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enterprises. The net result has been less a conflict in existing 

 uses tuan an exclusion of some uses. 



Nearly all estuarine uses involve both land and water, either 

 directly or indirectly. For example, the construction of a manu- 

 facturing plant on the shore of an estuarine system may not involve 

 any direct use of the water (even for waste disposal), yet it limits 

 access by its occupation of the shoreline and so may interfere with 

 other uses. Conversely, the disposal of liquid wastes into the water 

 may not use any appreciable space but may make the shoreline unusable 

 for recreation as well as making the water itself unsafe. 



The impact of one estuarine use on another may be either "prohibitive 1 

 or "restrictive" depending on the kind of use and sometimes on the 

 manner in which it is carried out. 



Prohibitive impacts involve permanent changes in the environment and 

 thereby prohibit all uses unable to cope with such changes. The 

 geographical range of such impacts may be from the limited area in 

 which they occur to an entire estuarine system, depending on the 

 nature and size of the change. The impact may be temporary, if it 

 is possible to return the environment to its original form, or it 

 may be permanent. 



Any use or activity requiring physical modification of the shore- 

 line, marshes, or bottom of an estuarine system may have a 

 prohibitive impact. Modification of water circulation also tends 



