117 
speculators and developers. This is compounded by the fact that it is 
almost universally the case that. competing uses frequently preclude 
use of the shoreline for recreation, 
Recreation and commerce, recreation and housing, recreation and industry, 
recreation and transportation * * * in most cases cannot be carried on in the 
same place. The practical and esthetic requirements of clean water, adequate land 
area, safety and pleasant surroundings, and necessary recreation developments 
can rarely be assured in conjunction with commerce, industry, housing, and 
transportation.!9 
For years many shore owners have permitted public access and use 
of the beach and bluff areas in their possession. However, as the num- 
bers seeking recreational pursuits in these areas increase each year, 
many States are finding that their private owners are now limiting 
such activity to maintain their own privacy. Hence, as the demands 
increase, this one part of the accessible supply is actually decreasing. 
The situation is typified in the words of Pat Sherlock of the Associated 
Press in an article entitled ‘“‘The Best of Maine Lost to the Rest of 
Maine’’.?° 
The mountains are still there, the Atlantic Ocean still crashes its surf onto the 
rocks as it has done since the ice age and there is still some wilderness. It’s just 
a little farther away now—on the other side of the fence. 
A second major point to be noted is the present saturation of most 
publicly owned facilities. On the Connecticut shore, where the recre- 
ation facilities are under strong demand pressures from the dense 
New York-Connecticut metropolitan area, local communities find it 
necessary to institute user fees, parking charges, and other discrimina- 
tory devices to preserve for the local residents what small amounts of 
shore are left open to the public. The situation is much the same near 
other population centers in New England. Beaches on Narraganset 
Bay, Cape Cod, and in the Boston metropolitan region are jammed 
almost every weekend in the summer, while the beaches farther north 
become more crowded each year as New HKnglanders search for new, 
less crowded, accessible recreational areas. This trend is evidenced 
by the marked increase in traffic patterns this past summer leading 
from Boston to the southern parts of New Hampshire and Maine. 
The third and final major issue in shoreline supply is the influence 
of pollution and erosion, often caused by heedless development in 
ecologically delicate areas. Pollution, usually most severe where people 
are concentrated in large numbers, has closed many city beaches and 
threatens numerous others. Erosion, too, has closed or destroyed 
beaches and presents a continuous threat in places like Connecticut 
and New Hampshire, where available beaches are scarce to begin with. 
So this is the overall picture of shoreline supply: Most of the land is 
privately owned and developed and is becoming more restricted to 
public access as the demands grow larger; and what is left in public 
lands for recreation is either saturated by hordes of users or unavail- 
able for use due to pollution or erosion, especially near large cities. All 
this is to say nothing of the future. While the demands grow at_ a 
breakneck pace, the supply, limited to begin with, is shrinking steadily. 
How can we expect to satisfy the demands of the future when we are 
having trouble supplying that which is needed today? And all this 
with practically no shoreline left to do anything with! In the next 
18 Thid., reference 2, p. 7. 
20 Tbid., reference 15A. 
