 13 H 30a G300a Baffin Say 35 35 92 4 4 11 NID 74 93 27 1 31 is 7 H M 31 G310 Lower Laguna MadreJ 58 58 366 3 3 26 N/D N/D N/D 19 4 42 79 41 H Total 962 15,621 11,67@1 8 9,701 2,789 16,606 3,842 8,803 122 5 30 2,000 1,293 PACIFIC I P010 Tijuana Estuary k 17 17 @1 I <1 <1 N/D N/D N/D 37 5 16 0 0 L 2 P020 San Diego Bay 1 5 8 17 22 1 11 6 0 0 955 21 5 14 3 M H 3 P03o Mission Say 1 1 3 8 <1 I N/D N/D N/D 1,154 18 8 1 0 H 4 P040 Newport Bay 2 2 2 8 <1 <1 N/D N/D N/D 1,662 38 33 2 2 H M 5 P050 San Pedro Bay 17 17 25 39 3 27 7 0 0 3,677 55 3 110 18 H H 5a P050a Alamitos Bay <1 <1 1 13 1 <1 N/D N/D NID 2,483 34 3 1 0 H H 5b P050b Anaheim Say I 1 1 16 1 'l NID NID NIO 6,593 90 7 1 1 H 6 P060 Santa Monica Bay c 5 5 211 314 9 1,844 4 0 0 4,088 60 2 6 4 M H 7 P070 Morro Bay 1 1 3 3 <1 <1 N/D 0 0 163 5 8 1 1 H M 8 P080 Monterey Bay 5 60 209 255 12 1,485 5 0 1 572 21 18 10 8 H H Cb 8a P080a Elkhorn Stough 2 2 1 8 1 <1 NID 0 0 395 15 37 6 2 L 9 P090 San Francisco Bay c 65 441 452 21 324 261 909 0 125 802 17 40 112 53 M M 9a P090a Centfal San Franciscol 46 422 264 21 46 151 A(/D NID NID 519 10 46 66 34 H San Pablo/Suisun Bays 10 P100 Drakes Estero <1 <1 4 3 <1 <1 N/D 3 4 68 2 17 0 M 11 P110 Tomales Bay 2 2 11 6 3 2 N/D 0 10 70 4 7 0 0 H M 12 P120 Eel River 15 36 2 5 97 <1 20 0 0 14 1 4 8 4 M L 13 P130 Humboldt Bay 2 2 19 11 7 6 33 0 26 272 7 8 9 7 H M 14 P-140 Klamath River is 155 1 23 206 1 2 0 0 3 <1 <1 0 1 M L 15 P150 Rogue River 9 51 1 5 106 <1 N/D N/D N/D 17 2 1 1 1 M L 16 P160 Coos Bay 6 6 13 14 29 5 30 5 17 51 3 2 14 3 H L 17 P170 Umpqua River 1 15 46 10 13 93 4 16 5 9 17 1 4 13 7 M L 18 P180 Siuslaw River 8 8 4 9 30 1 N/D 0 2 14 1 7 6 5 H L 19 P190 Alsea River 5 5 3 7 23 <1 N/D 0 0 4 @l 2 1 1 H L (A 20 P200 Yaquina Bay 3 3 5 10 10 1 N/D 3 6 46 3 2 12 3 H L Abbreviations: sq. mi., square miles; ft., feet, avg., average; cis, cubic feet per second@ cu. ft., cubic feet; EDA, estuarine drainage area; MWTP, municipal wastewater treatment plant; con., concentration; H, high; M, medium; L, low; N/D, no data. 0) PHYSICAL and HYDROLOGIC FEATURES NATURAL RESOURCES ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES Susceptibility Classified Shellfish b W jata@s Land Use Point Sources to (so C MI) (% of EDA) of Pollution Pollution CIL q, 4@z .0 Map NOAA U ID# Code ESTUAR T 21. PM Siletz Bay, 4 4 2 8 28 <1 N)D 1 2 35 2 2, 1 4 H L W 22 P220 Netarts Bay <1 <1 2 5 @ 1 <1 N/D 4 4 16 4 <1 0 1 H M 23: P230 Tillamook Say 6: 6 11 6 39 2 N/D 0 14. 23 2 5, 11 3 H L 24 P240 Nehalem River 9 9 2 7 34 <1 N/D 3 3 6 <1 2 2 1 H L co 25 P250 Columbia River 56 2,577 284 16 2,725 124 158 0 0 186 9 7 126 68 L L 26 P260 Will apa Bay 11 11 92 16 59 42 105 43 47 17 1 3 18 2 IM M 27: PNO Grays Harbor 14 58 13, :135 21 110 0 5 2, 3 28 7 M L 94 4 28 P280 PugetSoundc" 80 123 931 201 511 5,218 387 54 91 345 15 7 218 58 L H 28a P280a Hood Canal 12 12 @146 230 65 936 t4/0 13 13 26 4 1 5 1 H M 28b P280b Skagit Bay 19 62 215 154 366 926 NID 27 37 124 8 8 15 13 H M Total , :, : : @,:: . 