Table 1. Estimates of annual primary production in estuarine, nearshore, and 

 offshore waters along the U.S. east and gulf coasts. 



Area Production 



2 

 (g C/m /yr) 



New York-New Jersey 



Lower Hudson Estuary 820 (690-925) 



Mouth of the Estuary 640 



N.Y. Bight Nearshore (<8 km) 420 



N.Y. Bight Apex 370 



Continential Shelf (<50 m deep) 160 



Continental shelf (100-200 m deep) 135 



Edge of shelf ( >1000 m deep) 100 



r ■ b 



Georgia 



Inshore behind barrier islands 300 



Continental Shelf (<20 m deep) 285 



Continental shelf (20-200 m deep) 130 



T ■ • c 

 Louisiana 



Barataria Bay 360 



Nearshore shelf 265 



Gulf of Mexico 35 



a Ryther and Yentsch 1958; Mandelli et al. 1970; Malone 1976; O'Reilly et al. 

 1976; Thomas et al. 1976a, 1976b. 



b Haines 1979 



C E1-Sayed et al. 1972; Day et al. 1973; (macrophytes and phytoplankton) ; Sklar 

 1976 



32 



