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Section 3, Trends in Selected Activities Associated With the 



EsTUARiNE Zone 



The discussions in the preceding sections give some indication of 

 the pressures placed on the estuarine resources in recent years and 

 those that may be expected in the future. This section presents the dis- 

 cernible trends of some specific activities associated with the estuaries. 

 "Wliere possible, projections are made of the likely results of these 

 trends. 



For convenience of presentation and examination, different activi- 

 ties are discussed separately; however, it must be emphasized that 

 these activities are closely interrelated and often place additive and 

 conflicting demands on the estuarine environment. In short, because 

 these activities all take place in the limited area of the landwater inter- 

 face, and affect the land frontage, water, and biota of the zone, prob- 

 lems of management are inescapable. 



The activities selected for detailed attention are those which have 

 a particularly close relationship to the resources that occur in the es- 

 tuaries, open coastline, and near-shore waters. Other activities that 

 are found in the estuarine zone, but are not directly tied to the natural 

 resources existing there, are given less attention. The concepts of pri- 

 mary, secondary, and marginal activities (fig. IV.3.1) are used with 

 these definitions: 



(1) Primary activities are those uses which by their nature are 

 locationally tied to the estuarine zone ; 



(2) Secondary activities are those uses that are closely associ- 

 ated with primary activities and as a consequence have a signifi- 

 cant tendency to locate in the estuarine zone ; and 



(3) Marginal activities are those uses which are not directly 

 tied to the estuary zone, but which tend to be found in areas of 

 urban-surburban development. 



Harvesting finfish and shellfish for food and other uses is an ex- 

 ample of primary activity associated with the estuary zone, while 

 plants constructed to process the catch denote secondary activities. 

 Marine waterborne commerce is directly tied to the estuary port sys- 

 tem and is thus considered a primary activity. The naval arm of the 

 national defense capability is likewise firmly linked to existing ports 

 and harbors and is thus a primary activity. Specialized facilities and 

 provision of logistical support for these primary commercial shipping 

 and naval activities are secondary activities. Industries which require 

 frontage on navigable waters to receive or distribute bulk raw ma- 

 terials and/or processed goods by ship are primary activities. Ex- 

 amples of this type of industry are petroleum transportation (often 

 closely tied to secondary processing activities), export of bulk com- 

 modities such as lumber and grain products, some primary metal re- 

 fining, and shipbuilding. 



Many other activities compete for locations in the estuary zone, 

 drawn by the inflow of raw materials, by extensive markets, or by the 

 availability of transportation networks in '^ij^nificant portions of the 

 zone. Examples of secondary activities which are located in the estu- 

 arine zone are pulp and paper mills, fossil or nuclear power plants — 

 where location must be balanced with the distance to consumers of 

 energy — chemical and food processors, and primary metals refineries. 



