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Effective coastal management will need to be supported by substantially in- 

 •creased research, survey, and monitoring programs organized at both the Federal 

 and State levels. Two particularly urgent, specific needs are for delineation of 

 ■State seashore and seaward boundaries and for a comprehensive analysis of future 

 port and waterway needs. The Commission recommends the formation of a 

 National Seashore Boundary Commission to meet the former need and the ini- 

 tiation of a major study under the lead of the Department of Transportation 

 to meet the latter. 



Coastal management must be concerned both with conservation and develop- 

 ment. Improved scientific and technical knowledge is needed to reach an optimum 

 balance; and in the future such knowledge will be increasingly critical for eval- 

 uating proposals for major modification in coastal lands and waters. Studies also 

 are needed of means to move major facilities farther offshore in order to relieve 

 pressures on the fragile tidal zone, and provision must be made for expanding 

 recreation opportunities and assuring continued public access to the sea. Simpli- 

 fied leasing procedures are recommended to permit use of inshore waters in a 

 variety of new ways, including the practice of aquaculture, and provision for such 

 activities should be made in coastal development plans. 



Pollution constitutes a major obstacle to effective use of coastal waters and 

 severely threatens their future. The Commission has recognized that it is not 

 practical to tackle coastal pollution in isolation from the other aspects of the over- 

 all waste management problem. Nevertheless, there are certain needs for action 

 -which are unique to the marine environment. In particular, it is important that 

 the AEC and Corps of Engineers be empowered to consider pollution effects of 

 activities which fall within their licensing authorities. 



The deterioration of the Great Lakes presents a special problem and the Com- 

 mission places a high priority on its recommended program to test methods for 

 lake restoration. 



Marine resources 



At present most activities to tap the resources of the sea are concentrated in 

 areas close to shore. But new technology is extending minerals-development 

 operations outward onto the continental shelves and slopes and is yielding new 

 techniques to harvest and use the living resources of the sea. The prospect that 

 man may be able to gain new wealth from the sea has fired much of the recent 

 interest in marine affairs. 



The Commission's appraisal of thte economic potential of marine resources has 

 been tempered by an appreciation of the institutional and technical obstacles 

 which must be surmounted to make significant advances. But even hard estimates 

 indicate great possibilities for the future in — 



Continuing expansion of already large and profitable offshore oil and gas 

 operations. 



Rehabilitating and redirecting our commercial fisheries to improve eco- 

 nomic returns and to develop large latent resources off our coasts. 

 Developing the new field of aquaculture. 



Mining placer minerals from the continental shelf and, within a somewhat 

 longer time span, recovering mineral deposits from the deep sea floor. 

 Economic uses of the sea are primarily a responsibility of the private sector. 

 There is, nevertheless, a large role for government to assist. Public policy should be 

 directed to: (1) assuring that the United States not be confronted with a critical 

 shortage of any raw material and (2) advancing economic eflficiency in the develop- 

 ment of both marine and non-marine resources. Further, the Commission recog- 

 nized that the U.S. interest in marine resom-ces must be viewed in terms of world 

 needs and capabilities. 



A. MARINE FISHERIES 



Our Nation has a strong interest in advancing development of the ocean's food 

 resources. The race between population and food supply has potentially ex- 

 plosive consequences and every avenue must be employed to control it. Further, 

 fishing is important to the U.S. both in terms of providing Americans with a more 

 varied diet and of providing the basis for profitable industrial activity. 



About 66 percent of the world's fisheries harvest, and 72 percent of the catch by 

 U.S. boats, is taken in coastal waters. However, revolutionary developments in 

 fishing technology are causing rapid growth in the exploitation of high seas 

 fisheries, giving urgency to improving arrangements for international fishery 

 management and to setting up cooperative programs to identify and assess po- 

 tential yields of new stocks. The Commission has proposed a number of steps to 



