to competing uses in increasingly congested areas; 

 for example, power boats can be a menace to small 

 sailing craft and swimmers. Partly it is because 

 tliere is little regulation of recreation. Cliildren 

 who would not qualify for a license to drive an 

 automobile can operate a power boat with im- 

 punity. Recreation boats and equipment have 

 usually not been required to meet safety standards 

 but there is legislation pending that would have 

 tire Coast Guard certify the safety of boats and 

 equipment. Zoning of uses of coastal areas will 

 have to give greater attention to accommodating 

 recreation activities in the interest of safety as 

 well as pleasure. 



However, to the problems of maintaining safety 

 standards for conventional recreation activities, 

 there have been added the dangers involved in 

 activities under the surface of the sea. The dangers 

 inherent in underseas recreational activity will 

 require new legislation and new missions for 

 activities engaged in ensuring the safety of person- 

 nel in the ocean areas. 



Legislation is required to ensure the safety of 

 operations in civilian submersibles which are used 

 either for recreational or industrial purposes. 

 Certification of submersibles by the Coast Guard is 

 a necessary measure to minimize loss of Ufe and 

 equipment in this new underseas activity. The 

 certification would necessarily include adequate 

 safety equipment and features and proper manning 

 maintenance and construction standards. Regula- 

 tions for the safe operation of submersibles is also 

 needed to include safety signals, rules of the road 

 submerged, and safe patterns of transit in the same 

 manner as flight plans. 



Skin divers, snorkellers, and scuba swimmers are 

 rapidly increasing. The incidence of casualties in 

 these relatively new underseas activities has been 

 comparatively high owing to lack of close supervi- 

 sion, safety standards, regulations and safety 

 equipment. There is a need for decompression 

 chambers, readily available in areas of considerable 

 underwater swimming activity, and a need for 

 rapid transportation of such facilities, close to the 

 scene of an incident to reduce the effects of 

 "bends." 



It is recommended that the Coast Guard inte- 

 grate this type of safety equipment with their 

 rescue heUcopter capability and geographically 

 placed rescue stations to provide a fast response in 



coastal areas for underwater swimmers' decom- 

 pression. 



Regulations for underwater-swimming activity 

 will be, for the most part, of State or local origin. 

 However, coordination of undersea swimming ac- 

 tivity with military and industrial activity in 

 specific areas of the ocean should be a Coast 

 Guard District activity. Since such swimming 

 activity may involve the use of dangerous under- 

 water hunting weapons there will be a need for a 

 policing authority and regulations, both as to 

 safety features and use of weapons. The Coast 

 Guard should be designated as the pohcing and law 

 enforcement activity. 



Regulations as to cleanliness of compressed air 

 or gas mixtures for civilian consumption will be 

 required. The development of underseas observa- 

 tion facilities, including restaurants and marinas, 

 will shortly require the establishment of safety 

 standards in construction and operation. Federal 

 help in planning State laws is indicated to ensure 

 the safety of personnel and equipment in this new 

 underseas activity. 



With the development of several National un- 

 derwater parks planned for the next decade follow- 

 ing the lead of Florida's John Pennekamp Coral 

 Reef State Park, regulations governing activity 

 within such preserves is required and legislation to 

 ensure safety of personnel within such preserves is 

 needed. 



Recommendation : 



The Coast Guard should be provided the necessary 

 legislative authorization to support safety require- 

 ments for recreation in coastal areas. The agency 

 should be authorized to certify the safety of boats, 

 civilian submersibles, and equipment, and to issue 

 operating regulations for the submersibles. 



IX. RESEARCH 



Previous research has been traditionally ori- 

 ented to resources, and there is a serious defi- 

 ciency in socioeconomic research. In our rapidly 

 changing society planning and predicting must 

 take into account changes in income, mobility, 

 amounts of leisure time, increasing urbanization, 

 age distribution, and a host of other factors. 



Little has been accomplished in measuring 

 demand in the economic sense, i.e., determining 

 the relationship between consumption and pricing. 



VII-251 



