Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary: Ecosystem Condition and Recommendations

New Jersey’s coastal bays are subject to ongoing multiple anthropogenic impacts from an expanding population in adjoining coastal watersheds. Eutrophication poses the most serious threat to the long-term health and function of the bays, impacting essential habitats (e.g., seagrass and shellfish beds) as well as finfish nursery areas. Nutrient and organic carbon loading in these shallow, lagoon-type estuaries has been linked to an array of cascading environmental problems such as increased microand macroalgal growth, harmful algal blooms (HABs), bacterial and viral pathogens, high turbidity/benthic shading, altered benthic invertebrate communities, and impacted harvestable fisheries. These problems are causing the deterioration of sediment and water quality, loss of