d sand and
gravel for the construction industry. In 1985 over half (54%) of the
world's total fish catch came from the Pacific Ocean, which is the only
ocean where the fish catch has increased every year since 1978.
Exploitation of offshore oil and gas reserves is playing an
ever-increasing role in the energy supplies of Australia, New Zealand,
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.

_#_Industries: fishing, oil and gas production

_*_Communications
_#_Ports: Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong, Los Angeles (US),
Manila (Philippines), Pusan (South Korea), San Francisco (US), Seattle
(US), Shanghai (China), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Vladivostok
(USSR), Wellington (NZ), Yokohama (Japan)

_#_Telecommunications: several submarine cables with network focused
on Guam and Hawaii
_%_
_@_Pakistan
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 803,940 km2; land area: 778,720 km2

_#_Comparative area: slightly less than twice the size of California

_#_Land boundaries: 6,774 km total; Afghanistan 2,430 km, China
523 km, India 2,912 km, Iran 909 km

_#_Coastline: 1,046 km

_#_Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 24 nm;

Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm;

Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

_#_Disputes: boundary with India; Pashtun question with Afghanistan;
Baloch question with Afghanistan and Iran; water sharing problems with
upstream riparian India over the Indus

_#_Climate: mostly hot, dry desert; temperate in northwest; arctic in
north

_#_Terrain: flat Indus plain in east; mountains in north and
northwest; Balochistan plateau in west

_#_Natural resources: land, extensive natural gas reserves, limited
crude oil, poor quality coal, iron ore, copper, salt, limestone

_#_Land use: arable land 26%; permanent crops NEGL%;
meadows and pastures 6%; forest and woodland 4%; other 64%; includes
irrigated 19%

_#_Environment: frequent earthquakes, occasionally severe especially
in north and west; flooding along the Indus after heavy rains (July and
August); deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; water logging

_#_Note: controls Khyber Pass and Malakand Pass, traditional
invasion routes between Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent

_*_People
_#_Population: 117,490,278 (July 1991), growth rate 2.5% (1991)