37 1 _1,792, 3,624. 2XT 4,487 9,06 :121 455 529 .12, 11. 724 . 265 National Total ----T2,611 22,317 27,858 23 18,136 23,083 132,325 14,293 21,892 309 9 23 5,179 3,380 Abbreviationsi sq. mi., square miles; ft., feet ' avg., average; cts, cubic feet per second; cu. ft., cubic feet; EDA, estuarine drainage area; MWTP, municipal wastewater treatment plant; con., concentration; H, high; M, medium; L, low; N/D, no data. Appendix B: Characteristics of Estuaries Table Notes a. Wetlands data (except Mississippi River) are based on estuary definitions in Volume 1 of the National Estuarine Inventory (NEI) . b. Based on 1982-1987 data, may not represent current conditions. c. Estuary included in the EPA National Estuarine Program. EPA boundaries may not correspond with NOAA boundaries. d. Boston Bay was listed as an estuary in Volume 1 of the NEI. It is now a sub- estuary of Massachusetts Bay. e. Freshwater inflow data are preliminary. f. Listed as Ten Thousand Islands in Volume 1 of the NEI. Data for these estuaries are preliminary. g. Lake Pontchartrain drains into Lake Borgne and is included in the Lake Borgne sub-estuary. Mississippi Sound total does not double-count Lake Pontchartrain. h. Listed as Mississippi Delta in Volume 1 of the NEI. i. The area of this EDA has been revised since Volume 1 of the NEI. j. Listed as Laguna Madre in Volume 1 of the NEI. Baffin Bay, a sub-estuary of Upper Laguna Madre, has not changed. k. Population density and land use data are for the U.S. portion only. 1. Listed as Winchester Bay in Volume 1 of the NEI. 65 Appendix C: North Atlantic 2 Maine 13 10 15 4 New 19 5 Hampshire 9 14 1 7 128 20 18 3 16 17 v. 22 24 23 21 26 27 30 31 28 Massachusetts 29 25 66 Appendix C: North Atlantic North Atlantic Counties* Maine New Hampshire Massachusetts 1 Androscoggin 17 Belknap 25 Barnstable 2 Aroostook 18 Carroll 26 Essex 3 Cumberland 19 Coos 27 Middlesex 4 Franklin 20 Grafton 28 Norfolk 5 Hancock 21 Hillsborough 29 Plymouth 6 Kennebec 22 Merrimack 30 Suffolk 7 Knox 23 Rockingham 31 Worcester 8 Lincoln 24 Strafford 9 Oxford 10 Penobscot 11 Piscataquis 12 Sagadahoc 13 Somerset 14 Waldo 15 Washington 16 York Tounties completely or partially in EDAs. 67 New York:- Massachusetts 36 37 22 JJ 26 :41 24 6 Cb 5 7 40 25 20 21 12 3 30 31 18 3 41 14 4 60 5 9 57 0 11 Pennsylvania 43 Rhode! Island 55 48 67 5 1 59 61 Connecticut 62 53 54 66 32 29 65 27 63 4 44 56 34 0 49 5 69 58 Maryla, 6d 42 New Jersey 47 4 68 70 Delaware Middle Atlantic Counties (Northern)* Massachusetts Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania 1 Barnstable 14 Fairfield 22 Albany 42 Atlantic 62 Bucks 2 Berkshire 15 Hartford 23 Bronx 43 Bergen 63 Chester 3 Bristol 16 Litchfield 24 Columbia 44 Burlington 64 Delaware 4 Dukes 17 Middlesex 25 Dutchess 45 Camden 65 Lancaster 5 Hampden 18 New Haven 26 Greene 46 Cape May 66 Montgomery 6 Norfolk 19 New London 27 Kings 47 Cumberland 67 Philadelphia 7 Plymouth 20 Tolland 28 Nassau 48 Essex 8 Worcester 21 Windham 29 New York 49 Gloucester Delaware 30 Orange 50 Hudson Rhode Island 31 Putnam 51 Hunterclon 68 Kent 32 Queens 52 Mercer 69 New Castle 9 Bristol 33 Rensselaer 53 Middlesex 70 Sussex 10 Kent 34 Richmond 54 Monmouth 11 Newport 35 Rockland 55 Morris CD 12 Providence 36 Schenectady 56 Ocean 13 Washington 37 Schoharie 57 Passaic 38 Suffolk 58 Salem 39 Sullivan 59 Somerset 40 Ulster 60 Sussex 41 Westchester 61 Union R, C, completely or partially in EDAs. Appendix C: Middle Atlantic (Southern) Pennsylvania New Jerse, 6 10 Maryland 71 67 27 223 7 11 21 12 70 4 2 15 36 3 5 76 18 75 6 Delaware 72 63 9 56 45 16 19 20 24 49 62 295 0 17 37 4 61 54 39 40 4644 2 23 8 3 57 51 26 31415 25 31 30 38 0 53 58 55 80 4 7 3 Virginia 33 7 42 81 78 79 82 69 83 68 84 70 Appendix C: Middle Atlantic (Southern) Middle Atlantic Counties (Southern)* Pennsylvania 22 District of 44 King and Queen 70 Fai rf ax Columbia 45 King George 71 Falls Church 1 York 46 King William 72 Fredericksburg Virginia 47 Lancaster 73 Hampton Maryland 48 Loudoun 74 Hopewell 23 Accomack 49 Louisa 75 Manassas 2 Anne Arundel 24 Albemarle 50 Mathews 76 Manassas Park 3 Baltimore 25 Amelia 51 Middlesex 77 Newport News 4 Calvert 26 Appomattox 52 New Kent 78 Norfolk 5 Caroline 27 Arlington 53 Northampton 79 Petersburg 6 Carroll 28 Buckingham 54 Northumberland 80 Poquoson 7 Cecil 29 Caroline 55 Nottoway 81 Portsmouth 8 Charles 30 Charles City 56 Orange 82 Richmond 9 Dorchester 31 Chesterfield 57 Powhatan 83 Suffolk 10 Harford 32 Cumberland 58 Prince Edward 84 Virginia Beach 11 Howard 33 Dinwiddie 59 Prince George 85 Williamsburg 12 Kent 34 Essex 60 Prince William 13 Montgomery 35 Fairfax 61 Richmond 14 Prince George's 36 Fauquier 62 Spotsylvania 15 Queen Anne's 37 Fluvanna 63 Stafford 16 St. Mary's 38 Gloucester 64 Surry 17 Somerset 39 Goochland 65 Westmoreland 18 Talbot 40 Hanover 66 York 19 Wicomico 41 Henrico 67 Alexandria 20 Worcester 42 Isle of Wight 68 Chesapeake 21 Baltimore city 43 James City 69 Colonial Heights Tounties completely or partially in EDAs. 71 Appendix C: South Atlantic Virginia 3 2 4 22 32 24 20 16 12 30 19 7 35 North Carolina 29 45 43 17 47 38 6 26 21 25 23 28 4 34 27 44539 15 41 18 11 2 South 65 53 68 40 8 36 Carolina 64 56 57 13 33 7 31 59 62 70 4 71 60 6 48; Georgia B9 49 51 55 52 