. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Strength in Numbers: Pooling Resources to iVtake an Impact u rgess The United States, captured at night by a space shuttle camera, is ablaze with incandescent light. Illuminated towns and cities form an almost perfect outline of our country's coast. The result is more than just a pretty picture. It's a graphic illustration of the dense population in our country's coastal plain. Demographers have predicted that by the end of this century, 75 percent of Americans will live within 75 miles of coast
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Strength in Numbers: Pooling Resources to iVtake an Impact u rgess The United States, captured at night by a space shuttle camera, is ablaze with incandescent light. Illuminated towns and cities form an almost perfect outline of our country's coast. The result is more than just a pretty picture. It's a graphic illustration of the dense population in our country's coastal plain. Demographers have predicted that by the end of this century, 75 percent of Americans will live within 75 miles of coastal waters. It's a prediction that some think has already come true. Growth along the North Carolina coast is keeping with the trend. By the year 2000, populations in Dare, Carteret and New Hanover counties are expected to be triple the 1980 count. With this shift comes an increased pressure on our watery natural resources and a growing concern over how to maintain and preserve them. The issues we face are countless — protection of wetlands, dwindling fresh water supplies, sewage disposal problems, waning fisher-. ies, declining water quality, preservation of habitat. We all have a say in what happens. "Portions of the coastal environment belong to all of us," says Michael Corcoran of the Wildlife Federa- tion. "We need to exercise the rights of ; Thousands of individuals are making their voices heard as members of a chorus. Conservationists have banded together to speak out on environmental regula- tions; developers have grouped to push for balance in economic growth. No matter what the position, people have found that working together as an organized group increases their effectiveness and their ability to get relevant and accurate information. Some of these groups are large in scope and familiar in name — Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society. Others are small but determined. All play a role in keeping an eye on our coast. NORT
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
