EMERGING PROBLEMS IN THE COASTAL ZONE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

The continued availability of some marine resources is threatened by t he increased fluxes to the oceans of identifiable and measurable colle ctions of pollutants, which include plant nutrients, plastics, environ mental oestrogens, and organisms contained in ship-ballast waters, Cha racteristic of these societal discards that will guide research progre ss are long residence times; slow accumulation rates; increasing fluxe s with time; and dissemination over large areas, The resolution of the se problems will require data collections over decadal time-scales, Fi nally, some classical and some perceived marine pollution problems, su ch as those involving specific metals, can now be discontinued in the face of the absence of unacceptable impacts on living organisms.