I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4788 

To reauthorize the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2006 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA (for himself, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. 

CASE, Ms. BORDALLO, and Mr. FORTUN ̃O) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Resources 

A BILL 

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 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF CORAL REEF CONSERVATION PRO7 GRAM. 

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

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

10 is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘GEOGRAPHIC AND BIOLOGI2 CAL’’ in the heading and inserting ‘‘PROJECT’’; and 

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

4 following: 

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

6 ‘‘(A) projects (with priority given to com7 munity-based local action strategies) that ad8 dress emerging priorities or threats, including 

9 international and territorial priorities, or 

10 threats identified by the Administrator in con11 sultation with the Coral Reef Task Force; and 

12 ‘‘(B) other appropriate projects, as deter13 mined by the Administrator, including moni14 toring and assessment, research, pollution re15 duction, education, and technical support.’’. 

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

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

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

19 paragraph (9); 

20 (2) by striking paragraph (10); and 

21 (3) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(10) promoting activities designed to minimize 

24 the likelihood of vessel impacts on coral reefs, par25 ticularly those activities described in section 210(b), 


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1 including the promotion of ecologically sound naviga2 tion and anchorages near coral reefs; or 

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

4 with local communities, and all appropriate govern5 mental and nongovernmental organizations, to sup6 port community-based planning and management 

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

8 SEC. 3. EMERGENCY RESPONSE. 

9 Section 206 of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

10 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6405) is amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 206. EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIONS. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may under13 take or authorize action necessary to prevent or minimize 

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

15 reef ecosystems from vessel impacts, derelict fishing gear, 

16 vessel anchors and anchor chains, or damage from unfore17 seen or disaster-related circumstances. 

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

19 subsection (a) includes vessel removal and emergency re20 stabilization of the vessel and any impacted coral reef. 

21 ‘‘(c) PARTNERING WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGEN22 CIES.—When possible, action by the Administrator under 

23 this section should— 

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

25 Federal agencies, including the United States Coast 


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1 Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agen2 cy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the De3 partment of the Interior; and 

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

5 SEC. 4. NATIONAL PROGRAM. 

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

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

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

9 paragraph (3); 

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

11 and inserting ‘‘partners; and’’; and 

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

13 ‘‘(5) activities designed to minimize the likeli14 hood of vessel impacts or other physical damage to 

15 coral reefs, including those activities identified in 

16 section 210(b).’’. 

17 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

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

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

20 to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 208. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

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

23 thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the Com24 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

25 Senate and the Committee on Resources of the House of 


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1 Representatives a report describing all activities under2 taken to implement the strategy, including— 

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

4 each participating Federal agency to advance coral 

5 reef conservation during each of the 3 fiscal years 

6 next preceding the fiscal year in which the report is 

7 submitted; 

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

9 cooperative efforts with States and United States 

10 territories to prevent or address overharvesting, 

11 coastal runoff, or other anthropogenic impacts on 

12 coral reefs, including projects undertaken with the 

13 Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, 

14 the Environmental Protection Agency, and the 

15 United States Army Corps of Engineers; 

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

17 the vessel grounding inventory established under sec18 tion 210, including additional authorization or fund19 ing, needed for response and removal of such vessels; 

20 ‘‘(4) a description of Federal disaster response 

21 actions taken pursuant to the National Response 

22 Plan to address damage to coral reefs and coral reef 

23 ecosystems; and 

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

25 States coral reefs, accomplishments under this Act, 


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1 and the effectiveness of management actions to ad2 dress threats to coral reefs.’’. 

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 by striking the item relating to 

6 section 208 and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 208. Report to Congress.’’. 

