The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a federal agency in the Department of Commerce whose mission is to (1) describe and predict changes in the Earth' s environment and (2) to conserve and manage wisely the nation's coastal and marine resources. NOAA includes nine major organizations: Environmental Data Service, Environmental Research Laboratories, National Environmental Satellite Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Ocean Survey, National Weather Service, NOAA Corps, Office of Coastal Zone Management, and Office of Sea Grants.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s studies and reports on the ocean, in combination with concerns about the United States competitive position in science launched by the space race created political momentum and propitious climate to explore ocean issues at the Federal level. During the 1960s and 1970s people began to listen seriously to predictions that human existence would be threatened unless humans adjusted their relationships with their environment. The First Ocean Commission convened in 1969 to address issues of concern for the coastal and marine environments.

The commission also known as the Stratton Commission set priorities for federal ocean activities that continue to guide this nation. Many of the issues that were addressed thirty years ago remain with us today, although the environmental and management contexts have changed in dramatic ways.

The 1969 Oceans Commission led to:

• 1972 Coastal Zone Act
• United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• International Decade of Ocean Exploration.

Since 1942 the following laws and executive orders have been executed:

Chronology of Major Events in United States Ocean Policy, 1940 to 1998

in-Sain, Biliana and Robert W. Knecht. 1999 (in press). The Future of US Ocean Policy: Choices for the Next Century. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Abbreviations: L, legislative; E, executive; O, other

1942 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (L)

1945 Truman Proclamation declaring that the continental shelf is subject to the US (E)

1947. Pacific Marine Fisheries Commission (L)

1949 Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (L)

International Convention for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) (O)

Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (O)

1953. Submerged Lands Act grants states title to the resources of the continental shelf out to three miles. Reverses the 1947 supreme Court ruling (L)

 

1954. Saltonstall-Kennedy Act provides funds for research and marketing to promote the use of domestic fish (L)

1958. First UN Conference on the Law of the Sea. Four conventions approved: high seas, territorial sea and contiguous zone, fisheries, and continental shelf (O)

1960 Federal fishing vessel construction subsidies (L)

Commercial Fisheries R&D Act (grants to states) (L)

Interagency Committee on Oceanography established under FCST (O)

1961 Anadromous Fish conservation Act (cooperative grants to states) (L)

1966 Congress established a 3-12 mile wide exclusive fishery zone (L)

Sea Grant Program established (L)

1971 Reorganization of the federal government. NOAA and EPA established (E)

1972 Coastal Zone Management Act (L)

Clean Water Act sets timetables and standards for improving Water Quality Act (L)

Marine Mammals Protection Act (L)

1973 Endangered Species Act (L)

1974 Deep Water Port Act (L)

Port and Tanker Safety Act (L)

1980 Deep Sea Bed Hard Mineral Resources Act (L)

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Act (L)

American Fisheries Promotion Act (L)

1983 200-mile EEZ established by proclamation (E)

1987 National Estuary Program established (L)

1988 Territorial Sea extended to 12 miles by proclamation (E)

1989 Ocean Dumping Ban Act (L)

Convention for a North Pacific Marine Science Organization (O)

1993 Convention on Biological Diversity (O)

1994 National Flood Insurance Reform Act establishes mitigation program (L)

Framework Convention on Climate Change (O)

1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act mandates the protection of essential fish habitat (L)

1999 Coastal Enhancement Act of 1999

Coastal Zone Management Act OF 1972

Over sixty percent of all Americans live within 50 miles of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico and the five Great Lakes. The population density of these areas is four times the national average, and coastal population is expected to grow by 15 percent during the next two decades.

With this rise in population, there has been a tremendous increase in the competing uses of coastal resources. 

In an effort to encourage states to better manage coastal areas, Congress enacted the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) in 1972. CZMA provides grants to states that develop and implement Federally approved coastal zone management plans. It also allows states with approved plans the right to review Federal actions to ensure they are consistent with those plans, and it authorizes the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. 

To date, 33 of the 35 eligible coastal states and U.S. territories have Federally approved plans. The approved plans include more than 100,000 miles of coastline, which represent nearly all of the national total. 

The CZMA requires that approved state management programs include the following: 

     (1) the boundaries of the coastal zone affected by the program; 

     (2) an inventory and designation of areas of particular concern in the coastal zone; 

     (3) a definition of permitted land and water uses that directly impact coastal waters; 

     (4) an identification of how those uses will be controlled; 

     (5) an outline of broad guidelines to determine priority of uses in coastal areas; 

     (6) a description of the administrative structure that will operate the approved management program; 

     (7) a definition of "beach" and a planning process for dealing with access to public coastal areas; 

     (8) a planning process for energy facilities likely to be located in or to significantly affect the coastal zone; and 

     (9) a planning process for studying both the effects of coastal erosion and alternative ways to control it. 

