Marine Science Affairs 



— preparing a handbook to serve as a guide for local Coastal Zone 



development ; 

 — developing information and legislation on preserving public access to 



the coast ; and 

 —encouraging expanded research programs to quantify environmental 



effects of estuarine and coastal pollution. 



Program for the Great Lakes 



Because of rapid degradation of the Great Lakes with the exception of 

 Lake Superior, the Council examined the role of numerous regional agencies 

 currently engaged in Great Lakes planning and resource management to 

 endeavor to develop a more coherent approach. Primary among such agen- 

 cies are the Great Lakes Basin Commission, the Great Lakes Compact 

 Commission, the Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission, the Great Lakes 

 Fishery Commission, and the International Joint Commission. Despite the 

 international nature of the Great Lakes and the importance of recognizing 

 Canadian interests in any decisions affecting the Lakes, only the Great 

 Lakes Fishery Commission and the International Joint Commission are in- 

 ternational in character. Thus, the Council is encouraging steps to broaden 

 the coordinating responsibility of the International Joint Commission in 

 areas other than those under the purview of the Great Lakes Fishery Com- 

 mission, with the U.S. section of the International Joint Commission 

 strengthened accordingly. 



Additionally, the Council reviewed steps of the Department of the Interior 

 to assist in controlling the alewife population during the summer of 1968 

 and in developing a long-term alewife research and control program, and 

 encouraged safeguards against pollution if oil production begins under Lake 

 Erie. 



A number of agencies, individually and collectively, supported the fol- 

 lowing activities during 1968: 



— carrying out of a comprehensive study of the levels of the Lakes; 

 — completion of pollution control plans for Lakes Erie and Ontario, 



including an enforcement conference on Lake Erie ; 

 — initiation of wave height forecasts four times per day; 

 — -planning for an International Field Year on the Great Lakes with 

 four projects: lake meteorology, energy balance, terrestrial water 

 balance, and water movement; 

 - — ^comprehensive review of dredging practices and effects of dredging 



on water quality; 

 — establishment of procedures for predicting wave level fluctuations 



induced by winds; 

 — study of legal aspects of Great Lakes resources ; and 



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