This report summarizes the current state of knowledge about the Galveston Bay estuary. While the GBNEP characterization studies were the key source of information used to develop this report, many other sources of information were also consulted. These other sources ranged from historical fishery records and technical papers dating back to the 1950s and earlier, to technical documents recently completed by bay researchers. Please note that this report is not intended to be an all-encompassing encyclopedia of knowledge about the bay. Rather it is designed to provide a general understandable overview of our current level of knowledge about the bay that can be used to lead readers to more detailed information elsewhere.