Working waterfronts major contributor to economy
Waterfronts and the activities that depend on them, such as shipping, fishing and transportation, have played a central role in shaping our nation’s history and they remain a significant driver of the nation’s economy and culture. Activity associated with America’s ocean and Great Lakes waterfronts accounts for 3.41 percent of total U.S. Gross Domestic Product and 4.85 percent of total employment, representing some 130,855 businesses employing 2.4 million full-time and part-time employees, according to new research released in March by the National Working Waterfront Network.
Today, goods and people move through 3,200 cargo and passenger facilities and 360 commercial ports in the United States. International trade via seaports is expected to significantly increase in the near future. Cargo and container ships are joined by tankers, barges, ferries, tugboats, cruise ships, and recreational watercraft, all of which are equally dependent on marine infrastructure and access to the coast. These waterfronts are not just on the ocean, but also the Great Lakes and 12,000 miles of inland waterways, extending the reach of working waterfront concerns to nearly all 50 states.
These numbers are from a recent economic analysis conducted by the National Working Waterfront Network with funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration.
“The economic impacts of working waterfronts have been difficult to quantify, because of the diversity of water-dependent uses that make up the waterfront, from tiny marinas, boat yards, and fish houses, to industrial ports, shipping, and transportation,” said Bob Swett of Florida Sea Grant, one of the authors of the study. The researchers relied upon detailed establishment-level data on employment and value added for more than 20 different water-dependent industry sectors available from the National Ocean Economics Program.
The economic study was part of the “Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit” released last month at the third National Working Waterfronts and Waterways Symposium in Tacoma, hosted by Washington and Oregon Sea Grant programs.
In addition to the research findings on the economic value of waterfronts, the Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit contains information about the historic and current uses of waterfront space, and identifies legal, policy, and financing tools that can be used to preserve, enhance, and protect waterfronts at local and regional levels, such as zoning and design standards, financing and tax approaches, research and mapping, conservation and restoration.