Hon. EDWARD A. GARMATZ, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington, D.C., August 6, 1971. Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you for the opportunity to comment on H.R. 9229, a bill "To establish a national policy and develop a national program for the management, beneficial use, protection, and development of the land and water resources of the Nation's coastal and estuarine zones, and for other purposes." Your request, dated June 21, 1971, for Smithsonian comments on H.R. 9229 was received too late to prepare a detailed reply in time for hearings on this bill scheduled before the Subcommittee on Oceanography for June 22-24, 1971. However, it is noted that H.R. 9229 is a modification and expansion of H.R. 2493, a bill whose general objectives the Smithsonian supports and upon which the Institution reported accordingly in a letter to you dated June 24, 1971 (copy attached). The Smithsonian continues to support these basic objectives as now set forth in H.R. 9229. However, as observed in the report on H.R. 2493, the Institution notes the Administration's comprehensive and integrated "National Land Use Policy Act of 1971" (introduced as H.R. 4332) which gives concrete recognition to the importance of the Nation's coastal and estuarine areas by encouraging the coastal States to adopt special protective measures pertaining to these areas. For this reason, the Smithsonian defers to the views of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Department of the Interior regarding the specific implementing provisions set forth in H.R. 9229. With respect to Marine Sanctuaries (Title IV of the proposed legislation), the Smithsonian firmly believes that serious consideration must be given to the need for marine sanctuaries. However, decisions of a complex nature will be involved in determining scientifically, economically, and politically (1) which areas should be delineated as marine sanctuaries, (2) the effect of the establishment of such areas upon competing biological and commercial uses; and (3) the posture, vis-a-vis international law, of such sanctuaries located beyond the 3-nautical-mile limit. For this reason, the matter of establishing marine sanctuaries may warrant special consideration on its own merits and very likely is the proper subject of a separate bill. Further, it might be useful to delay specific legislation until some of the planned international conferences, dealing with law and the ocean environment, have been completed in order to determine the type of legislation needed in the light of such agreements as may emerge from these conferences. The Office of Management and Budget has advised that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the Administration's program. Sincerely yours, Attachment. S. DILLON RIPLEY, Secretary. (A copy of the attachment can be found on p. 20.) Hon. EDWARD A. GARMATZ, THE GENERAL COUNSEL OF THE TREASURY, Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Reference is made to your request for the views of this Department on H.R. 9229, "To establish a national policy and develop a national program for the management, beneficial use, protection, and development of the land and water resources of the Nation's coastal and estuarine zones, and for other purposes." The bill would authorize Federal guarantees of obligations issued by coastal States for land acquisition, water development, and restoration projects. It would not alter the tax status of obligations guaranteed under the bill. Thus. the bill would result in Federal guarantees of tax-exempt obligations. The bill raises a number of questions of overall Federal credit program policy, including problems with Federal guarantees of tax-exempt obligations and the need to husband Federal credit resources. The enclosed statement by Assistant Secretary Weidenbaum before the Subcommittee on Oceans and Atmosphere of the Senate Committee on Commerce on S. 582, a similar bill, contains a detailed discussion of the Federal credit program policy questions which are also raised by H.R. 9229. The Department has been advised by the Office of Management and Budget that there is no objection from the standpoint of the Administration's program to the submission of this report to your Committee. Sincerely yours, Enclosure. SAMUEL R. PIERCE, (A copy of the enclosure may be found on p. 21.) General Counsel. Mr. LENNON. Let me state to our witnesses that already we have been confronted with a rather unusual situation. The House is convening today at 11 o'clock, which we had no reason to anticipate when these hearings were scheduled. It will meet, of course, on a quorum call, and we will have to recess, at least, and go to the floor just to establish our presence here in the Congress by answering that rollcall and then we will return, stay here at least until 12:30, subject, of course, to another quorum call being called in that period. We are faced with a situation tomorrow that we did not anticipate when these hearings were scheduled. An emergency has developed regarding legislation that is pending before the full committee from several subcommittees that will have to be considered tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we can conclude those hearings shortly and at 10 o'clock accommodate the witnesses who have come, traveled great distances in order to make their appearance possible here. The first witness this morning is Dr. William J. Hargis, Jr., director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, Va. I know that my distinguished colleague from Virginia, Mr. Downing, joins me in welcoming Dr. Hargis as our first witness. Mr. Downing? Mr. DOWNING. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do. Dr. Hargis is a distinguished scientist, one of the foremost, I think, in the country. And, Mr. Chairman, I would like to see him very much on one of these NOAA commissions. Mr. LENNON. I have already expressed my views on that. Dr. Hargis, we are delighted now to have you officially introduced to the committee. We have been privileged to hear your views in an informal session in which no notes were taken. We are now on the record. Thank you very much. STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIAM J. HARGIS, JR., DIRECTOR, VIRGINIA INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE, GLOUCESTER POINT, VA.; ACCOMPANIED BY CAPT. THOMAS H. SUDDATH Dr. HARGIS. We have prepared two small booklets as testimony, one, "The Need for a Separate National Coastal Zone Management Program," and the other, "The Roles and Organization of Science and Engineering in Coastal Zone Planning and Management." With your permission I will submit them for inclusion in the record, and then summarize the major points that we would like to make in deference to the time. Mr. LENNON. Without objection, so ordered. (Booklets follow:) THE ROLES AND ORGANIZATION OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING IN COASTAL ZONE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT (By William J. Hargis, Jr., Ph. D., Director, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (Gloucester Point, Virginia) and Chairman, Coastal States Organization) INTRODUCTION Increasing interest in the problems of properly using and preserving the resources of the coastal zone is encouraging. I am pleased to be able to discuss the developing "National Coastal Zone Program" with you. Comments in this part of my testimony will be directed mostly toward a) the role of Science and Engineering in coastal zone management, and b) possible organizational arrangements for facilitating proper use of science and technology in planning and management of coastal zone resources for the present and future. It might be worth noting that most of my last fifteen years of professional experience as a marine scientist has been spent as scientific advisor and administrator in and to several local, state and interstate coastal zone management agencies. The last ten have been spent as marine affairs advisor to the General Assembly, the Governor and to the executive agencies responsible for planning and managing marine resources. As Director of the principal oceanographic agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I have designed and built what could be called "Coastal Zone Laboratories." Not only is the Institute a Coastal Zone Laboratory in fact but it is also one in Law (Title 28 of the Code of Virginia) and by Executive Decree. See attachments. The task RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING REQUIREMENTS IN COASTAL ZONE The principal task under consideration is proper allocation and use of coastal zone resources and their potentials to the many, sometimes exclusively competitive, users and to posterity. This requires effective planning and management by all public and private units involved, which in turn requires information, technologcal advice and services. Here is the principal entry of science and engineering into the program. It is important to note that we are not designing a scientific program for the sake of science but for use in an effective coastal zone management system! This is a critical point which is often partially or wholly overlooked in considerations of Coastal Zone Laboratory systems. Many approach development of such units as though they were building new "basic" research program and not problem or "mission-oriented" units. Both are compatible, of course, but a Coastal Zone Laboratory exists primarily to solve problems and acquire essential fundamental and "secondary" information for contributing to this primary goal. The question To determine what the scientific and technological requirements are in coastal zone management, one should begin with the question: What scientific and technological services are necessary in order to do an effective job (after having carefully defined the essential features of that job) of planning and managing the resources of the coastal zone? Researchers, scientists, and engineers must help frame and define the questions, but if the object is to plan and manage the environments and resources of the coastal zone more or most effectively, then it is the planners and managers, whose needs must be met, who must initiate definition of the tasks. They must be intimately involved. They must, of course, be competent to the task and assist where necessary! The milieu in which the coastal zone management unit must operate is highly relevant in establishment of the administrative apparatus of its scientific agency. After laying these foundations, we can consider the nature of the scientific and technological establishments to be employed, used or made available. Then, considering the nature and requirements of an effective, productive, responsive and good quality scientific and technical establishment, it is possible to suggest the "anatomy" of an effective “lower or intermediate level coastal zone laboratory"-one which actually and regularly works with the in situ planning and management units. Basic management units Most of the study groups that have considered seriously the problems of coastal zone management conclude that the basic management units must be at least at the state (or in some instances, interstate) level for various excellent reasons. Aside from the historical, constitutional, political and other considerations, among the most potent reasons for this conclusion is a natural one-management of the level and type needed requires local knowledge and frequent or even continuing attention in detail. Long experience indicates that such activities cannot be handled from remote central authorities. To centralize all coastal zone planning and management would be folly. Economically, it would be foolish, too. There is always a strong urge to simplify by centralizing. With natural resource management problems, this is often impossible. With coastal zone management units, it is impossible! Since some division at lesser political and geographical levels must be suffered, the problem is to make the coastal zone management units local but not too local, to make them responsive to local needs but not witless, powerless or otherwise ineffective. This is a political engineering problem. The principal point to be made is: To be effective, the National Coastal Zone Management System must operate through lesser units! The Coastal Zone Research and Advisory Unit-coastal zone laboratories The research or scientific service complement (s) must also be organized along similar lines! The many studies conducted recently have indicated repeatedly, that the complex nature of the environments and resources of the coastal zone is equaled or exceeded only by the complexities of the institutions society has devised for dealing with them. Thus, an effective coastal zone management "system" (the term "system" is used advisedly since it is questionable whether in most, or many, cases any single agency will be used by a local, state or regional subdivision in this capacity) has to be organized to handle such complex