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area in which industry, trade, recreation and conservation interests, 

 waste disposal, and potentially aquaculture all press most sharply on 

 the limited resources of our environment. 



The thing we try to stress in the panel report is that these are 

 rapidly increasing pressures in this area created by the problems of 

 conflicting use, and that many of the problems are extending seawardb 



The Commission finds the key need in the coastal zone to be a 

 management system which will permit conscious and informed choices 

 among development alternatives and which will provide for proper 

 planning. The Federal Government can help in establishing such a 

 system, but the primary responsibility lies with the States. 



The Commission proposes enactment of a Coastal Management 

 Act to establish policy guidelines, authorize matching grants-in-aid 

 to States to develop and implement a management plan, specify 

 Federal responsibilities for review of State plans, and provide a means 

 for coordinating Federal and State activities and for planning the 

 development and use of areas lying beyond State jurisdiction. Al- 

 though the act should allow the States considerable latitude in shaping 

 their coastal programs, it is essential that the State authorities be 

 able to exercise impartial judgment in weighing problems arising 

 from conflicting use and be equipped with planning and regulatory 

 authority (including in typical cases authority for zoning and eminent 

 domain) adequate to their task. 



This concept of zoning is really a new idea. What we mean by 

 impartial is that these coastal management authorities should not be 

 all conservation or all industrial development. We must find ways to 

 have all interests represented. 



Effective coastal management will need to be supported by sub- 

 stantially increased research, survey, and monitoring programs organ- 

 ized 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 water- 

 way needs. The Commission recommends the formation of a National 

 Seashore Boundary Commission to meet the former need and the 

 initiation 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 development. Improved scientific and technical knowledge is 

 needed to reach an optimum balance; and in the future such knowledge 

 will be increasingly critical for evaluating proposals for major modifi- 

 cation 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. Simplified leasing procedures are recommended to permit use of 

 inshore waters in a variety of new ways, including the practice of 

 aquacultiu-e, and provision for such activities should be made in 

 coastal development plans. 



Pollution constitutes a major obstacle to effective use of^ coastal 

 waters and severly threatens their future. The Commission has 

 recognized that it is not practical to tackle coastal pollution in isolation 

 from the other aspects of the overall 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 



