The responsibility for preventing and controlling water pollution and 

 managing coastal resources rests mainly with State and local governments. 

 While these governments are demonstrating greater interest in water pollu- 

 tion control, coastal development and resource management, many have 

 not yet developed fully adequate machinery to meet their needs. Recent 

 legislation proposed by the Administration would provide Federal assistance 

 and support establishing administrative machinery, enforcement powers 

 and authority. 



Industry, business, and agriculture also share the concern for our water 

 resources. 



Acting To Preserve the Marine Environment 



The mounting international and domestic concern for environmental 

 preservation and restoration can provide a useful stimulus to inspire the 

 actions to save the marine environment from harm. Most of the deep ocean 

 today appears to be still largely undamaged by pollution. But the most used, 

 productive and valuable part — the coastal tidelands — is suffering damage in 

 places, the source of which is frequently river and estuarine pollution. 



Our impact on the marine environment must be regulated so that the 

 coastal areas and the deep ocean can be preserved, developed and used for 

 our continuing benefit. This can be accomplished through comprehensive 

 management, beneficial use, protection and development of the coastal 

 areas employing Federal, State, and local governments and public and 

 private interests. This does not mean that the ocean need be maintained in 

 its primeval purity. It is clear that the seas can and will be used to absorb 

 some waste products. The guiding principle should be to manage the ma- 

 rine environment so as to permit optimum, balanced use of the environment 

 by recognizing and accommodating the diverse, competing private and 

 public interests while at the same time preserving the quality of the coastal 

 environment and conserving its resources. Such an approach will hold open 

 options for various future uses. 



The elements of such a management program should include mutually 

 agreed policy, objectives and functions; legislative authority to carry out the 

 program; basic knowledge for eflfective management; planning and imple- 

 mentation provisions; regulation, control and coordination authority; finan- 

 cial and manpower resources; and public awareness and acceptance.'* 



Science and technology become valuable tools in such a management pro- 

 gram. To apply laws and regulations wisely to the natural environment 

 requires an understanding of what natural conditions govern that environ- 

 ment, and how man's activities affect them. 



Basic scientific information enables us to define the ecological base from 

 which we operate; to understand the natural forces at work; to predict the 



* Elements of such a national approach to managing the coastal waters and adjacent 

 land are outlined in the U.S. Department of the Interior's Federal Water Pollution 

 Control Administration study entitled "The National Estuarine Pollution Study, A 

 Report to the Congress," Nov. 3, 1969 and the Report of the Commission on Marine 

 Science, Engineering and Resources, "Our Nation and the Sea," Washington, D.C. 

 January 1969. 



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