167 



involvement of all the various user groups I have just mentioned. Every user 

 and potential user and every relevant agency (federal, state, and local) must be 

 involved from the very beginning. Without this total community involvement, 

 the study — no matter how good — may well receive the stigma of the 'I-wasn't- 

 involved-so-it's-no-good' attitude that so often follows the publication fo studies 

 carried out by a single group. My first recommendation, then, is for the complete 

 community involvement in a detailed study of Biscayne Bay as a total system. 

 My second recommendation is for the formal establishment by the County Com- 

 mission of a Biscayne Bay Conservation and Development Commission patterned 

 after the successful San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commis- 

 sion. Let's be frank. The problem of the management of our coastal zone is a 

 problem of national scope and importance. Something will be done about it. I 

 personally feel that it is highly preferable to have this "something" initiated at 

 the local level and in response to local requirements rather than to sit back 

 until the State or the Federal government forces some program on us that may 

 have little relevance to our own particular coastal zone problems. By the same 

 token, the initiation of a local Biscayne Bay Conservation and Development 

 Program would serve as a prototype of comparable programs elsewhere and 

 could very possibly attract both State and Federal support for our efforts here. 

 As I said earlier, Biscayne Bay is a beautiful, busy, bountiful, and booming 

 bay. If we want our major natural resource in Dade County to be something of 

 which future generations can be proud, we must not wait until it is too late to 

 do anything about it. The time is now. I would like to conclude with a quotation 

 by Theodore Roosevelt: "The Nation behaves well if it treats the natural 

 resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and 

 not impaired in value. * * * Conservation means development as much as it does 

 protection." 



Office of the Vice Pbesidext 

 washington, d.c. 



A five-point program to strengthen the Nation's marine science activities was 

 announced today by Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, as Chairman of the National 

 Council on Marine Resources and Engineering Development. 



The Vice President reported five areas that the Administration has selected 

 for immediate special emphasis in the next fiscal year pending development of 

 a long-term program by the Administration and the Congress. 

 These areas are : 



Coastal Zone Management. — A new Federal policy will be established to 

 promote the rational development of coastal areas and the Great Lakes, 

 with a grant program to aid States to plan and manage activities along the 

 coast. 



EstahUshment of Coastal Lal)oratories. — Coastal marine laboratories will 

 be established to accelerate environmental research needed for effective 

 management of coastal activities. 



Lake Restoration. — A pilot technological study of lake pollution will be 

 initiated to guide restoration of the Great Lakes. 



International Decade of Ocean Exploration..- — The United States v\'ill pro- 

 pose a range of specific programs as its initial contribution to the Interna- 

 tional Decade of Ocean Exploration during the 1970s. 



Arctic Environmental Research. — Ocean-related research will be acceler- 

 ated on the interaction of man with the Arctic environment. 

 The Vice President said that details of the program have been worked out 

 with the approval of the White House. 



Additional funding above current levels will be provided for implementing 

 these programs. Primary responsibility for development of each program will 

 be assigned to an appropriate Federal agency while studies of the Govern- 

 ment's organization of marine science activities continue. 



Selection of the five priority programs followed an intensive Government-wide 

 review of urgent needs of the nation in relation to marine affairs. These par- 

 ticular needs cannot await the result of longer range studies, the Vice President 

 said. 



The study was requested by President Nixon in February following submission 

 of the Report of the Commission on Marine Science, Engineering and Resources, 



