The 1969 report on Coastal Wetlands prepared by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science begins:

"Coastal wetlands represent only one percent of the total area of the State, and marshes one-half of one percent. Yet 95% of Virginia's annual harvest of fish (commercial and sport) from tidal waters is dependent to some degree on wetlands. Ducks, Rails, Snipe and many other kinds of birds could not survive without wetlands. Muskrat, Otter, Beaver, and Mink dwell in coastal wetlands. Tourists in burgeoning numbers come to loll on the beaches or to revel in the natural beauty of our wetlands. All users of these valuable natural resources, whether they seek pleasure or profit, pour dollars into the economic stream, provide jobs, and pay taxes.

"The valuable wetlands and other resources which enrich our lives and quicken the pace of our economic life are the heritage and property of all citizens of the Commonwealth, yet the wetlands which nurture them are not, for the most part, under public control. Can such a significant portion of the economic and sociological base of Tidewater continue to hang so tenuously on the mounting and uncontrolled pressures to capriciously dredge, fill, dike, and bulkhead wetlands and to convert them into housing developments, industrial sites, and alas, garbage dumps?"

The 1971 General Assembly displayed its concern by passing House Joint Resolution No. 60 which created a Commission to study the problems relating to our wetlands.