856 8 50 913 78 75 97 81 77 87 83 74 72991 79 94 76 92 79 82 116 01 108 10 105 122 102 00 121 09 113 26 112 124 118 103 119 Florida 117 23 114 110 120 104 115 107 72 Appendix C: South Atlantic South Atlantic Counties* Virginia 36 Pender Georgia Florida 37 Perquimans 1 Southampton 38 Pitt 72 Appling 100 Alachua 2 Chesapeake 39 Richmond 73 Atkinson 101 Baker 3 Suffolk 40 Robeson 74 Bacon 102 Bradford 4 Virginia Beach 41 Sampson 75 Ben Hill 103 Brevard 42 Scotland 76 Brantley 104 Broward North Carolina 43 Tyrrell 77 Bryan 105 Clay 44 Union 78 Bulloch 106 Columbia 5 Anson 45 Washington 79 Camden 107 Dade 6 Beaufort 46 Wayne 80 Charlton 108 Duval 7 Bertie 47 Wilson 81 Chatham 109 Flagler 8 Bladen 82 Clinch 110 Hendry 9 Brunswick South Carolina 83 Coffee 111 Indian River 10 Camden 84 Effingham 112 Lake 11 Carteret 48 Allendale 85 Emanuel 113 Marion 12 Chowan 49 Bamberg 86 Glynn 114 Martin 13 Columbus 50 Beaufort 87 Irwin 115 Monroe 14 Craven 51 Berkeley 88 Jeff Davis 116 Nassau 15 Cumberland 52 Charleston 89 Jenkins 117 Okeechobee 16 Currituck 53 Chesterfield 90 Liberty 118 Orange 17 Dare 54 Clarendon 91 Long 119 Osceola 18 Duplin 55 Colleton 92 McIntosh 120 Palm Beach 19 Edgecombe 56 Darlington 93 Montgomery 121 Putnam 20 Gates 57 Dillon 94 Pierce 122 St. Johns 21 Greene 58 Dorchester 95 Screven 123 St. Lucie 22 Halifax 59 Florence 96 Tattnall 124 Seminole 23 Harnett 60 Georgetown 97 Toombs 125 Union 24 Hertford 61 Hampton 98 Ware 126 Volusia 25 Hyde 62 Horry 99 Wayne 26 Johnston 63 Jasper 27 Jones 64 Kershaw 28 Lenoir 65 Lancaster 29 Martin 66 Lee 30 Nash 67 Marion 31 New Hanover 68 Marlboro 32 Northampton 69 Orangeburg 33 Onslow 70 Sumter 34 Pamlico 71 Williamsburg 35 Pasquotank Tounties completely or partially in EDAs. 73 CD Mississippi- Alabama, r ia :,,G,eo g 46 5 8 51 Louisiana 74 47 56 60 49 5 75 W 7n Q) 54 61 5 9 5, gn 42 72 6 4 34 30 39 43 44 41 63 2 11 24 21 2 26 38 37 36 5 10 22 8 1 14 25 Florida 31 32 18 33 28 15 17 7 35 13 3 23 16 ........... 4 6 29 Gulf of Mexico Counties (Eastern)* Florida 20 Jackson Georgia Alabama Mississippi 21 Jefferson 1 Bay 22 Lafayette 41 Brooks 45 Baldwin 59 Amite 2 Calhoun 23 Lee 42 Decatur 46 Choctaw 60 Franklin 3 Charlotte 24 Leon 43 Grady 47 Clarke 61 George 4 Collier 25 Levy 44 Thomas 48 Coffee 62 Greene 5 Columbia 26 Liberty 49 Conecuh 63 Hancock 6 Dade 27 Madison 50 Covington 64 Harrison 7 De Soto 28 Manatee 51 Crenshaw 65 Jackson 8 Dixie 29 Monroe 52 Escambia 66 Lamar 9 Escambia 30 Okaloosa 53 Geneva 67 Lincoln 10 Franklin 31 Pasco 54 Houston 68 Marion 11 Gadsden 32 Pinellas 55 Mobile 69 Pearl River 12 Gilchrist 33 Polk 56 Monroe 70 Perry 13 Glades 34 Santa Rosa 57 Washington 71 Pike 14 Gulf 35 Sarasota 58 Wilcox 72 Stone (b 15 Hardee 36 Suwannee 73 Walthall 16 Hendry 37 Taylor 74 Wayne 17 Highlands 38 Wakulla 75 Wilkinson 18 Hillsborough 39 Walton C 19 Holmes 40 Washington -counties completely or partially in EDAs. X Q) r3 Mississippi Louisiana Texas E3 21 36 38 34 20 80 4 7 71 9 7A 5 1 1. 