Table 29. Approximate land use distribution and population density surrounding the 

 estuarine study areas (Nixon 1983). 



species in the Fenholloway estuary. This 

 phenomenon can be attributed to the fact 

 that the pollution altered the natural 

 habitat in such a way as to induce a 

 superficial resemblance to the 

 Apalachicola estuary. This altered 

 habitat favored plankton-feeding and mud- 

 flat species as part of an unstable 

 succession of adventitious populations in 

 the polluted estuary (Livingston l^^RPb). 



Compared with other estuaries, the 

 Apalachicola system has relatively low 

 finfish landings, while blue crab landings 

 are moderately high (Nixon 1983). 

 However, in terms of oyster yield per unit 

 area, the Apalachicola estuary was the 

 second highest of those systems surveyed 

 (Nixon 1'383). Although the connection 

 between fishery yields and primary 

 production remains largely undetermined in 

 a quantitative sense, the importance of 



the response of individual species to 

 varying sets of environmental conditions 

 probably plays a considerable role in the 

 form and direction of secondary production 

 in any given system. Also, socioeconomic 

 factors are important in the definition 

 and use of a qiven Fishery resource. 



It is clear that relatively little 

 has been done to compare various 

 ecological characteristics of different 

 estuaries. °art of the problem lies in 

 the difficulty of carryina out 

 simultaneous long-term studies in separate 

 estuaries usinq comparable methods o^" data 

 collection. The organization, funding, 

 and execution of studies on more than one 

 such system is difficult (Nixon 1983). It 

 is clear that more comoarative studies 

 will be necessary if we are to understand 

 the significance of the driving 

 environmental features of any qiven 

 estuary. 



114 



