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Ten Thousand Islands [0] | Florida Bay [0] | Biscayne Bay [0] | St. Lucie [0] | Indian River Lagoon [0]

The Indian River Lagoon is considered to be one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in North America. The upper Indian River area is a popular place to fish for redfish and spotted seatrout. Limited shrimping is also popular from September through April. Snook, flounder, bluefish and gray snapper are common catches in the beach areas. In 2005, retail sales associated with saltwater recreational fishing in Volusia, Brevard and Indian River counties totaled $262.9 million, supporting more than 4,600 jobs.

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As is the case with St. Lucie, the primary threat to the fisheries throughout the Indian River Lagoon has been reduced water quality associated with urban development and freshwater management activities. In particular, altered and unstable salinity levels have limited oyster, mussel and clam abundance and contributed to an overall decline in the richness of the region's fish communities since the 1970s.

The projected effects of sea-level rise here are generally similar to those for St. Lucie. Saturation and inundation are important processes at this East Coast site resulting in a loss of 15 percent of dry land and 11 percent of hardwood swamp, which is partly converted to marsh and tidal flats.

Again, as this is a heavily-developed site with a considerable number of dikes in place, this may be more of a prediction of costs to be imposed on landowners rather than an actual loss of dry land. Overwash is not expected to be as important at this site, but beach erosion does claim roughly 50 percent of ocean beach, reducing access to nearshore fisheries. Species at risk include spotted seatrout, redfish, snook, flounder, snappers and pompano.