410 



(2) They should control or determine the uses of the estuaries, 

 for example by zoning plans, development of preserves or parks, 

 or other restrictive use regulations, 



(3) They should develop, where nonexistent, a comprehensive 

 State estuarine management plan, often by the development or 

 strengthening of State legislation. 



(4) They should promote effective coordination and coopera- 

 tion among State agencies, intrastate and interstate, for example ; 

 through commissions, councils, pacts, authorities, treaties, and 

 agreements. 



The coastal States' views on the role of the Federal Government in 

 the management of estuaries was that the Federal-level responsibility 

 is to "assist" the State-leve^ estuarine (coastal) programs. In specific 

 terms, this means that the Federal Government should : 



(1) fund (assist) State estuarine programs and activities, when 

 needed ; 



(2) conduct (assist) research and demonstration programs and 

 projects on estuarine problems existent in the coastal States, and 

 publish the results; 



(3) develop guidelines, suggested plans, models, or standards 

 that reflect the national estuarine policy so that State plans and 

 programs can be developed in harmony with the national over- 

 view; and 



(4) provide (or make available) trained scientific and technical 

 specialists who can give advice, assistance, and counsel to, and 

 cooperate with, the States in developing and managing their 

 estuarine areas. 



Such a general coastal States' consensus of opinion — State-level 

 estuarine management with Federal assistance — in which the word 

 "assistance" is used in a very wide context, would seem to offer a 

 cooperative partnership arrangement which has been widely promul- 

 gated as the most effective mechanism for estuarine management. 



Thus, the States believe they should manage and control the use, 

 mainly through ownership or restrictive covenants, of estuarine areas. 

 This should be done through a newer and stronger State role involving 

 an efficiently coordinated State-level management organization, to 

 implement a statewide comprehensive management plan that is sup- 

 portable or backed up by sufficiently strong regulations and needed 

 research studies designed to solve problems pertinent to the particular 

 needs of the management organization and the corresponding estuarine 

 resources. 



Summing up these viewpoints reveals two essential points : 



(1) Estuarine protective legislation cannot be effective without the 

 corresponding organizational structure and function. 



(2) An organizational structure must have the necessary legislative 

 authorities, staffing, and budget to give it the proper and sufficient 

 capabilities to do the job of effectively managing the estuaries. It is 

 useless, of course, to have an inefficient and ineffective orq:anizational 

 unit that is buried so deeply in the State organizational hierarchy that 

 it is unable to do, in essence, anything. 



