Matagorda Bay, Texas: Its Hydrography, Ecology and Fishery Resources

摘要

The highly variable environment of the Matagorda Bay System is subject to many extremes, including the effects of freshwater runoff from rural and urban areas; creeks and rivers; rainfall directly on the bay surface; and the effluent return flows from various industrial, domestic, and agricultural users. Variability of freshwater inflows results from numerous natural and man-influenced events. This report is a synthesis of the literature; it provides comprehensive descriptions of hydrology; marshes; seagrasses; lower food chains; fisheries; water quality; location, quantity, and quality of return flows; quantity and quality of ungaged inflows; and tabulation of commercial-recreational yield of fish and wildlife resources in the study area.