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potentially at risk of becoming extinct. NMFS will attempt to 

 investigate the causes for species declines and will work with 

 others to reverse those declines in order to protect species 

 better before they need to be listed. 



Finally, NOAA CoastWatch is presently being used in the mid- 

 Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico by NMFS and coastal states to 

 reduce the interactions between protected species and fishing 

 operations. 



COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS HEALTH 



Maintaining biodiversity and long-term productivity is NCAA's 

 vision for the Nation's coastal and marine habitats. To move 

 toward this vision, the paradigm for managing coastal ecosystems 

 must shift from a fragmented to an integrated process, from a 

 site-specific to an ecosystem-wide context, and from a reactive 

 to a preventive approach. 



Today, over 54 percent of the United States population lives in 

 the coastal zone, including the Great Lakes, which consists of 

 only 10 percent of the total land mass of the United States. The 

 latest 1990 Census data indicates that 133.3 million people are 

 living in 672 counties bisecting coastal estuaries in the 

 continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. 



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