Distinguishing Facts

Ecology:

• The Delaware Estuary is utilized by over 200 fish species, both residents and migrants.
• The Estuary provides habitat for federally protected endangered species populations of dwarf wedgemussels, short-nose sturgeon, and bog turtles.
• The Estuary region is representative of 185 natural community types encompassing 35 broader-scale ecological systems.
• The Delaware Estuary currently contains more than 405,000 acres of wetlands, more than 126,000 acres of which are recognized as internationally important.
• The Delaware Estuary is home to one of the largest freshwater tidal estuaries in the world.
• The Estuary supports the largest breeding population of horseshoe crabs in the world.
• The Delaware Estuary is one of the four most important shorebird migration sites in the world, and it boasts the second-highest concentration of shorebirds in North America. The Estuary also provides wintering and migratory habitat to many species of songbirds and raptors.

Economics:

• The Delaware River and Estuary system provides drinking water to over nine million people within the watershed and an additional six million people outside the watershed.
• The port system generates $19 billion in annual revenue.
• The Estuary supports the world’s largest freshwater port (approximately 3,000 vessels a year) and is the largest receiving center for crude oil, steel, paper, and meat imports.
• The annual harvest of Eastern oysters from the Estuary exceeds $1.5 million in market value.
• Approximately 70 percent of the oil shipped to the East Coast of the United States passes through the Delaware Estuary, making it the second-largest refining petrochemical center in the nation.

Miscellaneous:

• Just over 6,000 square miles of land area drains directly into the Delaware Estuary’s study area.
• Over six million people live in communities located within the Estuary’s study area, and nine million people in the entire Delaware River-Estuary system.
• The Delaware Estuary is the only tri-state Estuary system included in the National Estuary Program.