I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 293

To designate the waters of the California Central Coast as a national marine

sanctuary.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 5, 1993

Mr. PANETTA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries

A BILL

To designate the waters of the California Central Coast

as a national marine sanctuary.

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 ‘‘California Central

5 Coast National Marine Sanctuary Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) the marine environment of the waters of the

9 California Central Coast has special national cul-
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1 tural, educational, research, and economic signifi2 cance, because of its—

3 (A) significant oceanographic characteris4 tics, including a major permanent upwelling,

5 several transitional upwellings, and current

6 interaction located in the Californian transition

7 zone between the Oregonian and Californian cli8 matic provinces and its interrelationship with

9 the Nipomo Dune-Point Sal National Natural

10 Landmark,

11 (B) sensitive ecological and biological char12 acteristics, including the presence of more than

13 27 endangered or threatened species of marine

14 mammals, birds, and reptiles and a mixture of

15 fish, mammal, shellfish, bird, and plant species

16 not found elsewhere in the Pacific Basin,

17 (C) significant archeological values, includ18 ing hundreds of Chumash Indian sites, many

19 dating back 9,500 years; and

20 (D) significant estuarine and wetland

21 ecosystems, including Morro Bay;

22 (2) the health and productivity of the waters of

23 the California Central Coast are threatened by a va24 riety of pollutants and expanding industrial uses of

25 the waters;
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1 (3) the existing State and Federal regulatory

2 and management authorities applicable to the waters

3 of the California Central Coast are inadequate to

4 provide the kind of comprehensive and coordinated

5 conservation and management of the sensitive ma6 rine environment of those waters that is available

7 under the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanc8 tuaries Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.); and

9 (4) the designation and treatment of the waters

10 of the California Central Coast as a national marine

11 sanctuary is necessary for the preservation and pro12 tection of this important area of our Nation’s ma13 rine environment.

14 SEC. 3. POLICY AND PURPOSE.

15 (a) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States to

16 protect and preserve living and other resources of the Cali17 fornia Central Coast marine environment.

18 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to protect

19 the resources of the area described in section 4(b), to edu20 cate and interpret for the public regarding the California

21 Central Coast marine environment, and to manage such

22 human uses of the Sanctuary consistent with this Act.

23 Nothing in this Act is intended to restrict activities that

24 do not cause an adverse effect to the resources or property
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1 of the Sanctuary or that do not pose harm to users of

2 the Sanctuary.

3 SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF CALIFORNIA CENTRAL COAST NA4 TIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY.

5 (a) DESIGNATION.—The area described in subsection

6 (b) is designated as the California Central Coast National

7 Marine Sanctuary (hereinafter in this Act referred to as

8 the ‘‘Sanctuary’’), and shall be a national marine sanc9 tuary under title III of the Marine Protection, Research,

10 and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.).

11 The Sanctuary shall be managed and regulations enforced

12 under all applicable provisions of that title III as if the

13 Sanctuary had been designated under such title.

14 (b) AREA INCLUDED.—Subject to subsections (c) and

15 (d), the area referred to in subsection (a) consists of all

16 submerged lands and waters, including living marine and

17 other resources within and on those lands and waters, off

18 the coast of California seaward of the high tide line—

19 (1) from the southern boundary of the Monte20 rey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to the southern

21 boundary of Point Sal Beach State Park in Santa

22 Barbara County, California, and

23 (2) extending westward from Point Sal, Califor24 nia, to encompass the offshore Santa Lucia Bank;
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1 as such waters may be described more particularly by the

2 Secretary pursuant to subsection (d).

3 (c) AREAS WITHIN STATE OF CALIFORNIA.—The

4 designation under subsection (a) shall not take effect for

5 any area located within the waters of the State of Califor6 nia if, not later than 45 days after the date of the enact7 ment of this Act, the Governor of the State of California

8 objects in writing to the Secretary of Commerce.

9 (d) BOUNDARY MODIFICATIONS.—No later than the

10 issuance of the draft environmental impact statement for

11 the Sanctuary under section 304(a)(1)(C)(vii) of the Ma12 rine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972

13 (16 U.S.C. 1434(a)(1)(C)(vii)), in consultation with the

14 Governor of the State of California, if appropriate, the

15 Secretary of Commerce may make minor modifications to

16 the boundaries of the Sanctuary as necessary to fulfill the

17 purpose of this Act. The Secretary of Commerce shall sub18 mit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans19 portation of the Senate and the Committee on Merchant

20 Marine and Fisheries of the House of Representatives a

21 written notification of such modifications.

22 SEC. 5. COMPREHENSIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN.

23 (a) PREPARATION OF PLAN.—The Secretary of Com24 merce, in consultation with appropriate Federal, State,

25 and local government authorities, shall develop a com-
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1 prehensive management plan and implementing regula2 tions to achieve the policy and purpose of this Act by not

3 later than 24 months after the date of the enactment of

4 this Act. In developing the plan and regulations, the Sec5 retary of Commerce shall follow the procedures specified

6 in sections 303 and 304 of the Marine Protection, Re7 search, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1433 and

8 1434). Such comprehensive management plan shall—

9 (1) facilitate all public and private uses of the

10 Sanctuary consistent with the primary objective of

11 Sanctuary resource protection;

12 (2) consider temporal and geographical zoning,

13 to ensure protection of Sanctuary resources;

14 (3) identify needs for research and establish a

15 long-term ecological monitoring program;

16 (4) identify alternative sources of funding need17 ed to fully implement the plan’s provisions and sup18 plement appropriations under section 6 of this Act

19 and section 313 of the Marine Protection, Research,

20 and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1444);

21 (5) ensure coordination and cooperation be22 tween Sanctuary managers and other Federal, State,

23 and local authorities with jurisdiction within or adja24 cent to the Sanctuary; and
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1 (6) promote education, among users of the

2 Sanctuary and the general public, about conserva3 tion of the California Central Coast marine environ4 ment.

5 (b) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—The Secretary of Com6 merce shall provide for participation by the general public

7 in development of the comprehensive management plan.

8 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

9 For carrying out this Act there are authorized to be

10 appropriated to the Secretary $250,000 for each of the

11 fiscal years 1993 and 1994.

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