NOAA's Estuarine Living Marine Resources Program 



The Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) Division of NOAA's Office of Ocean Resources Conservation 

 and Assessment (ORCA) was created in response to tfie need for comprehensive information on the effects of 

 human activities on the Nation's coastal ocean. The SEA Division performs assessments of the estuarine and 

 coastal environments and of the resources of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 



In June 1985, NOAA began a program to develop a comprehensive information base on the life history, relative 

 abundance and distribution of fishes and invertebrates in estuaries throughout the Nation (Monaco 1986). The 

 Estuarine Living Marine Resources (ELMR) program is conducted jointly by the SEA Division and laboratories of 

 the National Marine Fisheries Sen/ice (NMFS). The R. Adams (Hamnxind). OR; Galveston, TX; and Beaufort, 

 NC laboratories have compiled information for the contiguous West Coast, Gulf of Mexico, and Southeast regions. 

 Data for the Northeast are being compiled by NOAA's SEA Division, NMFS (Annapolis, MD), the Virginia Institute 

 of Marine Sciences, and the University of Massachusetts. To date, the program has compiled data for 1 1 5 species 

 found in 83 estuaries. Six reports are now available free upon request (see below). This report. Distribution and 

 Abundance of Fishies and Invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico Estuaries, Volume I: Data Summaries, revises and 

 replaces earlier reports for Texas (Monaco et al. 1989), the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (Williams et al. 1990), and 

 Central Gulf of Mexico (Czapla et al. 1991). 



Three salinity zones as defined in Volume 1 of NOAA's National Estuarine Inventory Data Atlas (NOAA 1985) 

 provided the spatial framework for organizing information on species distribution and abundance within each 

 estuary. These salinity zones are tidal fresh (0.0 to 0.5 ppt), mixing (0.5 to 25 ppt), and seawater (>25 ppt). The 

 primary data developed for each species include spatial distribution by salinity zone, temporal distribution by 

 month, and relative abundance by life stage, e.g., adult, spawning, juvenile, larva, and egg. in addition, a detailed 

 estuarine life history summary is written for each species. 



Additional information on this or other programs of NOAA's Strategic Environmental Assessments Division is 

 available from: 



Strategic Environmental Assessments Division 



Office of Ocean Resources Conservation and Assessment 



National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 



6001 Executive Blvd., Rm. 220 



Rockville, Maryland 20852 



FTS/Comm. (301) 443-0453/8921 



Reports and reprints available from NOAA's Estuarine Living Marine Resources program include: 



Monacx), M.E., et al. 1990. Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in west coast estuaries. Vol. I: data 

 summaries. ELMR Rep. No. 4. Strategic Assessment Branch, NOS/NOAA, Rockville, MD. 240 p. 



Bulger, A.J. ,etal. 1990. Aproposedestuarineclassification:analysisof species salinity ranges. ELMRRep. No. 5. Strategic 

 Assessment Branch, NOS/NOAA. Rockville, MD. 28 p. 



Emmett, R.L., et al. 1 991 . Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in west coast estuaries, Vol. II: species life 

 history summaries. ELMR Rep. No. 8. NO/WNOS Strategic Environmental Assessments Division, Rockville, MD. 329 p. 



Nelson, D.M., et al. 1991 . Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in southeast estuaries. ELMR Rep. No. 

 9. NOAA/NOS Strategic Environmental Assessments Division, Rockville, MD. 177 p. 



Monaco, M.E., et al. 1992. Assemblages of U.S. west coast estuaries based on the distribution of fishes. Journal of 

 Biogeography 19: 251-267. 



Nelson, D.M. (editor). 1992. Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico estuaries, Vol. I: data 

 summaries. ELMR Rep. No. 10. NO/WNOS Strategic Environmental Assessments Division, Rockville, MD. 273 p. 



Pattillo, M.E., et al. In prep. Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico estuaries. Vol. II: species 

 life history summaries. ELMR Rep. No. 1 1 . NO/\A/NOS Strategic Environmental Assessments Divisbn, Rockville, MD. 



