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The intersection of human health and the ocean occurs overwhelmingly in the coastal zone. The coastal zone extends from the upland penetration of tidal rivers to the edge of the continental shelf, which can extend 100 miles or more beyond the coast itself. The world's coastlines, including temperate, tropical, and polar coasts, have been estimated to total about 372,000 miles (Smithsonian Institution 2002). The coastal ocean, the most biologically productive part of the marine environment, supports a dazzling level of biological diversity, including coral reefs, marine mammals, and economically important fisheries. Major portions of marine resources harvested are from the coastal zone. These resources include food as well as material resources used in industrial and biomedical applications. One example of the latter is the production of Limulus amoebocyte lysate, proteins from the blood of horseshoe crabs, used clinically to detect endotoxins in intravenous fluids. The value of all marine ecologic resources and services from the coastal zone has been estimated to be $21 trillion (McGinn 2002). The recently convened Presidential Ocean Commission (U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy 2002) has received reports that there are serious threats to the coastal environment from coastal population growth, pollution, and over-fishing. Approximately 50% of the world's population lives within 200 km of the coast, and this percentage is expected to increase in the future. This large and growing population affects the coastal ocean in a number of ways, including nutrient loading, toxic contamination, and habitat alteration. Each of these has effects on coastal ecosystems and on the health and economic well-being of human populations living near the coast. A variety of human activities contribute nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients to the coastal ocean: for example, the agricultural and residential use of fertilizer, the disposal of human and animal waste, and the burning of fossil fuels. These nutrients are carried to the ocean by groundwater and surface water, as well as through atmospheric deposition. Nutrient loading to the coastal ocean has also increased with the loss of wetlands that can intercept and utilize nutrients before they reach the ocean. In the coastal ocean, nutrients stimulate the growth of phytoplankton or algae, marine plants that form the base of the marine food web. This can have benign or even beneficial effects; it is no coincidence that some of the most productive fisheries in the world are near the mouths of rivers that carry nutrients to the …