IV-546 



There is, in addition to these, the basic incalculable value of the 

 estuarine habitat as a link in the essential energy-conversion 

 chain which permits man to survive at all. 



The trapping of fur bearers in the marshes of the Gulf and Atlantic 

 represents one of the few economic values directly attributable to 

 estuarine habitat. Louisiana is the major producer; in the 1965- 



1966 season total sales were 4.6 million dollars out of the Nation's 

 6 million-dollar total. 



Commercial Fishing 



An entire complex of commerce and industry can rest upon one primary 

 producing industry such as commercial fishing. Each time the basic 

 product changes hands it generates economic activity and gains in 

 value until by the time it reaches the ultimate consumer, its 

 price may be many times what the fisherman was paid for it. The 

 effect of such "value multiplier" factors will be such as to make 

 the actual values of specific commercial fisheries several times the 

 landed values. 



Thus, the 438 million dollars received by United States fishermen in 



1967 probably represents a total input to estuarine zone economic 

 activity of over one billion dollars; exactly how much it is 

 impossible to say. Case studies assign multiplier values of about 



