429 



areas. Although none of the agencies included in this survey has ac- 

 complishments in this area, the Delaware River Basin Commission 

 is authorized directly to administer and operate a broad variety of 

 estuarine-related sites and facilities. 



PERFORMANCE OF SERVICE FUNCTIONS 



A major objective of the States in utilizing the compact instrument 

 has been the creation of a joint agency to support the private devel- 

 opment and use of such resources and/or their management by the 

 signatories or others. Although these services may not seem as prestig- 

 ious or significant as the development and implementation of basic 

 policies governing the use of water resources, such compacts too can 

 make an important contribution to improved use and management 

 of resources. 



The nature of these supporting services varies. They include: (1) 

 serving as a clearinghouse and regional forum through which the 

 signatories gain improved understanding of one another's objectives 

 and needs and through which they voluntarily coordinate their re- 

 spective programs; (2) planning hi the sense of development by the 

 compact agency of policies and plans of an advisory or recommenda- 

 tory nature ; (3) the conducting or promoting by the agency of research 

 and studies aimed at expanding the knowledge base and thus improv- 

 ing management policies; (4) increasing public awareness and under- 

 standing of program needs by information dissemination and educa- 

 tion programs; and (5) representation by the agency of State views 

 and interests at the Federal level. 



Although most compact agencies perform one or more of the services 

 mentioned above, the programs of several of the agencies included in 

 this review are limited to these services. Specifically, this is true of 

 three of the fisheries compacts (Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific) ; the pres- 

 ent Potomac pollution control compact, whose agency has stressed 

 studies, public education programs, and service as a regional clearing- 

 house and forum ; and the New England Interstate Water Pollution 

 Control Commission, whose activities have been characterized by ad- 

 visory program planning, program coordination, research and studies, 

 and service as a regional clearinghouse and forum. 



EVALUATION OF THEIR PAST ROLE IN ESTUARINE MANAGEMENT 



As shown in table V.4.2 each of the three interstate fisheries cop- 

 missions has stressed the improved use of fishery resources as its major 

 purpose. As part of this effort, each also has attempted to reduce the 

 damage of estuaries through pollution and other causes. Limited in 

 each case to a research-coordination and recommendatory role, none 

 of the agencies has itself been able to do much about such damage. 

 Moreover, even in the restricted role of these agencies, their limited 

 resources — in money and size of the staff — have seriously handicapped 

 their effectiveness. 



Like their counterparts in the fisheries, the three interstate pollu- 

 tion control agencies have not become significantly involved in estu- 

 arine management. In the case of two — the New England Interstate 

 Water Pollution Control Commission and the Interstate Commission 

 on Potomac River Basin — authority is limited to support of State pol- 

 lution control agencies. It also extends, in the case of the first agency, 



