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On the other hand, some States have adequate laws which touch 



upon estuaries but they fail to focus on the estuarine zone as 



a unit and deal with fragments and pieces of the total picture. 



Thus, a State may have a law to control dredging or filling or 



regulate leasing and sale of public lands or the construction 



of harbor and marina facilities and yet fail to develop a comprehensive 



estuarine management policy for optimum use. Further, they may 



fail to use effectively or enforce the laws that they have. 



With the increasing concern over the future of the estuarine zone, 

 there has beien a gradual change from general oermissiveness towards 

 greater government planning and control. A few States have begun 

 to use the full array of tools already available in a total, 

 coordinated manner for estuarine conservation and development -- 

 use control through planning, a less than full fee interest, permits 

 and licenses, and favorable tax treatment. Here, too, the Federal 

 Government can encourage State planning and coordination of the 

 operations of several interrelated aqencies dealing with water 

 quality standards, economic development, recreation, and conservation. 

 One of the best means toward this end are the grants for State 

 planning under Section 701 of the 1954 Housing Act (40 U.S.C. 461). 



The Commonwealth of ^Massachusetts is probably farther along the 

 way toward optimum estuarine management. First it enacted a stop- 

 gap law, the 1963 Coastal Dredge and Fill Act (Mass. Gen. Laws 

 Ch. 130, Section 27A, 1963) which gave the Director of Marine 



