And scientists across the country, supported by institute funding, will now collaborate more closely, working toward solutions, defending our precious estuary ecosystems. Here where solid land gives way to the steady rhythms of the tides, fresh river waters mix with ocean salt water, creating one of the richest and most significant ecosystems on earth. New Hampshire's Great Bay provides a banquet for countless birds and wildlife. More than 23 species of threatened or endangered plants and animals depend on these estuary waters, including the bald eagle and peregrine falcon. Striped bass migrate north from the Chesapeake Bay each summer to feed on minnows, silversides, and smelt that live in the estuary.
Herons prey on fish and eels.
Sandpipers and plovers search the mud for shrimp, small crabs, and amphipods that live in the sediment. Local fishers pull flounder, bluefish, lobsters, and shellfish from these waters. The great whales themselves could not survive without the microscopic nutrients flushed from the salt marshes out to the open sea. Their productivity per square foot is just immense. Many of the commercially valuable fish and shellfish in the world have some connection to an estuary.