IV-429 

 SECTION 5. CONCLUSION 



The complex nature of pollution in the estuarine zone prevents 

 the separation of sources of pollution, kinds of pollution, and 

 types of environmental damage into neat compartments of cause 

 and effect. All human activities in the estuarine zone can damage 

 the environment, and most of them do. 



Wherever people live, work, and play in the estuarine zone their 

 social and economic activities place stresses on the biophysical 

 environment. These stresses frequently result in degradation of 

 that environment, perhaps not immediately or even in a few years, 

 but nonetheless certain in its devastating final impact. 



Environmental degradation is not a necessary feature of man's 

 association with the estuarine zone. The examples discussed in 

 Chapter 2 of the results of community effort as in San Diego Bay, 

 and of industrial responsibility as in the management of Avery 

 Island, show that pollution and socioeconomic activity need not 

 be synonomous. The massive planning effort just completed in San 

 Francisco Bay shows that even the most complex use and pollution 

 problems can be resolved with careful, determined study. 



Pollution in the estuarine zone has been largely a matter of a 

 lack of concern and a lack of knowledge combined with nebulous 

 management authority and responsibility. Continuing use of the 

 estuarine zone for all human needs and desires is a fact of man's 



