Transitional Waters - Fish

Estuarine fish communities are good indicators of a range of man-made disturbances. They are mobile, relatively long lived, found near to the top of the food chain (so are affected by other parts of the chain and prone to bioaccumulation effects) and are easy to identify and return to the water: all of these characteristics make them ideal for the monitoring of estuaries. This method is based on the principle that the abundance of fish and the number of individual species found can change depending on the pressures on the estuary.

The method statement published in 2009 for the first river basin management cycle, and its associated summary, have now been updated for the second cycle, linked below.