Whereas estuary regions cover only 13 percent of land area in the continental United States but contain nearly 43 percent of the population, 40 percent of jobs, and nearly 50 percent of the economic output of the United States; Whereas the commercial and recreational fishing industries support over 1,600,000 jobs in the United States; Whereas in 2016— (1) commercial fish landings in the United States were valued at $5,300,000,000; (2) 9,600,000 recreational anglers took nearly 63,000,000 saltwater fishing trips; and (3) consumers in the United States spent $93,200,000,000 on fishery products; Whereas estuaries provide vital habitats for— (1) countless species of fish and wildlife, including more than 68 percent of the commercial fish catch in the United States by value and 80 percent of the recreational fish catch in the United States by weight; and (2) many species that are listed as threatened or endangered species; Whereas estuaries provide critical ecosystem services that protect human health and public safety, including through water filtration, flood control, shoreline stabilization, erosion prevention, and the protection of coastal communities during hurricanes, storms, and other extreme weather events; Whereas by the 1980s the United States had already lost more than 50 percent of the wetlands that existed in the original 13 colonies; Whereas some bays in the United States that were once filled with fish and oysters have become dead zones filled with excess nutrients, chemical waste, and marine debris; Whereas harmful algal blooms are hurting fish, wildlife, and human health, and are causing serious ecological and economic harm to estuaries along every coast and the Great Lakes; Whereas changes in sea level can affect estuarine water quality and estuarine habitats