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MONITORING THE ECOLOGICAL CONDITION OF ESTUARIES IN THE UNITED STATES
Citation:
Summers, J., J. Paul, AND A. Robertson. MONITORING THE ECOLOGICAL CONDITION OF ESTUARIES IN THE UNITED STATES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-96/071.
Description:
The purpose of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program/Estuaries component (EMAP-E) is to determine status, extent, changes, and trends in ecological indicators of the condition of the nation's estuarine resources. onitoring in the Virginian (Mid-Atlantic) and Louisianian (Gulf of Mexico) Provinces focus; on measurements that describe the benthic community, fish community, water quality, levels of sediment and tissue contamination, sediment toxicity, wetlands extent/condition, and seagrasses extent/ condition. esults of 1990 monitoring in the Virginian Province show that 20% of the sediments of the Mid-Atlantic region suffered from poor biological conditions, while 15% of the area showed undesirable conditions in relation to poor water clarity and the presence of marine debris. n 1991, 31 % of Gulf of Mexico estuarine sediments in the Louisianian Province displayed poor biological conditions, as measured by benthic community structure, and 32% of the area was characterized by poor water clarity, the presence of marine debris, and elevated levels of fish tissue contaminants. fforts are underway to assess degradation "causes". onitoring will continue in the Virginian and Louisianian, Provinces and the Great Lakes in 1991; monitoring in other areas (Carolinian Province, Southeast) is scheduled to begin in 1994.