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Economy—overview: The Pacific Ocean is a major contributor
to the world economy and particularly to those nations its waters
directly touch. It provides low-cost sea transportation between East
and West, extensive fishing grounds, offshore oil and gas fields,
minerals, and sand and gravel for the construction industry. In 1996,
over 60% of the world's fish catch came from the Pacific Ocean. Exploitation
of offshore oil and gas reserves is playing an ever-increasing role
in the energy supplies of Australia, NZ, China, US, and Peru. The
high cost of recovering offshore oil and gas, combined with the wide
swings in world prices for oil since 1985, has slowed but not stopped
new drillings. |
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