Coastal Economy

The NY/NJ Bight is a powerhouse of economic vitality:

The Bight generates crucial and sustainable economic and intrinsic values to millions of people

See the 2010 U.S. Census

  • New Jersey coastal counties (Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean, and Monmouth) are home to 1,578,761 residents.
  • Long Island counties that border the Bight (Nassau, Suffolk, Queens) are home to 5,063,604 residents.
  • New York City’s Harbor counties (Kings, Richmond, New York) are home to an additional 4,559,303 people.
  • Millions more New Jerseyans and New Yorkers from inland counties, and millions of people from all over the world, travel to the shores of the Bight for business, pleasure, or both.
The people of the Bight makes the NJ and NY coastlines the most densely-populated in the nation!

The Bight hosts to one of the world’s busiest ports

See the Port Authority of NY/NJ

  • The largest port on the US East Coast, and the third-largest port in the nation, the Port of New York and New Jersey sits at the apex of the Bight and moved over $208 Billion in cargo in 2011.
  • The Port handled over 422,000 cargo containers in 2011, bringing over 86 million tons of goods into and out of the Port.
  • The Port Authority, which manages the Port, plans on investing over $275 million in the port in 2012 to increase its value to the region, and employs almost 7,000 people.

The Bight sustains multi-billion dollar commercial and recreational fisheries

  • New York and New Jersey’s commercial fisheries support over 80,000 jobs, and provided almost $6 Billion in sales in 2009 (for ~200 million pounds of fish landed).
  • New York and New Jersey’s recreational fisheries brought 1.8 million anglers to the state in 2009, where those fishermen spent nearly $1.8 Billion for over 10 million trips out fishing!
  • The Bight’s coastal counties in both states are home to some of the nation’s most economically valuable fishing ports (Point Pleasant Beach, Cape May, Montauk, Barnegat Light).

The Bight provides unmatched recreation and tourism opportunities which bring billions of dollars to shore-based businesses

  • The hotels, motels, cabins, and resorts of the Bight depend on a clean ocean and clean beaches.
  • The surfing, cycling, fishing, boating, and swimming businesses of the Bight depend on a clean ocean and clean beaches.
  • The restaurants, food carts, beach bars, and shops of the Bight depend on a clean ocean and clean beaches.

The people that use the Bight’s immense, diverse, and bountiful resources are part of – and depend on – this clean ocean economy.

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