Why Are Estuaries Important? The Economy and Environment

Estuaries are important natural places. In addition to essential habitats for birds, fish, insects, and other wildlife, estuaries provide goods and services that are economically and ecologically indispensable, such as commercial fishing and recreational opportunities.

Environmental Benefits

Estuaries provide critical habitat for species that are valued commercially, recreationally, and culturally. Birds, fish, amphibians, insects, and other wildlife depend on estuaries to live, feed, nest, and reproduce. Some organisms, like oysters, make estuaries their permanent home; others, like horseshoe crabs, use them to complete only part of their life cycle. Estuaries provide stopovers for migratory bird species such as mallard and canvasback ducks. Many fish, including American shad, Atlantic menhaden and striped bass, spend most of their lives in the ocean, but return to the brackish waters of estuaries to spawn.

Economic Benefits

Estuaries are often the economic centers of coastal communities. Estuaries provide habitat for more than 75 percent of the U.S. commercial fish catch, and an even greater percentage of the recreational fish catch. The total fish catch in estuaries contributes billions of dollars a year to the U.S. economy.

Estuaries are also important for other recreational activities. Millions of people visit estuaries each year to boat, swim, fish, and watch birds and other wildlife.

Many estuaries are important centers of transportation and international commerce. Many of the products you use daily pass through one or more estuaries on a commercial shipping vessel before ever reaching your home.

The continuing prosperity many coastal communities reap from fishing and tourism is clearly linked to the health of their estuaries. The economy and the environment are completely intertwined.

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