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At the same time, the use of coastal areas for recreation 

 continues to grow. Marine recreation already is the fastest- 

 growing economic sector in many coastal regions. Demands for 

 maintenance of a high-quality coastal recreation environment will 

 increase significantly. 



Marine debris has been recognized as a problem which 

 significantly affects our coastal and marine resources. Marine 

 debris gained national attention during the summers of 1987 and 

 1988 as a result of the medical waste washups and beach closures 

 along the East coast. Although these washups and closures 

 represent a very small fraction of the marine debris problem, 

 they can be tremendously costly to local economies. (Direct 

 losses in tourism revenues in New York and New Jersey during 1988 

 resulting from marine debris were estimated to be in excess of 

 $1 billion.) Additionally, recent (1991) data from nationwide 

 beach clean-ups indicate that sewage associated wastes, although 

 accounting for less than 1 percent of total marine debris, have 

 increased from 0.38 percent in 1988 to 0.53 percent in 1991. 



For these reasons, NOAA supports the objective of H.R. 31 to 

 protect public safety and improve the environmental quality of 

 coastal recreational waters, by requiring uniform standards and 

 procedures for beach testing and monitoring. Standards used to 

 evaluate the public health risks of recreational beach quality 

 should be consistent throughout the United States. In the 



