V-67 



Also, the Act provides that a city or town may take (by eminent domain) 

 coastal lands in the public interest in order to protect them and 

 for the establishment by the U. S. '"ovprnment of National Wildlife 

 Refuges. Examples are the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and 

 Monomoy National Wildlife Refugp v;hich place about 3,000 tidemarsh 

 acres under permanent protectinr. Advantages of this Act are that 

 the State can restrict the use of large areas in general terms or 

 can be very specific as to permissible uses in small areas. 



The second Act or "Dredging Act" restricts people from filling or 

 dredging in any coastal waters without prior approval of the respective 

 town or city and the State. 



The Wetlands Act of 1965 has resulted in State actions that have 

 restricted the use of approximately 5,000 acres and Ip proposals to 

 restrict 12,000 more coastal acres including immediate action on 

 approximately 1,700 acres of salt marshes in the North River estuary. 

 (See following coastline map, Figure V.2.3, adapted from an 

 Outline Map of Massachusetts Coast, prepared by the Massachusetts 

 Division of Marine Fisheries, Department of Natural Resources, 1969.) 



The estuarine management activities and capabilities of the local- 

 government level in Massachusetts are described in the following 

 Chaoter 3 on Local Governments. However, in Massachusetts the 

 towns or local-level governments control both the leasing and regulation 

 of shellfish. The above description of Massachusetts represents 

 a condensation of material in the Massachusetts profile. 