17 1 31 75 8 @3u 81 28 56 67 73 11 17 40 46 60 7 JJ 3 47 22 DI 66 48 63 58 14 2 53 79 70 69 68 1 7743 44 42 12- 25- 82 49 62 72 65 43 61 64 77 57 84 45 Gulf of Mexico Counties (Western)* Louisiana 17 Orleans 35 Washington 50 Fayette 68 Live Oak 18 Plaquernines 36 West Baton Rouge 51 Fort Bend 69 McMullen 1 Allen 19 Point Coupee 37 West Feliciana 52 Galveston 70 Matagorda 2 Ascension 20 Rapides 53 Goliad 71 Newton 3 Assumption 21 Sabine Texas 54 Gonzales 72 Nueces 4 Avoyelles 22 St. Bernard 55 Hardin 73 Orange 5 Beauregard 23 St. Charles 38 Angelina 56 Harris 74 Refugio 6 Calcasieu 24 St. Helena 39 Aransas 57 Hidalgo 75 San Jacinto 7 Cameron 25 St. James 40 Austin 58 Jackson 76 San Patricio 8 East Baton Rouge 26 St. John the Baptist 41 Bee 59 Jasper 77 Starr 9 East Feliciana 27 St. Landry 42 Brazoria 60 Jefferson 78 Tyler 10 Evangeline 28 St. Martin 43 Brooks 61 Jim Hogg 79 Victoria 11 Iberia 29 St. Mary 44 Calhoun 62 Jim Wells 80 Waller 12 lberville 30 St. Tammany 45 Cameron 63 Karnes 81 Washington 13 Jefferson 31 Tangipahoa 46 Chambers 64 Kenedy 82 Webb 14 Laf ayette 32 Terrebonne 47 Colorado 65 Kleberg 83 Wharton 15 Lafourche 33 Vermilion 48 De Witt 66 Lavaca 84 Willacy 16 Livingston 34 Vernon 49 Duval 67 Liberty completely or partially in EDAs. 0 Appendix C: Pacific 57 49 45 59 50 2 51 washington 54 48 56 55 53 61 62 31 47 32 58 42 46 43 40 44 30 39 41 29 38 Oregon: 35 33 34 37 36 22 4 7 25 28 249 12 6 23 2 17 16 1 19 21 20 California 8 18 27 5 14 15 78 Appendix C: Pacific Pacific Counties* California Oregon Washington 1 Alameda 29 Benton 45 Clallam 2 Contra Costa 30 Clackamas 46 Clark 3 Del Norte 31 Clatsop 47 Cowlitz 4 Humboldt 32 Columbia 48 Grays Harbor 5 Los Angeles 33 Coos 49 Island 6 Marin 34 Curry 50 Jefferson 7 Mendocino 35 Douglas 51 King 8 Monterey 36 Jackson 52 Kitsap 9 Napa 37 Josephine 53 Lewis 10 Orange 38 Lane 54 Mason 11 Placer 39 Lincoln 55 Pacific 12 Sacramento 40 Multnomah 56 Pierce 13 San Benito 41 Polk 57 Skagit 14 San Bernardino 42 Tillamook 58 Skamania 15 San Diego 43 Washington 59 Snohomish 16 San Francisco 44 Yarnhill 60 Thurston 17 San Joaquin 61 Wahkiakum 18 San Luis Obispo 62 Yakima 19 San Mateo 20 Santa Clara 21 Santa Cruz 22 Siskiyou 23 Solano 24 Sonoma 25 Sutter 26 Trinity 27 Ventura 28 Yolo Tounties completely or partially in EDAs. 79 I Cover Photo: Potomac River, Maryland and Virginia by Winfield Parks Copyright @ National Geographic Society low IIm air Isw @AL N7 ,? MAI' ,4w'. 40 noRR Oct6ber 1.99.0 Av A S Vital Statisti@ -low 3666800000 90