Living Estuaries

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A VISIT TO GREAT BAY
Along our nation's coastlines, where freshwater washes into the tidal rhythm of the sea, shellfish are declining along with many other forms of marine life. Today, we're out on New Hampshire's Great Bay Estuary with Richard Langan to better understand why.

UPSTREAM DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS IN WAQUOIT BAY
On average, coastal counties are growing 3 times faster than other areas, and the population pressures one sees in Great Bay are even more visible at the southern end of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, at Waquoit Bay.

FARMING'S IMPACT ON SALMON
Efforts to save certain species of the fish from extinction have focused largely on the damage caused by logging, dams, and urban development. But now, scientists are assessing agriculture's toll. In particular, the impact of farming on estuaries, the places where rivers flow into the sea.

TIJUANA RIVER
At the southwestern corner of the United States there's a little patch of land notched between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. It's the estuary where the Tijuana River meets the Pacific Ocean. It's also a natural oasis in the midst of a growing metropolis. But the Tijuana Estuary is in trouble. Like dozens of other estuaries in the US, it's being choked by sediment and pollution from development upstream.

THE JERSEY SHORES
In the next installment of our series on America's estuaries, Paul Conlow reports on the challenges facing New Jersey's coastal areas and what happens when a state attempts to protect both natural resources and real estate.