329 



recreation activities, by this method, range from 50 cents to $1.50 per 

 day. Specific forms of recreation may have higher values. 



Applying such a figure to the population of the coastal counties 

 suggests that the value of the recreational resource of the estuarine 

 zone is about $300 million if each person has about 5 days of recrea- 

 tional use. Such an estimate would include only local use and no multi- 

 plier values and might therefore be regarded as minimum value of the 

 entire value of the entire estuarine recreation resource. 



The major problems in defining the economic values of recreation in 

 the estuarine zone lie in the facts that recreation itself is not an easily 

 defined commidity nor can it be isolated from other economic activities 

 such as transportation, food and lodging services, and equipment 

 manufacturing. 



Coirnnercial navigation and national defense 



Estimates of the economic value of commercial navigation are based 

 on the direct revenue to the port of handling a ton of cargo, generally 

 $16 to $20. Such estimates lead to a total value of the estuarine re- 

 source of $4.7 billion annually for cargo revenues alone, without 

 multiplier values. An additional economic value of $10 billion annually 

 in salaries and wages has been estimated for 11 major ports. 



These estimates do not show the impact of commercial navigation 

 on land transportation, shoreline development, or the manufacturing 

 industries. Without the deep, safe harbors commercial navigation could 

 not exist on a large scale, and without commercial navigation the great 

 cities around these harbors would not have developed. 



Deepwater harbors are essential elements of the national defense 

 system. Furthermore, the location of these deepwater ports has in- 

 fluenced the location of other defense installations as well as the in- 

 dustrial complexes necessary for the logistical support of the defense 

 effort. 



The cost of the national defense effort in the estuarine zone for 

 1967 is estimated at about $900 million, exclusive of pay and allowances 

 for shore-based Navy and Marine Corps personnel. The economic im- 

 pact of national defense activity overlaps into all other estuarine 

 zone uses because of the massive payrolls associated with it. This im- 

 pact is centered in the areas with major defense installations. 



Wa^te disposal 



The waters of the estuarine zone have received wastes from the 

 people and industries on their shores ever since the first cities were 

 founded. The economic benefit in the use of estuarine waters for 

 waste disposal has been fully utilized by nearly all industries and 

 communities in the estuarine zone, and only the tremendous capacity 

 of estuarine waters to absorb and remove waste materials has kept 

 the estuarine zone from suffering severe damage from such waste 

 discharges. 



No overall estimate of the value of this use of the estuarine resource 

 is possible because the level of treatment necessary in any particular 

 case depends on many local factors. 



While the use of estuarine waters for waste disposal maj^ not be 

 aesthetically appealing it is an existing estuarine use with which other 



