1998 Year of the Ocean Perspectives on Marine Environmental Quality 



treatment, and decreased protection from storms. When habitat is lost, wildlife suffers from a 

 lack of area to maintain life cycle processes. 



The ongoing increase in global economic interdependency is expected to raise the value 

 of U.S. imports and exports from $488 billion in 1992 to $1.6 trillion in 2010, while the volume 

 increases from 897 million metric tons to 1.5 billion metric tons (U.S. DOT, 1994). Associated 

 with this economic growth is an increase in potential impacts on marine environmental quality 

 from the additional vessels, port activities, personnel, and other associated industries required to 

 accommodate the production and transport of these additional goods and services. For example, 

 with greater numbers of ships accessing U.S. ports, the potential for the introduction of non- 

 indigenous species through ballast water exchange has increased proportionally. 



Increasing demands for shellfish and commercial fish have spurred competition and 

 technology improvements to increase fishing capabilities. According to the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, commercial landings by U.S. fishermen reached 10.5 billion pounds in 1993. 

 Increased catches in the 1990s, however, reflected the increasing harvest of lower-valued species, 

 as traditional commercial stocks became overfished in the late 1980s and 1990s (NMFS, 1996). 

 Over-exploitation, in concert with impacts from pollution, habitat degradafion, habitat 

 modifications such as dams, and by-catch waste\ has resulted in a deplefion of some edible fish 

 stocks, placing some ecosystems on a path toward unsustainability, and leaving some fishing 

 industries on the brink of collapse. 



The travel and tourism industry is the largest and fastest growing segment of the 

 expanding service industry in the United States. About 85 percent of all tourism revenues are 

 received in coastal states, but with these revenues come increased demands for drinking water, 

 housing, wastewater treatment, and recreational activities. As leisure pursuits change, so do the 

 demands on waterway uses and water quality. According to the Sports Fishing Institute, 

 Americans participated in 166 million days of fishing in 1990, and approximately 4 million 

 people over the age of 1 6 participated in shell fishing. The recreational boafing industry is 

 growing rapidly with 73.4 million boaters having spent $10.5 billion on related products and 

 services in 1991. Already stressed from pollufion, reefs are at risk as increasing numbers of 

 recreafional divers concentrate at the ever fewer number of reefs still harboring great biological 

 diversity. 



Demands for energy and natural resources promote offshore exploration drilling and 

 mining. These activities can impact marine habitats and water quality through physical 

 disturbances, introduction of pollutants, and suspension of sediments into the water column.^ 



Eventually, the benefits derived from unregulated and uncontrolled economic growth and 

 urbanization in an area can come full circle and be outweighed by losses of economic growth as 

 residents, tourists, businesses, and industry choose to move to other areas where an infrastructure 



4 By-catch waste is defined here as marine life caught during commercial operations which are not the targeted species. Often 

 these organisms are discarded. 



5 For more information see the Ocean Energy and Mineral Resources Year of the Ocean Discussion Paper. 



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