sible, it is essential to have an adequate fund of scientific, technical, eco- 
nomic, social, and legal information about the resources and environments 
of the area. It is also important to understand uses and users and their 
needs and demands. Because the coastal zone is affected by activities in 
the offshore (e.g., deepwater port engineering and operation, and offshore 
oil and gas exploration and development), similar knowledge and tech- 
nical capability concerning the Inner and Outer Continental Shelf regions 
is also important. 
Considerable effort has been devoted by several competent committees 
and individuals in the last decade to establish the scientific and technical 
needs of management. These efforts* have almost universally concluded 
that, laid against the backdrop of the real needs of management for de- 
tailed, accurate, timely, and useable scientific data and engineering capa- 
bilities, existing R&D support capabilities falls short of meeting the needs 
of planners and managers. Problems present themselves faster than tech- 
nically sound solutions can be provided. Ever greater detail is required 
to answer the questions. 
To assess the technical service needs of management, one can examine 
the range of problems and questions presented. In the complex national, 
political, and socioeconomic realm of the coastal margins with which 
management must deal, problems take many forms and come in many 
sizes. For example, one may be dealing with a request for a householder’s 
permit to bulkhead and dredge and fill a small section of marsh, while 
at the same time be considering a 5,000-acre industrial park and port 
development. The general problems are the same, the places and magni- 
tudes are not. 
There are other illustrations. The gamut of problems involved may 
run from fishing-stand permits and fishing-limit establishment, through 
requests for permits to establish or enlarge sewage discharges and major 
industrial complexes to consideration of the offshore and inshore impacts 
of Outer Continental Shelf petroleum developments such as the Nation 
and the States now face. Each is different in nature and size and each 
demands technical knowledge and advice tailored to the nature of the 
proposed use, the environment involved, and the socioeconomic situation. 
Furthermore, site locations and construction are only the beginning. The 
operations must be monitored and evaluated once construction is complete. 
* For example: ‘Our Nation and the Sea, Report of the Commission on Marine 
Science, Engineering and Resources” (The Stratton Commission), U.S. Govern- 
ment Printing Office, Washington, D.C., January 1969; ‘“‘Coastal, Marsh, and 
Estuary Management,” Proceedings of a Symposium at Louisiana State University, 
July 17, 18, 1972, Division of Continuing Education, Robert H. Shabreck, Ed., 
1973; “The Water’s Edge: Critical Problems of the Coastal Zone,’ Edited by 
Bostwick H. Ketchum, MIT Press, 1972, and so forth. 
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