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Balancing Freshwater Needs in Texas' Estuaries
Published: Monday, March 26, 2012
With a three year, $757,000 grant from the National Estuarine Research Reserve’s (NERR) Science Collaborative, the Mission-Aransas NERR in central Texas is assisting local officials to develop freshwater flow recommendations that maintain the health and productivity of the Guadalupe-San Antonio and Mission Aransas estuaries. The project is bringing scientists, ranchers, fishermen, boaters, and planners together to better understand the effects of land use decisions and climate change on the supply of freshwater to these two important Texas estuaries which are home to commercially and ecologically important marine animals. Information developed by this project will be used to inform how policy changes affecting freshwater flow will impact estuarine salinity and circulation patterns, and how recreational and commercial fisheries species like white shrimp, blue crab, rangia clams and oysters will be impacted.
The estuaries of central Texas are vital to the state’s economy, supporting a multi-billion dollar fishing industry and a growing tourist industry. Estuaries need freshwater to maintain healthy habitats for fish and other marine animals they depend on, but the water demands of a growing population, changes in land use, and a shifting climate have all combined to reduce the amount of freshwater that estuaries along Texas’ central coast receive. For more information about this project click here!
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