IV-173 



a system is of acceptable quality, many local people will use it 

 and it may even attract some tourists from less-favored areas. 

 When an estuarine system is not only of acceptable quality but has 

 other attractions such as beautiful scenery or pleasant weather, 

 recreation and tourism become major commercial enterprises. 



Each kind of recreational use has its own economic impact. 

 Recreational boating supports a large boatbuilding, marina, and 

 boat repair industry. Sport fishing supports not only a certain 

 part of the boating industries, but also a very specialized 

 industry manufacturing and selling fishing tackle. For example, 

 the 1965 Survey of Fishing and Hunting shows that salt-water 

 anglers spent $800 million dollars in that year. Sightseeing and 

 swimming support motel and restaurant services in the favored 

 areas, as do other overnight recreational activities. Table IV. 2. 3 

 gives the advantages and disadvantages of several indices of 

 recreational economic impact; as this table shows, there is no 

 single satisfactory index for showing the importance of the 

 estuarine zone in recreation, or vice versa . 



In many cases the economic value of recreation may depend upon 

 the total economic structure of a particular estuarine system. 

 For example, the Biscayne Bay area in Florida is oriented toward 