problems. Its scientific and technological advisory group, the "coastal zone laboratory," must be also. The personnel would be drawn from the scientific and engineering and other professional areas which are required to conduct balanced studies and give meaningful, balanced and well-documented opinions. It must be responsive to the short- and long-term needs of the managers and planners; hence, the scientific agency-the Coastal Zone Research and Engineering Laboratory, or Institution or Group-must be coupled closely enough to serve, but not so much so that its research results and advice cannot be objectively obtained and given without fear of censorship or reprisal. The size and organization of this scientific agency will depend upon the magnitude of the tasks assigned it by the management apparatus and upon availability of scientific and engineering services from other sources. It may be as small as six (6) to a dozen (12) professionals from different disciplines to review knowledge, synthesize reports and recommendations and act as trusted advisors and technical counsels to the planning and management units involved. It may be as large as 300 to 500 persons of all levels and professional skills capable of handling research, engineering, advisory services and perhaps even education. The former would be a Group; the latter, a full-fledged Coastal Zone Laboratary or Institute. Necessity for coordinated action capability Since many of the questions or problems which arise can only be answered by a coordinated, multidisciplinary, broad-scale, concentrated approach within a specific time frame, there must be scientists, engineers and other technical assistants of a number, and variety, sufficient to the task. Because the problems are difficult, these persons must be professionally capable and they must, as a unit, be as concerned, or more so, with contributing to the management system as they are to making their marks with the scientific community. The skills and interests of ་ the entire personnel must be capable of being focused on the problem at hand. There must be discipline and central administration of "research" activities. Possible activities and capabilities of a coastal zone laboratory Though much of the research of this "coastal zone laboratory" would be of the "mission-oriented" variety, it can and, for cogent and potent organizational and technical reasons, should support a reasonable amount of research of a more fundamental type. Besides the applied and basic research functions, there must be a "firefighting" or emergency or contingency response apparatus and, if the technical activities are really going to be consolidated and coordinated within our "Coastal Zone Laboratory," monitoring and survey capabilities must be present. Of course, not all have to be consolidated in the "Coastal Zone Laboratory." Some of these functions might be accomplished within the organizational structure of the management segment of the system. Experience teaches, however, that they are essential features of an effective coastal management system and care must be taken to insure their inclusion at some level on the planning and management-research and engineering complex. If the technical agency is also going to be asked for economic evaluations on its solutions and advisories, some professional capability in economics should also be included in our "Coastal Zone Laboratory" or, better still, "Coastal Zone Institute" since the institute format is most suitable. Important legal and sociological activities also may be involved within our institute but they could work as well or better within the management agency, itself. While this essay is devoted primarily to science and engineering and their essential involvements in the Coastal Zone Management Program, it is important to note that other disciplines such as sociology, political science, law, geology, business, etc., must not be ignored in the larger management systems. Information exchange and advisory services Aside from the scientific and technical capabilities, characteristics and activities mentioned immediately above and equally (or more!) important, there must be regular mechanisms for conveying information and advice to our managers and planners. These data and advisories must be as unambiguous as possible, with suggested actions and priorities where options are necessary or available, and offered to the decisionmakers in form that is useful to them—and in time! These are essential qualities, qualities which cannot be met easily, given the nature of the problems and of scientists and academicians and their traditional institutions. Decision-making in the coastal zone is accomplished at several levels-private as well as public, individual as well as corporate-and an important goal is to effect planning and management as harmoniously as possible. Thus, communications should be with private user groups as well as with the public management units. Advisory services must be available to all important users and managers as they are needed. Further, advice rendered has to be objective, yet realistically useful. (And the technical advisor has to be prepared to accept his role as an advisor with all of its limitations. He must have, of course, the necessary determination and initiative to attempt to persuade when evidence indicates that a management decision or planning action is unwise or not feasible!) There must be rapport, interaction, responsibility, respectability, capability, reason and practicality in the "Coastal Zone Laboratory or Institute" unit. The scientific and technical advisors must, in the last analysis, be allies of the public planning and management agencies they serve with certain obligations and loyalties, objective yet partisanly so in the public's behalf. Other interests will be represented in the give and take of hearings, some of which can be of the full public type and some of the antagonistic-protagonistic, quasi-judicial sort. Scientific and engineering facilities needed Aside from the necessary scientific and technical personnel, with the necessary supporting personnel, it is clear that adequate scientific and engineering facilities are needed by our "Coastal Zone Institute." Among them are the latest in land and ocean vehicles and platforms, laboratory equipment, computers and simulation devices. Despite opinions held in some quarters, coastal zone research is not necessarily less expensive than oceanic research. In place of costly large, ocean-going vessels |