Anthropogenic activities have altered the pristine environment of many coastal ecosystems (Valiela et al., 1997). Urbanization of coastal regions has lead to increased nutrient loading from both point sources, such as sewage treatment outfalls, and nonpoint sources, such as artificial fertilizers used in agriculture and detergents made for domestic and industrial use (de Jonge et al., 2002). Nutrient loading to shallow coastal systems with low hydrodynamic energy is of particular concern because these systems are generally rich in organic matter and do not require much additional nutrient or organic matter input to become eutrophic (de Jonge et al., 2002).