1-1 Appendix 1 Responses to survey questions administered to ...

• Freshwater inflows.
• The every decreasing freshwater inflow to the estuaries.
• Water, Water, Water. The lack of water it’s affect on ecosystems and wildlife.
• Evaluating the impacts of freshwater inflows, or lack thereof, on the estuarine
systems of Texas.
• Habitat loss. Freshwater inflows. Gulf limited entry.
• Freshwater inflow, multispecies/ecosystem management.
• Continued habitat loss due to land development and inflow loss due to
environmental flow constraints.
• Allocation of freshwater among user groups and downstream resources, and the
impact of water on estuarine and marine species.
• More emphasis on freshwater inflow into our bays and its importance on
recreational fishing, regulations should and I believe will have more of a
fluctuation throughout the year. More drastic changes will be made in our
regulations and appeasing to the public will be difficult.
• Water allocation issues along with Limited Entry into many commercial fisheries
(oyster, Gulf Shrimp, etc)
• I think the increasing demand that Texas’ growing population is placing on
freshwater reserves in this state is without question, the biggest problem natural
resource managers will face in the next decade, and beyond. We will depend not
only on sound science, but the ability to communicate what we know, and what
we will learn with the public, and policy makers. We will need to educate them
on the role that freshwater plays in maintaining healthy ecosystems, and convince
them of the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems across the state.
• How loss of habitat (population growth + loss of inflows) will equate to lower and
lower levels of allowable harvest or allowable access
• The most pressing issue will be dealing with the increased human impact upon
our coastal bays whether it’s due to simply the increasing human
population/habitation in coastal areas or the effect of reduced freshwater inflow to
the bays. Wildlife will always be secondary to people and industry in these
conflicts and we must work to educate the public on the needs of wildlife and
work to establish a realistic goal for inflows. We must also recognize that current
management/ research procedures may need to be modified or changed to more
accurately monitor how these changes are affecting or will affect the resource.
• How to protect and sustain fish populations from the negative effects of habitat
loss, over-fishing and water pollution.
• Loss of freshwater inflows to bay and estuaries and related loss of historical
hydrological regimens, loss and degradation of coastal wetlands (nursery areas),
and loss of historical ingress/egress opportunities due to water control structures.
• Increasing demand for a limited resource.
• The most pressing issue over the next 10 years is the continued exploitation of
natural resources (water, fisheries, wetlands, seagrasses, etc.) in the face of a
growing population.
• Ecological changes on the coast of Texas resulting from global changes in the
environment (warming, reduced influx of fresh water, etc.)
2-13