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and direct monetary gain, large parts of the estuarine zone were 

 pre-empted or usurped to serve the individual needs of commercial 

 enterprises. The net result has been less a conflict in existing 

 uses than an exclusion of some uses. 



Nearly all estuarine uses involve both land and water, either 

 directly or indirectly. For example, the construction of a manu- 

 facturing plant on the shore of an estuarine system may not involve 

 any direct use of the water (even for waste disposal), yet it 

 limits access by its occupation of the shoreline and so may interfere 

 with other uses. Conversely, the disposal of liquid wastes into the 

 water may make the shoreline unusable for recreation as well as 

 making the water itself unsafe. 



The impact of one estuarine use on another may be either "prohibitive" 

 or "restrictive" depending on the kind of use and sometimes on the 

 manner in which it is carried out. 



Prohibitive impacts involve permanent changes in the environment and 

 thereby prohibit all uses unable to cope with such changes. The 

 geographical range of such impacts may be from the limited area in which 

 they occur to an entire estuarine system, depending on the nature and 

 size of the change. The impact may be temporary, if it is possible 

 to return the environment to its original form, or it may be permanent. 



