538 



8 



"TITLE I— MARINE RESOURCES AND ENGINEERING 

 DEVELOPMENT 



* « * * * * * 



"TITLE II— SEA GRANT COLLEGES AND PROGRAMS 



ilf ***** * 



TITLE III— MANAGEMENT OF THE COASTAL ZONE 



SHORT TITHE 



Sec. 301. This title may be cited as the "Coastal Zone Management 

 Act of 1972". 



CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS 



Sec. 302. The Congress finds that — 



(a) There is a national interest in the effective management, bene- 

 ficial use, protection, and development of the coastal zone; 



(b) The coastal zone is rich in a variety of natural, commercial, rec- 

 reational, industrial, and esthetic resources of immediate and potential 

 value to the present and future well-being of the Nation ; 



(c) The increasing and competing demands upon the lands and 

 waters of our coastal zone occasioned by population growth and eco- 

 nomic development, including requirements for industry, commerce, 

 residential development, recreation, 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, decreasing 

 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 conse- 

 quently extremely vulnerable 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, pres- 

 ent state and local institutional arrangements for planning and regu- 

 lating land and water uses in such areas are inadequate ; and 



(h) The key to more effective protection and use of the land and 

 water resources of the coastal zone is to encourage the states to exercise 

 their full authority over the lands and waters in the coastal zone by 

 assisting the states, in cooperation with Federal and local governments 

 and other vitally affected interests, 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. 



