Texas Coast Ecosystem Health Report Card 2019

IAN staff and HRI scientists collaborated in a series of workshops in 2016 and 2018 to produce the 2019 Texas Coast Ecosystem Health Report Card. This report card uses 13 biotic and 2 abiotic indicators to determine the overall condition of the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The coastline scored a B- (80%) overall, indicating moderately good ecosystem health. The report card breaks its indicators into five different categories: water quality, fisheries, birds, oysters and seagrasses. It also displays the performance of each of these categories along a regional breakdown of the coastline. The process of developing this report card required an integrated assessment/management framework and a diversity of data sets. Because of the diversity and complexity of its ecosystems, human communities, and associated environmental pressures and stressors, coastal Texas and its watersheds provide an excellent model for developing a report card that encompasses the entire Gulf of Mexico.

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