3.0. Modification of the Ocean Enviroment 
3.1. INTRODUCTION 
Man can and does interfere with the oceans and atmosphere in a 
number of different ways, thus, in a sense environmental modification 
is already a reality. In oceans, man’s ability to produce deliberate, 
beneficial changes is still very limited. For example, he can attempt 
to alter the configuration of the coastline, although the results are not 
always predictable. Besides deliberate modification, there is the in- 
advertent modification in which we know man is participating to an 
increasing extent, but the consequences are too little known. 
3.2. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 
“The Nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets 
which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not im- 
paired in value.”—President Theodore Roosevelt. 
“Our conservation must not be just classic protection and develop- 
ment, but a creative conservation of restoration and innovation.”— 
President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his message on Natural Beauty. 
Today, as nearly a century ago, the Federal Government recognizes 
the need to treat our natural resources as assets. As the complexity of 
society increases, it becomes more difficult to protect, preserve, and 
conserve these resources. Programs are needed for marine as well as 
terrestrial, atmospheric, and fresh water environments. 
Continuing population growth combined with increased dependence 
on the sea for food and recreation means that modification of marine 
environments will not only continue, but will drastically increase. 
New technological developments such as atomic power reactors, sea 
level canals, weather modification and desalinization plants lead to new 
forms of modification. We are far from understanding most short- 
range and all long-range biological consequences of environmental 
modification. 
These considerations suggest that we now need to preserve the 
quality of as much of the unmodified or useful marine environment 
as we can and to restore the quality of as much of the damaged en- 
vironment as possible. Delay will only increase the cost in money, 
time, manpower, resources, and missed opportunities. 
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