developed the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Plan in our state back in 1978. As a 
component of that, we identified certain ports as "designated ports" where we have 
directed our state policies towards encouraging maritime-related uses. The standards are 
set in such a way that we encourage those kinds of industries to happen there as opposed 
to another place along the coastline. 
Most recently, and one of the more encouraging notes for us, is that in 
December 1983, the legislature passed a law that amended what we think is the oldest 
coastal regulatory law in the country: the tidelands license that our state has been issuing 
to people who do activities and build docks and piers along our coastline since the colonial 
days, back in the 1640s. At that time, the colonial government began to look at use of the 
shoreline and, in effect, tried to encourage people to use the waterfront to build docks 
and piers at their private owners' expense to promote the East India Trading Company and 
all the marine commerce that the colonists needed. 
That law had two basic interests it was protecting. One was to ensure that 
those projects built were structurally sound, and the other was that the structures did not 
interfere with overall navigation of the Harbor. Recently we have been able to add a 
third interest, which is called the public interest. Under that title, we are now able to 
condition projects so that they serve a proper public interest as opposed to just a private 
interest or gain. Definition of that "proper public interest" has changed over time from 
maritime commerce, which is still appropriate, but also now it includes the use of the 
waterfront for public access, physical and visual aesthetics, for supporting the fisheries, 
and for water dependent uses. This is an attempt to fend off the trend of non-water- 
related uses that are coming to the waterfront. Under this license, a proper public 
purpose is further defined to make sure that a project built along the waterfront notes the 
water quality and does not contribute to the degradation of that water quality. 
A fourth use that is becoming more popular, of course, is the Harbor as a 
recreational facility. The numbers of marinas, private sailboats, and motor boats that use 
the water is increasing tremendously. We have been blessed with a number of Harbor 
islands that are now a state park, the Boston Harbor Islands State Park. The state 
recently has invested millions of dollars in upgrading those parks and providing a 
commuter boat for citizens to get to them. We have renovated a historic fort on George's 
Island. We are rebuilding a major wharf right in the downtown waterfront area both as a 
visitors' center and to encourage more use of the islands. However, the obvious conflict or 
irony is that these wonderful islands are surrounded by very contaminated water. Thus, 
the cleanup process goes hand-in-hand with increased use of the islands as a recreational 
base. 
The Harbor also has not been used to its fullest advantage as a means for a 
water-based transportation, even though historically it was very active. There are 
photographs of literally hundreds of two and three-masted ships that would sail into 
Boston Harbor from nearby ports. Today, we do not see the same numbers of ships, but 
the numbers are increasing once again, and we have in just this morning's newspaper 
announced yet another boat being added to the fleet of commuter boats going back and 
forth between Boston and the South Shore communities. 
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