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Article: Coastal Waters Management
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- Water:Science and Issues
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Coastal Waters Management
Americans love the seashore and the water. Nearly half of all the construction in the United States since the 1970s has been on the seacoast. By the year 2000, 80 percent of Americans lived an hour's drive or less from the seashore. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the primary federal agency responsible for managing the oceans, has projected that by 2010 half of all Americans will be living in coastal counties. Globally almost two-thirds of the world's largest cities are coastal. Sixty percent of people on Earth live within 97 kilometers (60 miles) of the sea.
The reasons why so many humans are coastal dwellers are that coastal areas and ...