129 



Section 3. Use for Transportation 



The Nation's estuaries provide the physical, social, and economic 

 conditions required for an effective system of : Water terminals serving 

 international trade and coastal shipping; essential elements of the 

 national defense system; areas used for airport development; and 

 land transport. 



According to a 1966 inventory of ports and terminals by the Mari- 

 time Aministration, there were 1,626 marine terminal facilities pro- 

 viding deep water berths in 132 ports on the Atlantic, Gulf and Pa- 

 cific Coasts. Table IV.2.5 shows the distribution of estuarine ports. 

 The significance of these ports and terminal facilities is indicated by 

 the 1965 statistics which show that they handled 78 percent of the 

 U.S. foreign trade total, or 346,315,000 tons of foreign trade cargo. 

 In addition, the port facilities handled 332.1 million tons in coastal 

 cargo and 288.8 million tons in local shipping. 



FIGURE IV.2.14. 



EXTENSIVE SHORELINE DEVELOPMENT ALONG 

 A BAYOU IN LOUISIANA 





■''~^-— - \'W^&^^tm., Mm 



PHOTO BY: ROBERT N. DENNIE, COURTESY OF LOUISIANA WILD LIFE AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 



