CHAPTER 6. USE CONFLICTS AND DAMAGES 



The consequence of damage to the biophysical environment is loss of 

 use either immediately or at some time in the future. Loss of use, 

 however, may also be associated with the appropriation of part of 

 the estuarine resource for one exclusive use even when no damage to 

 the environment itself occurs. 



Institutional management copes with the problems of responsibility 

 and authority in achieving maximum multiple use of the estuarine 

 resource. Within this comprehensive framework technical management 

 must resolve the problems surrounding conflicts of use, competition 

 for the resources of the estuarine zone, and environmental damage. 

 The primary objective of technical management is to achieve the best 

 possible combination of uses to serve the needs of society while pro- 

 tecting, preserving, and enhancing the biophysical environment for 

 the continuing benefit of present and future generations. 



This chapter deals w^ith the problems of use conflicts and damages 

 and relates these to probable trends in estuarine ecology as the basis 

 for guidelines within which technical management can function ef- 

 fectively to achieve its primary objective. 



Section 1. The Nature or Use CoNFLicyrs 



The uses of estuarine zone grew and changed in consonance 

 with population growth and industrial development. Not until recent 

 years was a concerted attempt made to understand and resolve the 

 conflicts that arose in the competition to use and exploit these land 

 and water resources. During the past 300 years of growth and in- 

 dustrial expansion with its emphasis on economic growth and direct 

 monetary gain, large parts of the estuarine zone were preempted or 

 usurped to serve the individual needs of commercial enterprises. The 

 net result has been less a conflict in existing uses than an exclusion 

 of some uses. 



Nearly all estuarine uses involve both land and water, either directly 

 or indirectly. For example, the construction of a manufacturing plant 

 on the shore of an estuarine system may not involve any direct use of 

 the water (even for waste disposal), yet it limits access by its occupa- 

 tion of the shoreline and so may interfere with other uses. Conversely, 

 the disposal of liquid waste into the water may make the shoreline 

 unusable for recreation as well as making the water itself unsafe. 



The impact of one estuarine use on another may be either pro- 

 hibitive or restrictive depending on the kind of use and sometimes on 

 the manner in which it is carried out. 



PROHIBITIVE IMPACJTS 



These involve permanent changes in the environment and thereby 

 prohibit all uses unable to cope with such changes. The geographical 

 range of such impacts may be from the limited area in which they 



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