Editors' Summary: The coastal areas of this country provide more than just a place to spend a vacation. They have always supported a substantial proportion of the country's population, are the source and support of much of its fishing industry, and provide the potential for substantial energy resources. But the conflicts associated with increasing population growth and economic prosperity have seriously degraded coastal areas in recent years. In 1972 Congress enacted the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) in an attempt to prevent further deterioration of the coasts. However, numerous other federal statutes also directly affect coastal areas. These statutes create conflicting directives and ensure a complex regulatory framework that can be difficult to coordinate. This Comment describes the many federal statutes, the CZMA among them, that in one way or another affect activities along the coasts. It explains how the current framework contributes to fragmented, unclear policies and analyzes how pollution control strategies could be better integrated into land use management schemes in the coastal zone.