I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1390 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 15, 2005 

Referred to the Committee on Resources 

AN ACT 

To reauthorize the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Coral Reef Conserva5 tion Amendments Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF CORAL REEF CONSERVATION PRO2 GRAM. 

3 (a) PROJECT DIVERSITY.—Section 204(d) of the 

4 Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6403(d)) 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘GEOGRAPHIC AND BIOLOGI7 CAL’’ in the heading and inserting ‘‘PROJECT’’; and 

8 (2) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(3) Remaining funds shall be awarded for— 

11 ‘‘(A) projects (with priority given to com12 munity-based local action strategies) that ad13 dress emerging priorities or threats, including 

14 international and territorial priorities, or 

15 threats identified by the Administrator in con16 sultation with the Coral Reef Task Force; and 

17 ‘‘(B) other appropriate projects, as deter18 mined by the Administrator, including moni19 toring and assessment, research, pollution re20 duction, education, and technical support.’’. 

21 (b) APPROVAL CRITERIA.—Section 204(g) of that 

22 Act (16 U.S.C. 6403(g)) is amended— 

23 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon in 

24 paragraph (9); 

25 (2) by striking paragraph (10); and 
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1 (3) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(10) promoting activities designed to minimize 

4 the likelihood of vessel impacts on coral reefs, par5 ticularly those activities described in section 210(b), 

6 including the promotion of ecologically sound naviga7 tion and anchorages near coral reefs; or 

8 ‘‘(11) promoting and assisting entities to work 

9 with local communities, and all appropriate govern10 mental and nongovernmental organizations, to sup11 port community-based planning and management 

12 initiatives for the protection of coral reef systems.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. EMERGENCY RESPONSE. 

14 Section 206 of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

15 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6405) is amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 206. EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIONS. 

17 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may under18 take or authorize action necessary to prevent or minimize 

19 the destruction or loss of, or injury to, coral reefs or coral 

20 reef ecosystems from vessel impacts, derelict fishing gear, 

21 vessel anchors and anchor chains, or damage from unfore22 seen or disaster-related circumstances. 

23 ‘‘(b) ACTIONS AUTHORIZED.—Action authorized by 

24 subsection (a) includes vessel removal and emergency re25 stabilization of the vessel and any impacted coral reef. 
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1 ‘‘(c) PARTNERING WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGEN2 CIES.—When possible, action by the Administrator under 

3 this section should— 

4 ‘‘(1) be conducted in partnership with other 

5 Federal agencies, including the United States Coast 

6 Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agen7 cy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the De8 partment of the Interior; and 

9 ‘‘(2) leverage resources of other agencies.’’. 

10 SEC. 4. NATIONAL PROGRAM. 

11 Section 207(b) of the Coral Reef Conservation Act 

12 of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6406) is amended— 

13 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in 

14 paragraph (3); 

15 (2) by striking ‘‘partners.’’ in paragraph (4) 

16 and inserting ‘‘partners; and’’; and 

17 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(5) activities designed to minimize the likeli19 hood of vessel impacts or other physical damage to 

20 coral reefs, including those activities identified in 

21 section 210(b).’’. 

22 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 208 of the Coral Reef 

24 Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6407) is amended 

25 to read as follows: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 208. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

2 ‘‘Not later than March 1, 2007, and every 3 years 

3 thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the Com4 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

5 Senate and the Committee on Resources of the House of 

6 Representatives a report describing all activities under7 taken to implement the strategy, including— 

8 ‘‘(1) a description of the funds obligated by 

9 each participating Federal agency to advance coral 

10 reef conservation during each of the 3 fiscal years 

11 next preceding the fiscal year in which the report is 

12 submitted; 

13 ‘‘(2) a description of Federal interagency and 

14 cooperative efforts with States and United States 

15 territories to prevent or address overharvesting, 

16 coastal runoff, or other anthropogenic impacts on 

17 coral reefs, including projects undertaken with the 

18 Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, 

19 the Environmental Protection Agency, and the 

20 United States Army Corps of Engineers; 

21 ‘‘(3) a summary of the information contained in 

22 the vessel grounding inventory established under sec23 tion 210, including additional authorization or fund24 ing, needed for response and removal of such ves25 sels;’’ 
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1 ‘‘(4) a description of Federal disaster response 

2 actions taken pursuant to the National Response 

3 Plan to address damage to coral reefs and coral reef 

4 ecosystems; and 

5 ‘‘(5) an assessment of the condition of United 

6 States coral reefs, accomplishments under this Act, 

7 and the effectiveness of management actions to ad8 dress threats to coral reefs.’’. 

9 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

10 for the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 

11 6401 et seq.) is amended by striking the item relating to 

12 section 208 and inserting the following: 

‘‘208. Report to Congress.’’. 

