201 



shorelands including the water therein and thereunder. This area 

 inchides an interface whose parts strongly effect one another. The zone 

 also includes such transitional and intertidal areas as salt marshes, wet- 

 lands, and beaclies. The outer limit of the zone is the outer limit of the 

 territorial sea, beyond which the States have no clear authority to act. 

 xVll Federal agencies conducting or supporting activities in the costal 

 zone are required to administer their programs consistent with ap- 

 proved State management programs. However, such requirements do 

 not convey, release, or diminish any rights reserved or possessed by 

 tlie Federal Government under the Submerged Lands Act or the Outer 

 Continental Shelf Lands Act or extends State authority to land sub- 

 ject solely to the discretion of the Federal Government such as national 

 parks, forests, and wildlife refuges, Indian reservations and defense 

 establishments. The inner boundary of the coastal zone is somewhat 

 flexible. It extendes inland only to the extent necessary to allow the 

 management program to control sliorelands whose use have a direct 

 and significant impact upon the coastal water. The flexibility of this 

 definition is intended to allow for adequate coordination with the pro- 

 posed national land use policy legislation (S. 992). No single geo- 

 graphic definition will satisfy the needs of all coastal States. Therefore 

 the committee expects at a minimum that beaches, salt marshes, and 

 coastal and intertidal areas such as sounds, harbors, bays, and lagoons 

 will be included in the State's coastal zone. The intent of the commit- 

 tee is that the zone chosen by the State should be sufficiently large to 

 permit effective management programs for the diverse land and vrater 

 uses of the area, but not so large as to encroach upon land use manage- 

 ment. 



"Coastal waters" include the Groat Lakes, waters within the terri- 

 torial jurisdictions of the United States, and their connectioii v/aters, 

 harbors, and estuary-type areas, such as bays, shallows and marshes. 

 In other areas, the coastal waters are defined as being adjacent to the 

 shorelines and which contain a measurable tidal influence. This in- 

 cludes but is not necessarily limited to sounds, bays, lagoons, bayous, 

 ponds, and estuaries. 



The "coastal States" are defined as being those States of the United 

 States which border on the Atlantic, Pacific, or Arctic Oceans, the 

 Gulf of Mexico, Long Island Sound, or one or more of the Great Lal^es, 

 inculding Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American 

 Samoa. 



The definition of "estuary" means that part of a river or stream 

 or other body of water which has an unimpaired connection with tlie 

 open sea. Normally in an estuary, seawater is measurably diluted with 

 fiesh water derived from land drainage. The definition is meant to 

 include estuary-type areas of the Great Lalvcs. 



An "estuarine sanctuary" is a research area. It may include part 

 or all of an estuary, the adjoining transitional areas and the adjacent 

 uplands which constitute a natural unit which scientists can study 

 and observe over a period of time to make judgments on ecological 

 relationships within the area. 



"Management program" is the term to rofer to the process by whicli 

 a coastal State or other approved agency proposes (1) to manage land 

 and water uses in the coastal zone so as to reduce or minimize a direct, 



