11-43 



The major problems in defining the economic values of recreation in 

 the estuarine zone lie in the facts that recreation itself is not an 

 easily defined commodity nor can it be isolated from other economic 

 activities such as transportation, food and lodging services, and 

 equipment manufacturing. 



Comme r ci al Nav i gati on and_Najt_i ona ] p e f ens e 



Estimates of the economic value of commercial navigation are based 

 on the direct revenue to the port of handling a ton of cargo, 

 generally $16 to $20. Such estimates lead to a total value of the 

 estuarine resource of $4.7 billion annually for cargo revenues alone, 

 without multiplier values. An additional economic value of $10 

 billion annually in salaries and wages has been estimated for eleven 

 major ports. 



These estimates do not show the impact of commercial navigation on 

 land transportation, shoreline development, or the manufacturing 

 industries. Without the deep, safe harbors commercial navigation 

 could not exist on a large scale, and without commercial navigation 

 the great cities around these harbors would not have developed. 



Deep-water harbors are essential elements of the national defense 

 system. Furthermore, the location of these deep-water ports has 

 influenced the location of other defense installations as well as 

 the industrial complexes necessary for the logistical support of the 

 defense effort. 



