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the dominant urban-suburban environment which exists and will 

 increase in the estuarine zone and coastline of the Nation. 



Trends and projections for marine fisheries, transportation and 

 national defense, marine mining and processing, recreation, and 

 waste discharge are presented here. Where appropriate, the dis- 

 cussion of these subjects is related to the biophysical regions and 

 OBE estuarine economic areas. 



MARINE FISHERIES 



The Nation's fishing industry has been widely characterized as 

 relatively undeveloped in management and operation, inferior to the 

 competing fishing fleets of other nations in technology, under- 

 capitalized, and relatively weak in respect to both the national 

 economy and to foreign competition. This consensus of opinion is 

 supported by numerous comparative statistics. 



The industry has grown relatively slowly in productivity over the 

 years. From 1925 through 1966, the quantity of catch increased by 

 only 60 percent. During the same period, the rise in the amount 

 paid to fishermen for their catch was only slightly higher, increas- 

 ing something less than 100 percent. In fact, the average annual 

 catch per fisherman has remained below the 1957-1959 average 

 since 1964. 



