The use of environmental integrative indicators to assess seabed disturbance in estuaries and coasts: Application to the Humber Estuary, UK.

The coastal zone is subject to many and varied changes resulting from human activities and natural processes. Existing or emerging agreements and legislation acknowledge the relevance of indicators for monitoring these. In the UK, following a series of recent workshops, potential indicators of nearshore disturbance have been identified and grouped into three broad indices: 'Coastline Morphological Change', 'Resource Use Change' and 'Environmental Quality and its Perception'. The present study developed these indicators further and tested their use by applying them to 18 sections in the Humber Estuary, Eastern England. The results obtained reflect the current knowledge of the state of the Humber environment and show the potential of integrative indicators but indicate that further studies are required to assess the relative importance of the indicators and their value in reflecting the ability of the ecosystems to sustain natural habitats and populations at a good conservation status.