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Estuaries and their Habitats Facts
(Excerpts from R.A.E.)
An estuary is a body of water partly surrounded by land where fresh water from rivers and streams runs into and mixes with salt water
from the ocean. Estuary is another name for bay, sound, inlet, harbor, lagoon - what's important is the mixing of fresh and salt water.
Estuaries are among the most productive natural systems on earth due to the mixing of nutrients from land and sea, producing more food
per acre than the richest Midwestern farmland.
There are 102 estuaries in the U.S. according to the EPA. Of these, 28 have been designated by their states and the federal government
to be of national importance.
Our coastal regions today are the home for 110 million people - a number that is expected to increase
to 127 million by the year 2010.
People love estuaries for their beauty and for fishing, swimming, boating, diving, wildlife
viewing, hunting, learning, and working. In 1993, over 180 million Americans visited estuaries - about 70 percent of the entire
U.S. population.
Estuaries have many different types of habitats, vital to many important species of plants, fish, and other wildlife. Habitat -
one could also say "home" - includes shellfish beds, sea grass meadows, salt and fresh marshes, forested wetlands, beaches, rive
r deltas, and rocky shores.
Estuaries and coastal waters provide essential habitat for over 75 percent of the commercial fish
catch and 80-90 percent of the recreational catch of fish.
Fishing, tourism and recreational boating - which depend on healthy
and productive estuaries - provide more than 28 million jobs for our nation. Commercial and sport fishing alone contribute $111
billion yearly to the nation's economy.
There's a lot we don't know yet about estuaries, like exactly how many acres of
estuary habitats have been and continue to be destroyed. We do know that the level of habitat loss in some of our nation's
most important estuaries is approaching 80 to 95 percent.
We can save estuaries and their habitats! Join us in working
to help turn the tide through a national commitment to restoring one million acres of estuary habitat by 2010 and bringing
one of our nation's great national treasures - its estuaries - back to health.
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