issues to be conveniently swept under the rug. An impressive manifestation 

 of these concerns was evident at the recent Stockholm conference on the 

 environment where important American citizens, acting as representatives 

 of several hundred nongovernmental organizations, came to be heard on 

 these and related matters. The fact that they felt impelled to act on their 

 own, outside the normal channels of government, testifies not only to 

 their great concern for the subject but also their lack of confidence that 

 the established system would produce an adequate response. 



The problems of the coastal zone have an extraordinary range: Usage 

 problems include deep-draft oil terminals to alleviate the growing energy 

 crisis vs. conservation of shore areas for recreation and protection of liv- 

 ing marine resources ; commercial vs. sports fishing ; condominium develop- 

 ment within jumping distance of the breakers vs. preservation of the 

 dunes for their inherent physical and aesthetic value; marinas, housing 

 developments, and industrial sites vs. wetlands; roads vs. hiking trails. 

 Technical and scientific problems include the need for understanding the 

 processes of circulation, stability, waste-receiving capacity, marine pro- 

 ductivity, and habitat to mention only a few. Then there are the prob- 

 lems of man's impact on the ecosystem from dredging and filling, engi- 

 neering and construction, contamination of water, water diversion, and 

 many others. The list is almost endless. 



Several features are worthy of special mention. Since it is the tidal 

 tributaries and the nearshore waters of the coast that receive outfall 

 effluents and surface and subsurface drainage and are immediate to at- 

 mospheric injection sources, pollution of the oceans is determined largely 

 by what happens in the coastal zone. Most of the species on which com- 

 mercial or recreational fishing industries depend are dependent on the 

 waters, wetlands, and bottoms of the coastal margin. Finally, the coastal 

 zones of the world are gateways to the oceans through which must pass 

 most commerce serving man's marine-related needs. The regulation of 

 man's activities in the coastal zone involves balancing social, economic, 

 political, and national security trade-offs of great complexity with local, 

 state, regional, national, and international consequences. 



This situation has been recognized for some time and this recognition 

 has during the last 5 or 6 years led through a lengthy series of studies, 

 commissions, and policy resolutions to a gathering momentum for compre- 

 hensive legislative action, presently represented by two well-conceived 

 coastal zone management bills under active consideration by the Congress. 

 NACOA feels that the passage of suitable legislation has been delayed 

 much too long and urges prompt enactment of one of these. At this 

 time, we strongly favor legislation devoted exclusively to the management 

 of the coastal zone unencumbered by the larger issue involved in land-use 

 management legislation applicable to the entire nation. We feel it is vital 

 that this legislation also provide for the establishment of research and 



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