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the primary responsibility for the management of these resources in 

 the States. As this analysis has shown, the States have ample con- 

 stitutional authority and, in all instances, they already are 

 administering on-going programs in the estuarine and coastal zone 

 on which the national program can be built. Through their authority 

 over local governments, the States also are able to delegate to the 

 local level that authority which can best be performed locally. As 

 a corollary, they also can oversee the exercise of local authority 

 so as to insure that the larger State and national interests in the 

 development and use of locally situated resources prevail over more 

 limited or erroneous local perceptions of the public's interest in 

 these resources. They also are close to the scene and thus better 

 able than the Federal Government to respond to the unique needs and 

 opportunities of each estuary and coastal area. At the same time, 

 however, they are in a better position than local governments to 

 resist pressures for unwise development. 



In order that the States will effectively discharge this primary 

 responsibility, the tactics of the National Estuarine Management 

 Program should seek to have each State develop, either directly or 

 through its local subdivisions, the plan (or plans) which will 

 control future use of the State's estuarine and coastal zone; and, 

 further, take the steps necessary to insure compliance with these 

 plans by its own agencies and its local governmental units. Two 

 steps are especially essential in this regard. One is the better 



