Estuaries and lagoons are found where freshwater from creeks, rivers, and streams meet and mix with the salinity of the ocean. This delicate balance of salt and freshwater, or brackish water, provides a place for food, feeding, breeding and migration for a wide variety of fish, plants, and wildlife, including the tidewater goby.
Not only do lagoons such as the Topanga and Malibu Lagoon nurture biodiversity and allow it to thrive, but they also help produce fish, store carbon dioxide, purify water, and protect shorelines from floods and erosion. Moreover, they are sometimes referred to as “nurseries of the sea” because they provide important breeding and feeding habitat for fisheries. Estuaries are also meaningful to the people who live in nearby communities because they provide places to gather, encourage recreation, and boost the local economy.
Despite the numerous benefits brought by these bodies of water, more than 90% of the lagoons and estuaries once found along the California coast have been developed or destroyed. Those remaining are often polluted, littered, dredged or filled. Biologists and water scientists are working hard to optimize and improve the few estuaries and coastal lagoons that are left.
Species like the endangered tidewater goby depend on it.