487 



"(g) That in light of conflicting demands and the need to protect our coastal 

 zone, the institutional framework responsible is currently diffuse in focus, 

 neglected in importance, and inadequate in regulatory authority. 



"(h) That economic development has usually taken precedence over other 

 equally desirable uses of the coastal zone. 



'•(i) That the key to more effective use of the coastal zone is the introduction 

 of a management system permitting conscious and informed choices among de- 

 velopment alternatives. 



"(j) That the absence of a national policy and planning mechanism for the 

 coastal zone resource has contributed to the impairment of the Nation's environ- 

 mental quality. 



"declaration of policy 



"Sec. 303. The Congress declares that planning and development of the coastal 

 zone should be carried out on the principle of multipurpose use of the resource 

 and preservation of the natural environment; that priority should be given to 

 preserving nonrenewable resources ; that Federal, State, and local governments 

 a3 trustees of the natural and human environment have the responsibility to 

 protect the coastal zone and insure multipurpose use of the resource; that the 

 States have the primary role in planning and developing the coastal zone re- 

 source ; that the Federal Government has a major role in protecting the coastal 

 zone and in cooperating with the States in developing an effective coastal zone 

 management system ; that all Federal agencies shall seek to coordinate their ac- 

 tivities in the coastal zone with the coastal States ; and that planning and develop- 

 ing a coastal zone management system requires public participation and the 

 greater use of the hearing mechanism. 



"db;finitions 



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



"(a) The term 'coastal zone' means hands, bays, estuaries, and waters within 

 the territorial sea or the seaward boundary, whichever is the farther offshore, 

 of the various coastal States and States bordering the Great Lakes and extend- 

 ing inland, up to a distance not to exceed twenty miles, where maritime influences 

 exercise a direct effect upon the land. 



"(b) The term 'territorial sea' means a belt of sea adjacent to the coast 

 of the United States and extending three geographic miles offshore from the 

 baseline and within which the United States exercises sovereign rights, subject 

 to the right of innocent passage. 



"(c) The term 'baseline' means the reference line from which the outer limits 

 of the territorial sea and other offshore zones are measured by the United States 

 Government. 



"(d) The term 'seaward boundary of the various coastal States' means a line 

 drawn three geographic miles offshore the baseline or nine georgraphic miles 

 offshore the baseline in the cases of Texas and Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, or 

 such other seaward boundaries as may be recognized by the United States 

 Government. 



"(e) The term 'coastal State' means any State bordering on the Atlantic, 

 Pacific, or gulf coast or the Great Lakes, and includes Puerto Rico, the Virgin 

 Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. 



"(f) The term 'CJouncil' means the National Council on Marine Resources 

 and Engineering Development. 



"(g) The term 'coastal authority' means a commission, council, center, agency, 

 or other governmental entity, broadly representative of coastal needs, problems, 

 and uses, designated by the Governor of a coastal State through legislative or 

 other processes. Coastal States may jointly designate an interstate agency of 

 which they are a member, including a river basin commission, to serve as a coastal 

 authority, in which case such an authority shall be subject to the provisions as 

 a State agency for the purposes of this title, and shall be entitled to funding 

 equivalent to the sum of the allotments of its member States. 



"(h) The term 'estuarine sanctuary' is an area, not to exceed ten square miles, 

 within the coastal zone and unhampered by the mounting pressures thereon, set 

 aside to provide scientists the opportunity to examine over a period of time the 

 ecological relationships within estuaries. 



«5 -.310— 7( 



