Coastal and estuarine environment as described by Costanza et. al., (1997) are part of the highly productive ecological systems on earth and designated to be highly valuable to humans. These environments are majorly threatened by humans and their activities within the environment as a result of their value and productivity.
The negative impacts of increasing human population and insufficient ecological and socioeconomic management pressurize coastal areas or environment and their ecosystems resulting to unsustainable exploitation of fisheries resources, damages to the ecosystems, and thereby causing grave effects of contamination and eutrophication (Botsford et.al., 1997).
Some of the functions of coastal and estuarine ecosystems which are under threat from human activities include biodiversity sustenance, sediment storage, flood defence, buffering of storms, regulation of planktonic boom by estuarine sediments which help to trap nutrients from agricultural runoff, water quality maintenance and lastly supports of the coastal and marine food chain (Crooks and Turner, 1999).
This research is, therefore, aimed at assessing the ecological health status of Ankobra estuary (Ghana) and Ilaje estuary (Nigeria), and their associated threats.