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as the yoirng of valuable marine fishes, may 

 be affected by dredging, filling, and diking op- 

 erations often carried out to improve naviga- 

 tion and provide new industrial or residential 

 land. 



Existing law has questionable application ta 

 projects of the Corps of Engineers for the 

 dredging of bays and estuaries for navigation 

 and filling purposes. More seriously, existing 

 law has no application whatsoever to the dredg- 

 ing and filling of bays and estuaries by private 

 interests or other non-Federal entities in navi- 

 gable waters under permit from the Corps of 

 Engineers. This is a particularly serious de- 

 ficiency from the standpoint of commercial 

 fishing interests. The dredging of these bays 

 and estuaries along the coastlines to aid navi- 

 gation and also to provide land fills for real 

 estate fmd similar developments, both by Fed- 

 eral agencies or other agencies under permit 

 from the Corps of Engineers, has increased 

 tremendously in the last 5 years. Obvious- 

 ly, dredging activity of this sort has a profound 

 disturbing effect on aquatic life, including 

 shrimp and other species of tremendous sig- 

 nificance to the comnaercial fishing industry. 

 The bays, estuaries, and related marsh areas 

 are highly important as spawning and nursery 



