ABSTRACT
This paper examines the relative values of bottomland hardwood wetland zones in supporting finfish and shellfish (crawfish) populations; the probable impacts of various developmental activities on finfish and shellfish habitat; and the characteristics of a site that determine its ability to provide food, cover, or reproductive habitat for finfish or shellfish. It was determined that the floodplain habitat in bottomland hardwood systems cannot realistically be separated from the permanent waterbodies when assessing fisheries productivity, but an increase in values in the higher bottomland zones was predicted when flooded. All potential activities to convert bottomland hardwood wetlands to other uses were found to have overall negative impacts to fisheries functional values. A practical field model to determine the value of a particular bottomland hardwood site for fisheries productivity was also developed.
