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The Recommended Federal Role 



The role described herein includes what is now being carried out by 

 Federal agencies and that which must be done, in addition, to 

 discharge Federal responsibility in achieving comprehensive and 

 effective management of the Nation's estuaries and coastal areas. 

 It is important to stress that the Federal Role is not the primary 

 one in this regard, let alone the exclusive one. It is rather one of 

 sharing authority over resources over which the States exercise 

 primary jurisdiction. Nor is the Federal Role, in general, new, 

 much of it having developed through the years. 



What 1s increasingly evident, however, is that the national program 

 directed towards achieving the best use of estuarine and coastal 

 resources requires also a strengthening of the role of the Federal 

 Government in that program. 



Viewed against that backdroo, the Federal Role should be to: 



(1) Provide the impetus for the initial establishment, 

 and progressive improvement, of the national program by 

 the enactment of Federal legislation enunciating a 

 national policy and providing grants to States for the 

 development and implementation of comprehensive estuarine 

 and coastal zone management plans. 