7 SEC. 6. FUND; GRANTS; GROUNDING INVENTORY; COORDI8 NATION. 

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

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

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

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

13 and inserting ‘‘organization— 

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

15 and private sectors that further the purposes of this 

16 Act and are consistent with the national coral reef 

17 strategy under section 203; and 

18 ‘‘(2) to address emergency response actions 

19 under section 206.’’; 

20 (2) by adding at the end of section 205(b) 16 

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

22 solicit funding and in-kind services from the private 

23 sector, including nongovernmental organizations, for 

24 emergency response actions under section 206 and 


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1 for activities to prevent damage to coral reefs, in2 cluding activities described in section 210(b)(2).’’; 

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

4 205(c) (16 U.S.C. 6404(c)) and inserting ‘‘any 

5 grant program or emergency response action’’; 

6 (4) by redesignating sections 209 and 210 as 

7 sections 212 and 213, respectively; and 

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

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

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

11 grants to entities who have received grants under section 

12 204(c) to provide additional funds to such entities to work 

13 with local communities and through appropriate Federal 

14 and State entities to prepare and implement plans for the 

15 increased protection of coral reef areas identified by the 

16 community and scientific experts as high priorities for fo17 cused attention. The plans shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) support attainment of 1 or more of the cri19 teria described in section 204(g); 

20 ‘‘(2) be developed at the community level; 

21 ‘‘(3) utilize watershed-based approaches; 

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

23 State experts and managers; and 


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1 ‘‘(5) build upon local approaches or models, in2 cluding traditional or island-based resource manage3 ment concepts. 

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

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

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

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

8 ‘75 percent’ shall be substituted for ‘50 percent’. 

9 ‘‘SEC. 210. VESSEL GROUNDING INVENTORY. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may main11 tain an inventory of all vessel grounding incidents involv12 ing coral reef resources, including a description of— 

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

14 ‘‘(2) vessel and ownership information, if avail15 able; 

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

17 or restoration; 

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

19 the Administrator, the Commandant of the Coast 

20 Guard, or other Federal or State agency representa21 tives; 

22 ‘‘(5) the status of the response action, including 

23 the dates of vessel removal and mitigation or res24 toration and any actions taken to prevent future 

25 grounding incidents; and 


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1 ‘‘(6) recommendations for additional naviga2 tional aids or other mechanisms for preventing fu3 ture grounding incidents. 

4 ‘‘(b) IDENTIFICATION OF AT-RISK REEFS.—The Ad5 ministrator may— 

6 ‘‘(1) use information from any inventory main7 tained under subsection (a) or any other available 

8 information source to identify coral reef areas out9 side designated National Marine Sanctuaries that 

10 have a high incidence of vessel impacts, including 

11 groundings and anchor damage; and 

12 ‘‘(2) identify appropriate measures, including 

13 action by other agencies, to reduce the likelihood of 

14 such impacts. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 211. REGIONAL COORDINATION. 

16 ‘‘The Administrator shall work in coordination and 

17 collaboration with other Federal agencies, States, and 

18 United States territorial governments to implement the 

19 strategies developed under section 203, including regional 

20 and local strategies, to address multiple threats to coral 

21 reefs and coral reef ecosystems such as coastal runoff, ves22 sel impacts, and overharvesting.’’. 

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

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

25 6401 et seq.) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec2 tions 208 through 211 as relating to sections 211 

3 through 214; and 

4 (2) by inserting the following after the item re5 lating to section 207: 

‘‘Sec. 209. Community-based planning grants. 

‘‘Sec. 210. Vessel grounding inventory. 

‘‘Sec. 211. Regional coordination.’’. 

6 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 Section 212 of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

8 2000 (formerly 16 U.S.C. 6408), as redesignated by sec9 tion 6, is amended— 

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

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

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

13 $32,000,000 for fiscal year 2007, $34,000,000 for 

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

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

16 percent per year (for each of fiscal years 2006 

17 through 2012) shall be used for the grant program 

18 under section 204 and up to 10 percent per year 

19 shall be used for the Fund established under section 

20 205,’’; 

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

22 and inserting ‘‘$2,000,000’’; 

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

24 following: 


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

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Adminis3 trator to carry out section 209 the sum of $8,000,000 for 

4 fiscal years 2007 through 2012, such sum to remain avail5 able until expended.’’; and 

6 (4) by striking subsection (d). 

Æ 


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