In the popular imagination, estuaries don’t have the prestige or the romanticism of their two constituent parts: the rivers that feed them with freshwater from one side, the ocean that injects salty water from the other.
But as the go-between between river and ocean, estuaries nonetheless deserve more credit. Their dull, brackish appearance belies the abundance of life that they hold. Considered as, pound for pound, among the most productive environments on earth, they are said to produce more organic matter than forests or grasslands of the same size. With little of the violent movements of water associated with oceans and rivers, they hold few predators. As a result, they shelter and offer respite to countless species of birds, fish and mammals.
