IV-97 



characteristic of estuaries. Even some continental shelf species, 

 such as blueflsh, and most marine predators (including tuna), can 

 be considered dependent upon the estuary as an ultimate source of 

 most of their food. 



The economically important fish species are those sought by either 

 the sports fisherman or the commercial fisherman; however, the 

 sports fishes are usually taken by hook or with hand-held equip- 

 ment. Table IV. 2.1 lists some of the more important estuarine- 

 dependent species of sports and commercial fish and shellfish. 

 It also shows the type of dependency of each. 



Figure IV. 2.1 Illustrates the geographic ranges of some of the 

 estuarlne-dependent sport and commercial fish throughout the 

 United States, and many of these different kind', i rts F1sh can 

 be caught as one goes from salt water to fresh water within an 

 estuary (Figure IV. 2. 2). Fishermen have nearly as much variety 

 as the fish they catch, as Figure IV. 2. 3 demonstrates. Fven the 

 ocean fisheries are to some extent related to the estuarlne zone, 

 because most fishing and the most productive fishing grounds are 

 close to continents. Latitudinal ranges of some major commercial 

 fish off United States coasts are shown in Figure IV. 2. 4. 



