Selected Ocean and Coastal Facts and Figures ²

• Oceans and marginal seas account for nearly 71% of the Earth's surface.
  
• Almost 98% of the Earth's water is included in the oceans and sea ice. It is estimated that the oceans' current characteristics (i.e., salinity, density, etc.) were formed more than 1.5 billion years ago.
  
• The average depth of the global ocean is more than 3,657 meters (12,000 feet).
  
• No sunlight penetrates below 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) of ocean depth.
  
• World weather and long term climate change are strongly linked to ocean behavior.
  
• The ocean is an immense reservoir of heat. To a depth of 2.5 meters (8 feet), the surface waters of the ocean hold as much heat as the entire atmosphere.
  
• Continental shelves account for approximately 8% of the entire oceanic area.
  
• Most of the major fisheries are located on the continental margins.
  
• The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that 1993 world commercial fishery landings were a record 101.4 million metric tons.
  
• The U.S. commercial fishery catch totalled 4.5 million metric tons in 1995 and was valued at a record $3.8 billion. At the same time, U.S. imports of edible fishery products were 1.4 million metric tons, valued at $6.8 billion, and U.S. exports of edible fishery products were 2 billion metric tons, valued at $3.3 billion.
  
• In 1993, 56% of the U.S. commercial fishery catch came from Alaskan waters.
  
• U.S. sea food consumption totalled approximately 15.0 pounds per person in 1995. Consumer expenditures for seafood totalled $38.6 billion in 1995 ($26.2 billion in food service establishments, $12.0 billion at retail, and $0.3 billion for industrial fish products).
  
• U.S. aquaculture production (catfish, trout, salmon, shellfish, striped bass, etc.) totalled 301,930 metric tons valued at $751.1 million in 1994.
  
• In the United States almost 50% of the population resides in coastal areas.
  
• From 1960-1990, the population in U.S. coastal areas increased from 80 to 110 million and is projected to reach 127 million by the year 2010.
  
• Almost 27.4 million acres of wetlands are in the Nation's coastal areas accounting for 16% of coastal land areas.
  
• Coastal wetlands account for almost one-third of the Nation's total wetlands.
  
• Wetlands associated with estuaries provide food and habitat critical to 70% of U.S. marine commercial and sport fisheries.
  
• Approximately 50% of all coastal wetlands in the lower 48 states have been destroyed.
  
• Billions of metric tons of silt, sewage, industrial waste, and chemical residues are discharged into the world's oceans. Rivers alone pour an estimated 9.3 billion metric tons of silt and other wastes into coastal waters each year.
  
• The major U.S. sources of ocean pollutants include industrial (10%), municipal (56%), and nonpoint or runoff (34%).
  
• Marine pollutants include sewage (treated and untreated), marine litter, petroleum, synthetic organic compounds, metals, radioactive materials, etc.
  
• From the mid 1950s to the early 1980s world offshore oil and gas production went from negligible to approximately 14 million barrels per day (25% of world production).
  
• U.S. Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas production currently supplies 10% of the U.S. oil production and 25% of U.S. natural gas production.
  
• From 1970-1992, royalty payments from U.S. OCS oil and gas production to the U.S. government totalled $91.G billion.
  
• Worldwide, sand and gravel are mined from numerous offshore locations for construction uses and beach replenishment. Millions of tons of sand are dredged annually off the U.S. coast for beach replenishment.
  
• Mineral deposits, such as manganese nodules, have been discovered in large concentrations in the north and south Pacific. Tracer deposits, which include chromite, platinum, titanium, and gold, have been found on the ocean floor within the U.S. EEZ, although no deep sea mineral mining currently is being undertaken within the EEZ.

ENDNOTES:

2 U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service. Fisheries of the United States, 1995. July 1996.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. FAO Yearbook: Fishery Statistics. 1995.
World Resources Institute. World Resources 1990-1991. 1990.

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