of Corps permits. However, a recent court 

 order'" indicates that this arrangement may not 

 be a means of effective control. 



Spoil disposal from dredging operations is a 

 significant hindrance to the increased utilization of 

 coastal and estuarine waters. Maintaining water- 

 ways and dredging them deeper produces great 

 amounts of spoil to be disposed of. Despite careful 

 diking or other placing, spoils often encroach on 

 valuable wildlife or shellfish lands. Spoil dumped 

 in deeper water may degrade water quality and 

 cause undesirable sedimentation. 



IV. LOSS OF WILDLIFE AND NUTRIENT- 

 RICH AREAS 



Among the more serious effects man is pro- 

 ducing on the coastal environment is the loss of 

 wildlife and nutrient areas, principally in the 

 estuarine regions. The central causes are identified 

 as pollution and the filHng of marshlands. 



As noted in Chapter 2, coastal and estuarine 

 waters and marshlands are vital to the life support 

 of about two-thirds of the entire fisheries harvest. 

 During the past 20 years about seven per cent of 

 important estuarine fish and wildlife habitat has 

 been lost to shorelands development. 



Research reported in 1960 by Dr. E. P. 

 Odom'^ showed the productivity of Georgia 

 estuarine waters to be about 10 tons of dry 

 organic matter per acre per year. This is nearly 

 twice that of the best agriculture lands and 

 approximately seven times greater than Conti- 

 nental Shelf fishing banks, and 20 times greater 

 than the open ocean. 



Located at the mouths of rivers, estuaries are 

 particularly vulnerable to the ill effects of pollu- 

 tion and sediment from the river basin and from 

 the great coastal cities that have arisen from the 

 early centers of ocean commerce. At the same 

 time, land fills, dredging, draining of marshes, and 

 dumping reduce their surface areas. For example, 

 about 80 per cent of the 300 square miles of tidal 

 wetlands that originally surrounded San Francisco 

 Bay have been lost.' * 



Table 3, prepared by the Fish and WildHfe 

 Service,' ^ shows a summary of a 20-year record of 

 the loss of important fish and wildlife estuarine 

 habitat. 



Of the tidal wetlands along our North Atlantic 

 Coast, from Maine to Delaware, 45,000 acres of 

 marshland were destroyed in the 10-year period 

 1955-1964. An inventory kept in the last five of 

 those years shows that 34 per cent was lost to 

 dredge spoil deposit; 27 per cent to fill for housing 

 developments; 15 per cent to recreational develop- 

 ment (parks, beaches, marina); 10 per cent to 

 bridges, roads, parking lots, and airports; 7 per 

 cent to industrial sites; 6 per cent to garbage and 

 trash dumps; and 1 per cent to other causes.' * 



Awareness of this problem is growing and 

 States have taken action. Rhode Island passed a 

 Marshland Zoning Act in 1965 (H-1643) to restrict 

 use of coastal wetlands to public health, marine 

 fisheries, wildlife and other conservation purposes. 

 The Rhode Island Department of Natural Re- 

 sources has gained some measure of zoning power 

 over the marshes from this legislation. 



A large-scale survey of that State's wetlands led 

 to designation of areas that should be protected. 

 Priorities have been assigned to areas deemed 

 valuable. An acquisition program has begun, and 

 under it the State was authorized to purchase 

 marshland and hold it ki public ownership for 

 conservation. 



In 1963 and 1965, Massachusetts passed 

 amendments to its Coastal Wetlands Laws which 

 gave authority for protection of wetlands. The 

 State can acquire land by eminent domain and 

 compensate the owner when the action amounts 

 to land-taking. Also the State was given authority 

 to estabUsh regulations and restrictions to govern 

 wetlands alterations. 



In the first court action since enactment of the 

 Massachusetts Coastal Wetlands Laws, the right of 

 the State to prevent a construction firm from 

 fiUing over a marsh with dredge spoil was 

 upheld." The court ruled that "Marsh is... 



^'^Zabel V. Tabb, No. 67-200, Civ-T, Middle District, 

 Florida, Maich 14, 1968. See discussion of this case in 

 Chapter 8. 



Eugene P. Odum, "Estuarine Agriculture," in Sympo- 

 sium on Estuarine Ecology: Coastal Waters of North 

 Carolina, University of North Carolina, 1966. 



Report of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and 

 Development Commission, 1968. 



Report of Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife to 

 House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, 90th 

 Congress, March 6, 1967. 



'Report of Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife to 

 the National Audobon Society Convention, Boston, 

 Massachusetts, October 1965. 



Commission of Natural Resources v. S. Volpe & Co., 

 349 Mass. 104, 206 N.E.2d 666 (1965). 



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