Development of fishery habitat value in created salt marshes

This Coastal Ocean Program project was designed to examine the functional developmental rate of ten created marshes ranging in age from 3 or 15 years in the Galveston Bay system of Texas. These created marshes were compared with five natural marshes on the basis of overall morphology, sediment characteristics, and the plant and animal communities. Caging techniques were also used in edge habitat to examine growth of brown shrimp Penaeus aztecus and productivity of benthic infauna. Measurements of animal densities in this study support the general conclusion that fishery species use transplanted marshes less than natural marshes