87 



STATEMENT OF WILLIAM J. DUDDLESON, DIRECTOR OE POLICY 

 STUDIES, THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION 



Mr. DuDDLESON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentle- 

 man, I might just tell you something about the Conservation Founda- 

 tion very briefly, although my remarks today are not formal expres- 

 sions of foundation policy. We could, I suppose, be called the Conser- 

 vation and Development Foundation. Of the organizations I know of 

 who have the word "conservation" in their names or foremost in their 

 programs, I expect we are the most involved in the development 

 process. 



We are now, for example, nmning a series of demonstration projects 

 along ocean coastlines by which we are attempting to demonstrate the 

 usefulness, or lack of usefulness, of integrating the ecological approach, 

 ecological knowledge into the urban development process. For ex- 

 ample, the first project in the series is at a place called Rookery Bay 

 on the gulf coast of Florida. There we put together a team that has 

 come up with criteria and an overall development plan for develop- 

 ing the shortline of this bay for residential and associated commercial 

 use. 



The plan is designed to permit the bay itself, which has some rather 

 high natural values, to continue performing its natural functions. In- 

 stead of the Venetian type development of the bay, which is common 

 in Florida, requiring dredge and fill, for example, the plan calls for 

 canaling into the mainland, creating additional waterfront that way, 

 and at the same time enlarging the water surface of the bay. 



The plan also calls for control of fre^h water runoff associated with 

 urbanization, so that the salinity level remains witliin the limits that 

 will support the fish and shellfish nurtured in the bay. 



Turning now to our panel's assignment, it is, "for the sake of argu- 

 ment," to "assume that there will be some sort of strong Federal role" 

 in coastal zone management, and to "inquire where the authority ought 

 to reside in the Federal structure for most effective management." 



To get directly to the point, I am skeptical that NOAA is an appro- 

 priate residence in the Federal structure, or the most appropriate resi- 

 dence in the Federal structure, for a coastal zone plan and manage- 

 ment program. My skepticism is based upon at least two questions. 



First, I question whether an oceanographic agency, an agency whose 

 main thrust is deep-water ocean technology development, is the most 

 appropriate base for coping with the most critical and most urgent 

 coastal zone problems. I see most of these as essentially conservation 

 problems. We have already heard a number of descriptions here of the 

 most critical problems. They include pollution, shoreline alteration, 

 especially dredging and filling ; the conflicting pressures for land use, 

 for residential use, for parks, ports, and powerplants. 



Are not these kinds of problems, and their solutions, tied more 

 directly to the land than to the sea ? 



When one looks at the Great Lakes shoreline, the thread between 

 deep water oceanographic research and development and the solu- 

 tion of shoreline problems becomes even thinner. In testimony before 

 this committee, the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, 

 earlier this year, John Calhoun of Texas A. & M., chairman of the 

 Oceanography Subcommittee of the National Academy of Sciences and 



