- Position: Conservation and Exclusion of Several Parts of Enacted the Coastal Zone Management Act
- Testimony: Coastal Zone Management Act in Chesapeake Bay
Thank you for having me here, I am representing the local community members concerned with the environment and future prospects of the Chesapeake Bay area. I am here to say that the Coastal Zone Management Act is critical for conserving the Chesapeake Bay, but we do not agree with the proposed residential, recreational, commercial, and industrial uses. The policy we propose mainly focuses on both conserving as well as protecting the coastal territories without turning the zone into a yet another commercial tourist destination. We emphasize that the Coastal Zone Management Act or CZMA should be reinstated for the Chesapeake Bay area to ensure that it is conserved but without residential, recreational, commercial, and industrial uses.
Before I proceed, I should provide a quick summary of the policy, and the Coastal Zone Management Act is comprised of several main sections. These include residential, recreational, commercial, and industrial uses (U.S. Department of The Interior, 2022). It is stated that “Congress enacted the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) to protect the coastal environment from growing demands associated with residential, recreational, commercial, and industrial uses” (U.S. Department of The Interior, 2022, para. 1). In other words, the policy directly prevents any form of oceanic and coastal pollution and environmentally unfriendly use of these natural habitats (Levin & Poe, 2017). In addition, the policy involves three key national programs, such as the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program or CELCP, and the National Coastal Zone Management Program (NOAA Office for Coastal Management, 2022). Thus, various water and land disputes and issues are handled by competent and effective coastal management programs and systems.
The position we propose is to reinstate the Coastal Zone Management Act in the Chesapeake Bay, but only for conservation purposes only. The region needs to be preserved as intact as possible, which requires minimal intervention or invasiveness from the developmental efforts. My first main point is to ensure the accessibility of the region only for researchers, scientists, and professors, but not for the general public and commercial interests (Cheek, 2021). In other words, the destination should be used for scientific endeavors in order to promote the study of water bodies and oceans through science, which can be implemented with CZMA.
My second main point is that we do not oppose making the site economically viable, but it changes must not come at the cost of our core purpose of conservation. It is stated that these efforts are done by “developing municipal harbor plans for various communities and administering the State seaport bond funds to ensure that infrastructure improvements are made to complement the harbor plans” (United States Printing Office, 1999, p. 3). Therefore, the management model under CZMA allows the Chesapeake region to be able to leverage the experts’ experience and expertise rather than establishing their own management unit.
My third main point is that CZMA offers a high degree of adaptability under the conditions of dual pressures on the Chesapeake Bay, such as the need for development and the need for conservation. CZMA provides a flexible framework with an objective to design and establish highly innovation-driven as well as collaborative strategies centered around communities, which promotes stewardship (National Research Council, 2008). In addition, the policy is outstanding at balancing the key problems caused by both development and growth since the selected region cannot remain constantly stagnant (United States Printing Office, 1999). Thus, the policy or act has no major conflict between the goals of the Chesapeake Bay and conservation.
In conclusion, we believe that the Coastal Zone Management Act or CZMA needs to be reinstated in the Chesapeake Bay region to ensure that it is conserved. However, the statement about residential, recreational, commercial, and industrial uses must be removed. The failure to do so will result in coastal pollution, the loss of the area’s conservation, and the exploitation of the area for commercial interests. It is additionally possible that oceanic pollution will be facilitated due to the new poorly managed coastal region.
References
Cheek, J. O. (2021). Science security, research risks, and open collaboration. Consortium for Ocean Leadership. Web.
Levin, P., & Poe, M. (2017). Conservation for the Anthropocene ocean: Interdisciplinary science in support of nature and people. Academic Press.
National Research Council (2008). Increasing capacity for stewardship of oceans and coasts: A priority for the 21st century. NAP.
NOAA Office for Coastal Management. (2022). Coastal Zone Management Act. Web.
U.S. Department of The Interior. (2022). Coastal Zone Management Act. Web.
United States Printing Office. (1999). The Coastal Zone Management Act. Web.