Photo by Scott Taylor 



The 



Pressures 

 Of 



PEOPLE 



Photo by Steve Murray 



Atlantic Beach. Nags Head. Topsail Beach. 



They used to be places you dreamed about all winter. 

 Get-away spots to soak up sun, walk along the beach and eat 

 plenty of fresh seafood. 



Now it's likely you're a full-time resident. 



Since the 1960s, thousands of people have streamed to 

 North Carolina's coast to live and work. 



By 1990 — in just four years — some people say 75 per- 

 cent of all Americans will live within 50 miles of a coastline. 



As people move in, the pressures on our natural resources, 

 especially coastal waters, increase. 



Lots of peoplC; lots of uses. 



In fact, everybody has rights to use coastal waters — to 

 swim, boat, fish, dive and ski. Those are public trust rights. 



Shoreside landowners have the right to build a pier or 

 dock to get them to deep water. Those are riparian rights. 



And some coastal residents own or lease submerged 

 lands, or estuarine bottomland, for growing clams and oys- 

 ters. The owners have rights. The leasers, too. 



When so many people claim so many rights, conflicts 

 erupt. 



Basically these conflicts boil down to the rights of the 

 public vs. the rights of individuals. 



When should the public's right to clean water prevail over 

 a developer's right to build a condominium? When should 

 the public yield to those who own submerged lands? 



Deciding who wins is always tough. 



A new project at Sea Grant may help find some answers. 

 With funding from the Water Resources Research Institute, 

 Sea Grant's coastal law speciaHst Walter Clark, state attor- 

 ney Dan McLawhom and legal intern Barbara Namkoong 

 have delved into the issues. 



They're pinpointing the conflicts and looking at what the 

 state is doing to resolve them. Then they're comparing these 

 notes with ways other states have addressed the problems. 

 When the team compiles the data, they'll have some guide- 

 lines for solving conflicts in the future. 



This month, Coastwatch introduces you to two water-use 

 conflicts occurring along North Carolina's coast. 



