Further studies of these phenomena are recommended for the insight they could provide into the controls of the bay system. The greatest problem of concern to us is the systematic decline in nutrients, suspended solids, and chlorophyll. We favor the hypothesis that TSS decline is caused by a general reduction of loading to the bay, due to advanced waste treatment, entrapment within reservoirs, and changing land use. Because nitrogen and phosphorus have an affinity for fine-grain particulates, their association with TSS is more than coincidental, and their declines may be due to the same causes. We note the associated declines in chlorophyll and organic carbon.
Few inferences can be more fraught with hazard than assigning causality to correlated trends.
Thata correlated trend seems to be manifest in indicators of every element of this pathway, and that this trend points toward a declining productivity for the bay, are sufficient to warrant increased attention. Several recommendations addressed the problem of data collection and data management in Galveston Bay. These included a plea for recognition of data collection as a collective enterprise to maximize the use of data collected by different agencies for perhaps different purposes. The investment in putting a sampling crew on a specific station far outweighs the incremental cost of acquiring additional measurements, perhaps peripheral to the principal objective of the sampling. Time trend of dissolved oxygen deficit in upper Houston Ship Channel.