The report is part of the effort to characterize the ecosystem of the Galveston Estuary. Its purpose is to assess the relative health of the Galveston Estuary by evaluating the status and trends of several selected endemic species in order to identify potential problems, as indicated by significant declines in abundance, and to initiate the investigation of the probable cause of these declines. The species studied were selected by members of the Galveston Bay National Estuary Program Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee. The list was assembled to include those groups fundamental to maintaining the Galveston Estuary ecosystem, and economically important taxa: commercially and ecologically important finfish and shellfish, locally breeding birds, alligators, plankton, and open bay and marsh benthos.