Estuaries provide important ecosystem services, such as coastal protection, nutrient cycling, biological productivity, and essential fish habitat. Climate change and sea-level rise will affect estuarine habitats and may have consequences for nekton communities. Long-term monitoring is critical to detect changes in the estuarine community and differentiate short-term fluctuations from long-term responses to environmental change. The status of estuarine fish populations is assessed in part by fishery-independent surveys. Therefore, a clear understanding of how different fishery-independent surveys characterize trends in diversity and abundance of estuarine nekton is needed to improve monitoring programs. This thesis addresses two critical information gaps regarding estuarine nekton monitoring in coastal Georgia. First, I compare two multi-year survey efforts to determine which portions of the estuarine community are captured by each approach. Second, I investigate trends in both environmental gradients and diversity and abundance of nekton using the longest running estuarine trawl survey on the Georgia coast.