306 ■ ■ •' 



including requirements for industry, commerce, residential development, rec- 

 reation, extraction of mineral resources and fossil fuels, transportation and 

 navigation, waste disposal, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, and other living 

 marine resources, have resulted in the loss of living marine resources, wildlife, 

 nutrient-rich areas, permanent and adverse changes to ecological systems, de- 

 creasing open space for public use, and shoreline erosion ; 



"(d) The coastal zone, and the fish, shellfish, other living marine resources, 

 and wildlife therein, are ecologically fragile and consequently extremely vulner- 

 able to destruction by man's alterations ; 



"(e) Important ecological, cultural, historic, and esthetic values in the coastal 

 zone which are essential to the well-being of all citizens are being irretrievably 

 damaged or lost ; 



"(f) Special natural and scenic characteristics are being damaged by ill- 

 planned development that threatens these values ; 



'•(g) In light of competing demands and the urgent need to protect and to give 

 high priority to natural systems in the coastal zone, present state and local 

 institutional arrangements for planning and regulating land and water uses in 

 such areas are inadequate ; and 



"(h) The key to more effective protection and use of the land and water re- 

 sources of the coastal zone is to encourage the states to exercise their full au- 

 thority over the lands and waters in the coastal zone by assisting the states, in 

 cooperation with Federal and local governments and other vitally affected inter- 

 ests, in developing land and water use programs for the coastal zone, including 

 unified policies, criteria, standards, methods, and processes for dealing with land 

 and water use decisions of more than local significance. 



"declaration of policy 



"Sec. 303. The Congress declares that it is the national policy (a) to preserve, 

 protect, develop, and where possible, to restore or enhance the resources of the 

 Nation's coastal zone for this and succeeding generations, (b) to encourage and 

 assist the states to exercise effectively their responsibilities in the coastal zone 

 through the development and implementation of management programs to achieve 

 wise use of the land and water resources of the coastal zone giving full considera- 

 tion to ecological, cultural, historic, and esthetic values as well as to needs for 

 economic development, (c) for all Federal agencies engaged in programs affect- 

 ing the coastal zone to cooperate and participate with state and local governments 

 and regional agencies in effectuating the purposes of this title, and (d) to en- 

 courage the participation of the public, of Federal, state, and local governments 

 and of regional agencies in the development of coastal zone management pro- 

 grams. With respect to implementation of such management programs, it is the 

 national policy to encourage cooperation among the various state and regional 

 agencies including establishment of interstate and regional agreements, coopera- 

 tive procedures, and joint action particularly regarding environmental problems. 



"definitions 



"Sec. 304. For the purposes of this title — 



"(a) 'Coastal zone' means the coastal waters (including the lands therein and 

 thereunder) and the adjacent shorelands (including the waters therein and 

 thereunder), strongly infiuenced by each other and in proximity to the shorelines 

 of the several coastal states, and includes transitional and intertidal areas, salt 

 marshes, wetlands, and beaches. The zone extends, in Great Lakes waters, to the 

 international boundary between the United States and Canada and, in other 

 areas, seaward to the outer limit of the United States territorial sea. The zone 

 extends inland from the shorelines only to the extent necessary to control those 

 shorelands, the uses of which have a direct impact on the coastal waters. 



"(b) 'Coastal waters' means (1) in the Great Lakes area, the waters within 

 the territorial jurisdiction of the United States consisting of the Great Lakes, 

 their connecting waters, harbors, roadsteads, and estuary-type areas such as 

 bays, shallows, and marshes and (2) in other areas, those waters, adjacent to the 

 shorelines, which contain a measurable quantity or percentage of sea water, 

 including, but not limited to, soiinds, bays, lagoons, bayous, ponds, and estuaries. 



"(c) 'Coastal state' means a state of the United States in, or bordering on the 

 Atlantic, Pacific, or Arctic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico. Long Island Sound, or one 

 or more of the Great Lakes. For the purposes of this title, the term includes 

 Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. 