13 SEC. 6. FUND; GRANTS; GROUNDING INVENTORY; COORDI14 NATION. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Coral Reef Conservation Act 

16 of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) is amended— 

17 (1) by striking ‘‘organization solely’’ and all 

18 that follows in section 205(a) (16 U.S.C. 6404(a)) 

19 and inserting ‘‘organization— 

20 ‘‘(1) to support partnerships between the public 

21 and private sectors that further the purposes of this 

22 Act and are consistent with the national coral reef 

23 strategy under section 203; and 

24 ‘‘(2) to address emergency response actions 

25 under section 206.’’; 
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1 (2) by adding at the end of section 205(b) 16 

2 U.S.C. 6404(b)) ‘‘The organization is encouraged to 

3 solicit funding and in-kind services from the private 

4 sector, including nongovernmental organizations, for 

5 emergency response actions under section 206 and 

6 for activities to prevent damage to coral reefs, in7 cluding activities described in section 210(b)(2).’’; 

8 (3) by striking ‘‘the grant program’’ in section 

9 205(c) (16 U.S.C. 6404(c)) and inserting ‘‘any 

10 grant program or emergency response action’’; 

11 (4) by redesignating sections 209 and 210 as 

12 sections 212 and 213, respectively; and 

13 (5) by inserting after section 208 the following: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 209. COMMUNITY-BASED PLANNING GRANTS. 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may make 

16 grants to entities who have received grants under section 

17 204(c) to provide additional funds to such entities to work 

18 with local communities and through appropriate Federal 

19 and State entities to prepare and implement plans for the 

20 increased protection of coral reef areas identified by the 

21 community and scientific experts as high priorities for fo22 cused attention. The plans shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) support attainment of 1 or more of the cri24 teria described in section 204(g); 

25 ‘‘(2) be developed at the community level; 
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1 ‘‘(3) utilize watershed-based approaches; 

2 ‘‘(4) provide for coordination with Federal and 

3 State experts and managers; and 

4 ‘‘(5) build upon local approaches or models, in5 cluding traditional or island-based resource manage6 ment concepts. 

7 ‘‘(b) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The provisions of 

8 subsections (b), (d), (f), and (h) of section 204 apply to 

9 grants under subsection (a), except that, for the purpose 

10 of applying section 204(b)(1) to grants under this section, 

11 ‘75 percent’ shall be substituted for ‘50 percent’. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 210. VESSEL GROUNDING INVENTORY. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may main14 tain an inventory of all vessel grounding incidents involv15 ing coral reef resources, including a description of— 

16 ‘‘(1) the impacts to such resources; 

17 ‘‘(2) vessel and ownership information, if avail18 able; 

19 ‘‘(3) the estimated cost of removal, mitigation, 

20 or restoration; 

21 ‘‘(4) the response action taken by the owner, 

22 the Administrator, the Commandant of the Coast 

23 Guard, or other Federal or State agency representa24 tives; 
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1 ‘‘(5) the status of the response action, including 

2 the dates of vessel removal and mitigation or res3 toration and any actions taken to prevent future 

4 grounding incidents; and 

5 ‘‘(6) recommendations for additional naviga6 tional aids or other mechanisms for preventing fu7 ture grounding incidents. 

8 ‘‘(b) IDENTIFICATION OF AT-RISK REEFS.—The Ad9 ministrator may— 

10 ‘‘(1) use information from any inventory main11 tained under subsection (a) or any other available 

12 information source to identify coral reef areas out13 side designated National Marine Sanctuaries that 

14 have a high incidence of vessel impacts, including 

15 groundings and anchor damage; and 

16 ‘‘(2) identify appropriate measures, including 

17 action by other agencies, to reduce the likelihood of 

18 such impacts. 

19 ‘‘SEC. 211. REGIONAL COORDINATION. 

20 ‘‘The Administrator shall work in coordination and 

21 collaboration with other Federal agencies, States, and 

22 United States territorial governments to implement the 

23 strategies developed under section 203, including regional 

24 and local strategies, to address multiple threats to coral 
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1 reefs and coral reef ecosystems such as coastal runoff, ves2 sel impacts, and overharvesting.’’. 

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

4 for the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 

5 6401 et seq.) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec7 tions 208 through 211 as relating to sections 211 

8 through 214; and 

9 (2) by inserting the following after the item re10 lating to section 207: 

‘‘209. Community-based planning grants. 

‘‘210. Vessel grounding inventory. 

‘‘211. Regional coordination.’’. 

11 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

12 Section 212 of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

13 2000 (formerly 16 U.S.C. 6408), as redesignated by sec14 tion 6, is amended— 

15 (1) by striking ‘‘$16,000,000 for each of fiscal 

16 years 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004,’’ in subsection 

17 (a) and inserting ‘‘$30,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, 

18 $32,000,000 for fiscal year 2007, $34,000,000 for 

19 fiscal year 2008, and $35,000,000 for each of fiscal 

20 years 2009 through 2012, of which no less than 30 

21 percent per year (for each of fiscal years 2006 

22 through 2012) shall be used for the grant program 

23 under section 204 and up to 10 percent per year 
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1 shall be used for the Fund established under section 

2 205,’’; 

3 (2) by striking ‘‘$1,000,000’’ in subsection (b) 

4 and inserting ‘‘$2,000,000’’; and 

5 (3) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(c) COMMUNITY-BASED PLANNING GRANTS.— 

8 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Adminis9 trator to carry out section 209 the sum of $8,000,000 for 

10 fiscal years 2007 through 2012, such sum to remain avail11 able until expended.’’; and 

12 (4) by striking subsection (d). 

Passed the Senate December 15, 2005. 

Attest: EMILY J. REYNOLDS, 

Secretary.