194 



Need for New Legislation 



The United States is currently experiencing in its coastal zones a 

 phenomenon prevalent in most coastal nations in the world. This 

 phenomenon is well expressed in the recent report, "Man in the Living 

 Environment" : 



About 70 percent of the Earth's population lives within an 

 easy day's travel of the coast, and many of the rest live on the 

 lower reaches of rivers which empty into estuaries. Further- 

 more, coastal populations are increasing more rapidly than 

 those of the continental interiors. 



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Settlement and industrialization of the coastal zone has 

 already led to extensive degradation of highly productive 

 estuaries and marshlands. For example, in the period 1922- 

 1954 over one-quarter of the salt marshes in the U.S.A. were 

 destroyed by tilling, diking, draining, or by constructing 

 walls along the seaward marsh edge. In the following 10 years 

 a further 10 percent of the remaining salt marsh between 

 Maine and Delaware was destroyed. On the west coast of the 

 United States, the rate of destruction is almost certainly much 

 greater, for the marsh areas and the estuaries are much 

 smaller. ("Man in the Living Environment". Eeport of the 

 Workshop on Global Ecological Problems. The Institute of 

 Ecology, 1971, at p. 244) . 



The problems of the coastal zone are characterized by burgeoning 

 populations congregating in ever larger urban systems, creating grow- 

 ing demands for commercial, residential, recreational, and other de- 

 velopment, often at the expense of natural values that include some 

 of the most productive areas found anywhere on Earth. Already 53 

 percent of the population of the United States, some 106 million people, 

 live within those cities and counties within 50 miles of the coasts of the 

 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, tlie Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes. 

 Some estimates project that by the year 2000, 80 percent of our popu- 

 lation may live in that same area, perhaps 225 million people. 



The space available for that increased population will not change 

 significantly in the next 30 years. The demand for that limited space 

 will increase dramatically. But there are only 88,600 miles of shore- 

 line on our Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coastlines, and another 11,000 

 miles of lakefront on the Great Lakes. And with that population will 

 come increased demand for recreation. Over 30 million people now 

 turn to the coasts annually for swimming: 40 million are projected 

 by 1975. Sport fishing absorbs the interest of 11 million people today 

 in coastal areas: 16 million are estimated by 1975. Pleasure boating 

 today engages over 10 million: by 1975 this will be 14 million. By 

 1975 our park and recreation areas will be visited by twice as m.any 

 as they are today : and b}^ the year 2000, perhaps a tenfold increase. 



Seventy percent of the present U.S. commercial fishing takes place 

 in coastal waters. Coastal and estuarine waters and marshlands pro- 

 vide the nutrients, nursing areas, and spawning grounds for two-thirds 

 of the world's entire fisheries harvest. And these areas may be even 

 more important for aquaculture in the future, for they are among the 



