and coastal residents. Finally, buoy systems and other monitoring or survey 
and research operations increasingly interact with the above. The impact 
on Coast Guard law enforcement, search, rescue, and safety operations 
will be intense, as will the possibility of interfering with or compromising 
Naval defense missions. 
Now is the time to establish a comprehensive national strategy harmoniz- 
ing these multifarious activities, and to assign the job of carrying it out to 
an agency with the appropriate expertise. The need for doing so within 
the coastal zone was recognized in the National Coastal Zone Management 
Act of 1972 and assigned to NOAA. Extending a strengthened version of 
this responsibility seaward requires new legislation and is not simple, but 
the sooner it is done, the better. It is bound to become more awkward 
and contentious as time goes on and one or another specific interest 
begins to dominate the local scene. 
Problems with Present Legislative Approaches 
Although prospects for passage of the present DENR bills are not 
promising, NACOA sees four major deficiencies which are worth noting 
because they pertain to any legislation in this area. First, they lack a suit- 
able marine affairs policy statement which would draw attention to the 
uniqueness of the problems of marine resources management and would 
give a fresh impetus to the policy statement in the 1966 Marine Resources 
and Engineering Development Act. Secondly, the bills are inadequate with 
regard to the functions we feel must be carried out by the DENR to imple- 
ment marine affairs policy. These functions are briefly: 
® encouraging the development and conservation of marine resources, 
and other uses of the coastal and marine environment; 
® coordinating and regulating these activities to minimize environ- 
mental, economic, multiuse and international conflicts; and 
@ providing technical, engineering development, and scientific services 
that cut across agency and departmental lines, including surveys, 
environmental monitoring, prediction, and control, as well as basic 
scientific and engineering knowledge. 
A third deficiency is the failure to specify which functions will and 
which functions will not be the responsibility of a Marine Affairs Adminis- 
trator. This left unresolved where the present programs in coastal zone 
management, fisheries, Sea Grant, and marine law enforcement would go. 
Fourth, the function of marine multiple-use coordination and regulation 
was not recognized at all. 
NACOA is wedded to the principle of national ocean use management, 
not to any particular manner of carrying it out. The functional approach 
is the essential feature. Though NACOA regarded the DENR concept 
with favor as a possible vehicle for implementing national ocean policy, 
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