Each coastal state with an approved plan receives between $500,000 and $2.15 million each year in Federal Administrative Grant money which must be matched by the state. The amount of money each state receives is dependent upon its coastal population and shoreline mileage, and this is the primary funding available for the state programs. 

Coastal states making satisfactory progress implementing their plans are also eligible for Resource Management Improvement Grants. These grants are designed to help states preserve or restore coastal areas, redevelop urban waterfronts and ports, and provide access to public beaches and coastal waters. These grants must also be matched by the state. 

Finally, participating states may compete for Coastal Zone Enhancement Grants. These additional Federal funds can be used to strengthen the state programs in one or more of the following areas: 

     wetland protection and restoration; 

     increased public access to coastal areas; 

     control of development impacts; 

     protection from coastal hazards; 

     special area management planning; 

     management of ocean resources; and 

     reduction of marine debris along the coast. 

These grants are awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) based on a review of the state programs. No state match is required for these grants. State grants are funded at $52.7 million in Fiscal Year 1999. 

Under law, states with approved plans have the right to review Federal activities (including private activities that require Federal permits) to determine whether they are consistent with the policies of the state's coastal zone management program. If the Federal action is not consistent to "the maximum extent practicable" with the state program, changes must be made before the Federal activity is permitted. For Federal agency actions, the final determination of whether a Federal action is consistent lies with the Secretary of Commerce. 

Furthermore, the Coastal Zone Management Act authorizes the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). Under the CZMA, the Secretary of Commerce can make grants, not to exceed 50 percent of the cost of the project, which enable coastal states to acquire, develop, and operate estuarine research reserves. Designation of an estuarine reserve requires a state to agree to long-term management of the site for research purposes, and to provide information for use by coastal zone managers. 

Since the NERRS program began in 1972, it has grown from a single 4,400-acre site in Oregon to a 24-site system managing over one million acres in 19 states and Puerto Rico. The program protects the integrity of these sites while allowing the public to learn firsthand about the coastal zone and the complexity and fragility of life within it. This program is funded at $4.3 million in Fiscal Year 1999. 

The Coastal Zone Management Act was last reviewed in the 104th Congress, and is now authorized until September 30, 1999. The Subcommittee (on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans) will conduct hearings on the effectiveness of each of the grant programs mandated by the Act. --narrative courtesy of House Resources Committee

HOUSE PANEL CONSIDERS COASTAL

RESTORATION REAUTHORIZATION

The House Resources' Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee is slated to consider a measure (HR1110) on April 15, 1999, that would reauthorize for five years a law that provides grants to states for coastal restoration projects.

The Coastal Zone Management Act (PL 92-583), which will expire Sept. 30,authorizes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide grants to states that develop and implement federally approved coastal management plans. Once in place, the state has the authority to monitor federal activities along the coast to ensure they are consistent with the management plans.

The federal grants, which are based on a state's coastal population and shoreline miles, range from $500,000 to $2.15 million annually for each eligible state with an approved plan. The bill would authorize $75 million for fiscal 2000. Congress appropriated $52.7 million for the projects in fiscal 1999.

The bill does include a new provision, opposed by the Personal Watercraft Industry Association, that would prohibit jet skis from operating at wake-creating speeds in "sensitive areas" to be designated by the states. The industry contends that a "sensitive area" could be interpreted broadly, leading to bans on jet skis along coastlines. The language also would prohibit the jet skis from operating in two feet of water or less.

The measure also would require NOAA to gauge the program's effectiveness and would broaden approved projects to include funding for managing so-called non-point source pollution, or pollution that cannot be tracked to a source such as factory emissions or farm runoff.

Bill supporters contend there is an urgent need to protect national coastlines because the number of people living in those areas is expected to grow by 15 percent over the next two decades. The bill also authorizes for five years the National Estuarine Research

Reserve System, a national network of 27 protected sites in which coastal studies are undertaken.

This document provides the background, proposed text, a section-by-section analysis, and statement of purpose and need for the Administration's proposed Bill to reauthorize and amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA), 16 U.S.C. '' 1451-1465, entitled the "Coastal Management Enhancement Act of 1999" (CMEA). Attached to this document is the entire CZMA as amended by the CMEA, showing the additions and deletions. It has been nearly ten years since the last substantive revision of the CZMA. The 1999 reauthorization of the CZMA presents a unique opportunity to provide a vision and a framework for coastal and ocean resources management into the next century.

The CZMA defines and authorizes the Coastal Management Program (CMP) and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). The CZMA is the only national authority that works with all sectors of government to comprehensively manage and address the many and increasing pressures on the use of our coastal areas and our coastal and ocean environments. 

You may now take the following quiz to see how well you remember this information.

http://motted.hawaii.edu/~quizuser/quizzes/hanner/law_quiz.html