1-7 



are no embayments and where there is no land runoff. Yet even 

 these have already felt the impact of the expanding socio-econ- 

 omic environment, as the recent oil well blowout off Santa 

 Barbara, Calif., demonstrated. 



Implicit in the study directive is the charge to develop a pro- 

 gram to protect the Nation's coastal land and water resources 

 from the impact of pollution, and other disruptive pressures of 

 the expanding social and economic environment, in the coastal 

 region of the Nation. The investigations of this study and the 

 recommendations presented in this report therefore include con- 

 sideration of man's impact on the entire coastal environment, 

 whether it occurs in a bay, or marsh, or along an ocean beach. 



The term "estuarine zone", as used in this report, refers to the 

 geographic zone including the coastal counties between the land- 

 ward limit of tidal influence and the three-mile limit to seaward. 

 Nevertheless, the true limits of the estuarine zone differ for 

 each of the three major environmental systems that make ud the 

 estuarine environment. The dissimilarity between the definition 

 and the actual zone of influence of the estuarine zone constitutes 

 one of the major nroblems a national estuarine management program 

 faces. 



The natural estuarine environment extends from the landward limit 



