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In 1967 United States fishermen received $438 million dollars for 

 approximately 4.06 billion pounds of commercial fish and shellfish. 

 It has been estimated that two-thirds of the total value, or 

 approximately $300 million dollars, can be considered for estuarine- 

 dependent species. This is a conservative estimate of the direct 

 value derived from the estuarine fishery for it does not include 

 the value of fish harvested by foreign vessels off the United 

 States coast. Five of the six leading species by weight, repre- 

 senting over one-half of the United States commercial fish tonnage 

 in 1967, are estuarine-dependent (Table IV. 3. 4). 



Table IV. 3. 5 shows the weight and values of the major estuarine- 

 dependent commercial fish landings by biophysical region. The 

 Gulf of Mexico region fishery has by far the greatest volume and 

 value, primarily due to landings of shrimp and menhaden, which 

 use the estuarine zone as a nursery area. The anadromous salmon 

 fisheries of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest rank second, and 

 the fisheries of estuarine-resident oysters in the Chesapeake are 

 third in the Nation among the estuarine-dependent species. 



