731 



sites in 1972 was located in the coastal zone, and this trend 

 will be reinforced by the proliferation of nuclear power 

 plants, on and otf shore. 



Three major reports in the late 1960's served as the catalyst for 

 action to protect the coasts. The reports pointed out that coastal areas 

 and the estuaries are tied together intimately in a unique ecosystem 

 which can be endangered by inappropriate development levels. The 

 Presidentially appointed Commission on Marine Science, Engineer- 

 ing, and Resources issued its report. "Our Nation and the Sea," in 

 January 1969, after a 2-year study. Known as the Stratton Commis- 

 sion after its chairman. Dr. Julius Stratton, the Commission recom- 

 mended in its report that Congress pass a "Coastal Management Act" 

 to provide coastal policy objectives and to authorize Federal grants 

 to help States establish coastal zone authorities which could manage 

 coastal waters and adjacent land. The Stratton Commission found 

 that the coast is "in many respects, the Nation's most valuable geo- 

 graphic feature." 



Dr. John Knauss, provost for marine affairs at the University of 

 Rhode Island and head of a coastal zone panel for the Commission, 

 summed up the recommendations in testimony that year before the 

 Subcommittee on Oceanography of the House Merchant Marine and 

 Fisheries Committee : 



[The coastal zone] is the area in which industry, trade, 

 recreation, and conservation interests, waste disposal and po- 

 tentially aquaculture all press most sharply on the limited 

 resources of our environment. 



The thing we try to stress in the panel report is that there 

 are rapidly increasing pressures in this area created by the 

 problems of conflicting use, and that many of the problems 

 are expanding seaward. 



The Commission finds the key need in the coastal zone to be 

 a management system which will permit conscious and in- 

 formed choices among development alternatives and which 

 will provide for proper planning. The Federal Government 

 can help in establishing such a S5'stem, but the primary re- 

 sponsibility lies with the States. 



The Santa Barbara oil spill, also in January 1969, gave special 

 urgency to the Commission's recommendation. 



On November 3, 1969, the Federal Water Pollution Control Admin- 

 istration (FWPCA) of the Department of the Interior released its na- 

 tional estuarine pollution study. The document, produced pursuant to 

 the Estuary Protection Act (Public Law 90-454), reported by the 

 Committee on Commerce on July 17, 1968, described the natural func- 

 tioning of estuaries and detailed the effects of pollution on estuaries. 

 Like the Stratton Report, the estuarine pollution study recommended 

 a coastal zone management effort, noting that the direct relationship 

 between estuaries and coastal zones made it "impractical" to consider 

 them separately. A proper management system, according to the 

 FWPCA report, should recognize "the primary responsibilities of 

 the States * * * for their estuarine and coastal areas, and on the 

 Federal side * * * for the coordination of Federal activities in these 



