Scientists have pointed out that 60% of the seafood taken from water surrounding the United States is dependent on coastal bays and marshes for their existence. If we destroy these wetlands, by pollutions, dredging and landfill we will also destroy our fisheries. With 60% of our population in a 250 mile band along our coats, the threat of destruction is not an ideal one. I need only point to the complete loss of the oyster crop off the Connecticut coast during the last year to indicate the nature of the threat to our marine resources . . . A shoreline with no fish, wildlife, or natural marshland would be desolate. For these animals and fields of marsh grass are as much a part of our heritage as our mountains and great rivers.