Estuaries—where salty seawater mixes with fresh water draining from the land—provide homes for fish and wildlife. In fact, most of the fish and shellfish we eat spend some or all of their lives in estuaries. The Chesapeake Bay (the largest estuary in the United States) produces a whopping 500 million pounds of seafood each year! From supporting millions of jobs, to filtering our water and protecting coasts from storms, to tourism, shipping, and more, estuary habitats do it all. This Estuaries We