Legislative Findings

The Legislature declares that:

(a)The traditional pattern of land ownership of land abutting the beaches and ocean shores of Guam is that a strip of dry land between the mean high watermark as can be physically established from the latest tide elevation data published by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and privately-owned land is owned by the government for general use of the inhabitants of the island, being open and available to all users, both for recreational purposes and as a means of livelihood for thrownet fishermen;

(b)The shore side boundaries of privately- owned real properties which were surveyed before World War II did not extend to the mean high watermark, as can be testified to respecting the privately-owned land along Agana Bay in the Organized villages of Asan, Piti and Agat;

(c)Since World War II, an increasing amount of the governmentowned land abounding the sea has been alienated and lost to private ownership;

(d)Although fee title to the ocean shore may have vested in private individuals, the Legislature recognizes that over the years the public has made frequent and uninterrupted use of such ocean shore and recognizes, further, that where such use has been legally sufficient to create rights or easements in the public through dedication, prescription, grant, or COL120106 CH. 64 OCEAN SHORES: TERRITORY B EACH AREAS otherwise, that it is in the public interest to protect and preserve such public rights or easements as a permanent part of Guam's recreational resources;

(e)The indiscriminate building of structures on the ocean shores of Guam creates a menace to the well-being of the people of the territory by increasing the pollution of tidal waters, and such construction, in addition, deprives the people of Guam of their right to untrammeled use of beach areas above the mean high watermark;

(f)Such construction destroys the natural beauty of Guam's ocean shores, one of the territory's greatest natural resources; and

(g)Finally, in spite of the enactment of certain laws and the adoption of numerous resolutions for the protection and preservation of the beach areas of Guam, the Executive Branch of the government, which has the responsibility for enforcing these laws and implementing the resolutions adopted, has failed to adequately preserve and protect that strip of said land above the mean high watermark which belongs to the people of Guam.