marine fish species, Federal autho- 

 rity to protect those habitats 

 generally does not extend inland of 

 the territorial seas. Instead imple- 

 mentation of such recommendations is 

 solely dependent on state action. 

 Fishery management council recom- 

 mendations on fresh water, as well 

 as estuarine habitat protection are 

 therefore apt to be valiant but un- 

 heeded exhortations, with little en- 

 forcement punch. 



MAJOR CATEGORIES OF FRESH WATER FLOW 

 DEGRADATION AFFECTING ESTUARIES 



To evaluate the actual or po- 

 tential impact of the Clean Water 

 Act and other statutes which affect 

 freshwater flows entering estuaries, 

 it is appropriate to outline the 

 major categories of degradation of 

 such fresh water flows which can ad- 

 versely affect estuaries. In gen- 

 eral, the broad categories of degra- 

 dation in freshwater flows entering 

 estuaries involve the quantity and 

 quality of those flows. 



Changes in quantity include 

 modification in total volumes, sea- 

 sonal discharges, rates and timing 

 of freshwater flows. Changes in 

 quality are of two kinds. They in- 

 clude introduction of contaminants 

 into surface or ground freshwaters 

 in a manner, amount or rate such 

 that they enter estuaries. Contam- 

 inants of particular concern in- 

 clude toxic synthetic organic com- 

 pounds, heavy metals and pathogens 

 and major alterations in fluxes of 

 nutrients and sediments. Changes 

 in quality also include reduction 

 in the introduction of beneficial 

 organic material, such as plant de- 

 tritus in dissolved or particulate 

 forms, in fresh waters entering es- 

 tuaries resulting primarily from 

 loss of riverine floodplain wetland 



vegetation. Thus, clearing, drain- 

 age, filling or dredging of riverine 

 wetland habitat can degrade estu- 

 aries. In addition, since some 

 estuarine fish species spawn in 

 freshwater or depend on food origi- 

 nating in freshwater inflows to es- 

 tuaries, physical destruction of riv- 

 erine habitat can reduce the pro- 

 ductivity of estuaries. 



The major categories of pollu- 

 tion of surface and ground fresh- 

 water inflows affecting estuaries 

 are summarized in Table 1. This 

 table also summarizes the activities 

 which are the sources of this pollu- 

 tion, classifies these activities 

 as point or non-point sources of 

 pollution in Clean Water Act par- 

 lance and designates these sources 

 as major or minor in terms of their 

 inflows. Table 1 also lists exist- 

 ing Federal statutes which may con- 

 trol these sources and qualitative- 

 ly ranks the enforcement potential 

 of these statutes, as presently ad- 

 ministered, in terms of abating the 

 pollution source so as to protect 

 estuaries. It is recognized that 

 this table represents an over-sim- 

 plification of the sources of es- 

 tuarine degradation through changes 

 in freshwater inflows and types of 

 Federal programs which are designed 

 to abate such pollution or which, on 

 the other hand, contribute to it. 



See, e.g., Livingston, R.J. , 

 Effects of Forestry Operations on 

 Water Quality and Biota of the 

 Apalachicola Bay System , Final Re- 

 port to Florida Sea Grant College 

 (1978), 400 pp.; Livingston, R.J. , 

 P.F. Sheridan, B.G. McLane, F.G. 

 Lewis, III and G.G. Kobylinski, The 

 Biota of the Apalachicola Bay Sys - 

 tem : Functional Relationships , 

 Florida Department of Natural Res- 

 ources Marine Research Laboratory, 

 Number 6 (1977), pp. 75-100. 



68 



