109 



I believe that the establishment of such coastal zone authorities 

 should be primarily a State or regional responsibility, and that the 

 role of the Federal Government is mainly one of providing support to 

 the State — both financial support and support in the acquisition of the 

 basic understanding of the coastal zone environment on which valid 

 judgments on coastal zone uses must ultimately be based. 



I reiterate, the really essential part, and one of the major roles of 

 the Federal Government, is to f>rovide the basic understanding of tlie 

 coastal zone requirements. 



Before getting into the research requirements, there is one other 

 point that I would like to make. There are two alternative costs related 

 to the coastal zone : The cost of doing something, and the cost of doing 

 nothing. 



It isiny contention that the cost of doing something, although an 

 immediate cost, is considerably less than the eventual costs to society 

 of doing nothing — it is the "Tragedy of the Commons" exem..plified. 



The real problem, it seems to me, is that we as a people are prone 

 to defer the immediate costs because they are immediate. The unavoid- 

 able result is that we eventually are forced to pay the much greater 

 costs of cleaning up the mess that we were unwilling to pay the rela- 

 tively small costs to avoid in the first place. 



The requirements for coastal zone research, therefore, are related 

 first to the need for the environmental understanding on which sound 

 decision on coastal zone use can be made, and secondly to the need to 

 provide this understanding now at considerably less cost than the 

 costs related to some future attempts to make up for our shortsighted- 

 ness in not doing it now. 



When it comes to the requirements for research in the coastal zone, 

 the differences between the traditionally basic research activities of 

 the universities and private institutions and the more mission-relevant, 

 mission-oriented, or applied research missions of the Federal labora- 

 tories become less distinct. 



I have always objected to the artificial distinction between "basic'' 

 and "applied" research, for one man's basic is another man's applied. 



In the coastal zone, the problems are so numerous and diverse that 

 almost any research leading to a better understanding of the complex 

 processes operating there is by definition relevant to the equally com- 

 plex problem of coastal zone management. 



So I w'ould find it difficult, really, to separate out discrete and unique 

 research roles for the universities and for the Federal la^boratories. 

 This is one of the many areas where the universities and the Federal 

 laboratories must work together for their mutual benefit. 



The problems of the coastal zone and the research needs were 

 described by the Commission's Panel on Management and Develop- 

 ment of the Coastal Zone, and are published as part III of volume I 

 of the Commission's panel reports. This document contains important 

 information for anyone concerned in any way w^ith the coastal zone. 



Although w^e have learned a great deal about the coastal zone, much 

 additional information is needed. 



The research effort should be aimed at "understanding" this Nation's 

 coastal zone. This means an adequate understanding of the dynamics 

 of estuarine circulation, the advection and the diffusion, the water 

 budget, the movement of sediment as it relates to channel fJling and 



37-467—69 S 



