11-75 



have permitted and, indeed, encouraged dredqinq and filling operations, 

 resulting in the destruction of many valuable areas of estuarine marsh 

 and wetlands. The complete and irreversible loss of this habitat erad- 

 icates not only the resident and transient wildfowl dependent upon it, 

 but also the life support system of the bulk of the Nation's sport and 

 commercial fish. True, we cannot now establish a direct quantifiable 

 relationship describinq the acreanes of wetland, marsh, or estuary 

 necessary to support our coastal fisheries, but we do know that this 

 relationship does exist and that the necessary habitat must be protec- 

 ted. Activities generated by these same social and economic pressures 

 habe degraded estuarine waters, severely damaginn not only the estuarine 

 ecosystem, but also the other essential human uses of the estuarine 

 resource. 



The value of the estuarine resource to the Nation lies more in the 

 multiple Durposes it can serve than in the economic worth of a single 

 use, and it is this overridinn national value which has been minimized 

 or ianored. Population and economic development oressures are increa- 

 sing more rapidly now than thev have in the past, and continuation of 

 present attitudes and aooroaches toward use of the estuarine and coastal 

 zone can bring only an increasing rate of damaoe to its ecology and to 

 the resources it sunnlies. 



Properly supDorted and managed research and studies to increase present 

 knowledge and information can contribute nreatlv to effective technical 



