Abstract

Estuarine eutrophication is a complex and increasingly widespread issue around the globe. Addressing this issue is particularly challenging because estuaries are influenced by many different sources of pollution that are distributed across jurisdictions and because actions to reduce nutrient pollution can vary in expense, feasibility, and effectiveness in different geospatial contexts. Such layered complexity makes it difficult to pinpoint which pollution sources to target and which mitigation actions to prioritize within water quality restoration plans. This uncertainty can stifle progress in communities that recognize an urgency to act yet struggle to use existing information to prioritize management actions and identify where to focus future efforts. We developed a framework for co-producing water quality improvement recommendations with relevant parties and invested actors that addresses these issues and is adaptable. We tested this framework in the Guana River Estuary, a system experiencing eutrophication in northeast Florida. Managers, scientists, and local invested actors were guided through five phases - Identify, Understand, Assess, Evaluate, and Develop - that resulted in the creation of, in our case, six (6) priority management and three (3) priority research recommendations that are data-driven, community-vetted, and actionable. We summarize lessons learned throughout our study to support future teams using this framework to identify pollution sources and prioritize, with input from local actors, both management actions and future research to address eutrophication within their local watersheds and estuaries.