NOAA's Coastal Ocean Program: NOAA habitat strategic plan

The nation’s interconnected coastal waters, which include inshore marine waters, bays, sounds, estuaries, the Great Lakes, tributary rivers, and their adjacent wetlands, are valuable natural treasures which provide essential habitat to an estimated 75% of those living marine resources having commercial importance. Such inshore ecosystems will be referred to collectively as "coastal" waters throughout this document. These waters are also thought to be equally important in sustaining species having recreational and ecological (food web) value. These inshore ecosystems also provide the location and basis for extensive commercial, recreational, residential, and industrial activities.