I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1205 

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

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2007 

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA (for himself, Ms. BORDALLO, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, and 

Mr. ABERCROMBIE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee 

on Science and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

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 2007’’. 


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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, 2009, 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 Natural Resources of the 

6 House of Representatives a report describing all activities 

7 undertaken 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 the Interior, the Department of Agri19 culture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and 

20 the 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 vessels; 

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

26 actions taken pursuant to the National Response 


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1 Plan to address damage to coral reefs and coral reef 

2 ecosystems; and 

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

4 States coral reefs, accomplishments under this Act, 

5 and the effectiveness of management actions to ad6 dress threats to coral reefs.’’. 

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

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

9 6401 et seq.) is amended by striking the item relating to 

10 section 208 and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 208. Report to Congress.’’. 

11 SEC. 6. FUND; GRANTS; GROUNDING INVENTORY; COORDI12 NATION. 

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

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

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

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

17 and inserting ‘‘organization— 

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

19 and private sectors that further the purposes of this 

20 Act and are consistent with the national coral reef 

21 strategy under section 203; and 

22 ‘‘(2) to address emergency response actions 

23 under section 206.’’; 

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

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


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1 solicit funding and in-kind services from the private 

2 sector, including nongovernmental organizations, for 

3 emergency response actions under section 206 and 

4 for activities to prevent damage to coral reefs, in5 cluding activities described in section 210(b)(2).’’; 

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

7 205(c) (16 U.S.C. 6404(c)) and inserting ‘‘any 

8 grant program or emergency response action’’; 

9 (4) by redesignating sections 209 and 210 as 

10 sections 213 and 214, respectively; and 

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

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

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

14 grants to entities who have received grants under section 

15 204(c) to provide additional funds to such entities to work 

16 with local communities and through appropriate Federal 

17 and State entities to prepare and implement plans for the 

18 increased protection of coral reef areas identified by the 

19 community and scientific experts as high priorities for fo20 cused attention. The plans shall— 

21 ‘‘(1) support attainment of 1 or more of the cri22 teria described in section 204(g); 

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

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


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

2 State experts and managers; and 

3 ‘‘(5) build upon local approaches or models, in4 cluding traditional or island-based resource manage5 ment concepts. 

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

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

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

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

10 ‘75 percent’ shall be substituted for ‘50 percent’. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 210. VESSEL GROUNDING INVENTORY. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may main13 tain an inventory of all vessel grounding incidents involv14 ing coral reef resources, including a description of— 

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

16 ‘‘(2) vessel and ownership information, if avail17 able; 

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

19 or restoration; 

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

21 the Administrator, the Commandant of the Coast 

22 Guard, or other Federal or State agency representa23 tives; 

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

25 the dates of vessel removal and mitigation or resVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:07 Mar 01, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1205.IH H1205

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1 toration and any actions taken to prevent future 

2 grounding incidents; and 

3 ‘‘(6) recommendations for additional naviga4 tional aids or other mechanisms for preventing fu5 ture grounding incidents. 

6 ‘‘(b) IDENTIFICATION OF AT-RISK REEFS.—The Ad7 ministrator may— 

8 ‘‘(1) use information from any inventory main9 tained under subsection (a) or any other available 

10 information source to identify coral reef areas out11 side designated National Marine Sanctuaries that 

12 have a high incidence of vessel impacts, including 

13 groundings and anchor damage; and 

14 ‘‘(2) identify appropriate measures, including 

15 action by other agencies, to reduce the likelihood of 

16 such impacts. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 211. REGIONAL COORDINATION. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall work in 

19 coordination and collaboration with other Federal agen20 cies, States, and United States territorial governments to 

21 implement the national coral reef action strategy devel22 oped under section 203, including regional and local strat23 egies, to address multiple threats to coral reefs and coral 

24 reef ecosystems such as coastal runoff, vessel impacts, and 

25 overharvesting. 


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1 ‘‘(b) MULTIYEAR COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—The 

2 Administrator may enter into multiyear cooperative agree3 ments with other Federal agencies, States and local gov4 ernments, academic institutions, and nongovernmental or5 ganizations to carry out the activities of the national coral 

6 reef action strategy. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 212. UNITED STATES CORAL REEF TASK FORCE. 

8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established 

9 the United States Coral Reef Task Force. 

10 ‘‘(b) GOAL.—The goal of the Task Force shall be to 

11 lead, coordinate, and strengthen Federal Government ac12 tions to better preserve and protect coral reef ecosystems. 

13 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The duties of the Task Force shall 

14 be— 

15 ‘‘(1) to coordinate, in cooperation with State, 

16 territory, commonwealth, and local government part17 ners, and nongovernmental partners if appropriate, 

18 activities regarding the mapping, monitoring, re19 search, conservation, mitigation, restoration of coral 

20 reefs and coral reef ecosystems; 

21 ‘‘(2) work with the Secretary of State and the 

22 Administrator of the Agency for International Devel23 opment, and in coordination with the other members 

24 of the Task Force, to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) assess the United States role in inter2 national trade and protection of coral reef spe3 cies; and 

4 ‘‘(B) implement appropriate strategies and 

5 actions to promote conservation and sustainable 

6 use of coral reef resources worldwide. 

7 ‘‘(d) MEMBERSHIP, GENERALLY.—The Task Force 

8 shall be comprised of— 

9 ‘‘(1) the Secretary of Commerce, acting through 

10 the Administrator of the National Oceanic and At11 mospheric Administration, and the Secretary of the 

12 Interior, who shall be co-chairs of the Task Force; 

13 ‘‘(2) the Administrator of the Agency of Inter14 national Development; 

15 ‘‘(3) the Secretary of Agriculture; 

16 ‘‘(4) the Secretary of Defense; 

17 ‘‘(5) the Secretary of the Army, acting through 

18 the Corps of Engineers; 

19 ‘‘(6) the Secretary of Homeland Security; 

20 ‘‘(7) the Attorney General; 

21 ‘‘(8) the Secretary of State; 

22 ‘‘(9) the Secretary of Transportation; 

23 ‘‘(10) the Administrator of the Environmental 

24 Protection Agency; 


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1 ‘‘(11) the Administrator of the National Aero2 nautics and Space Administration; 

3 ‘‘(12) the Director of the National Science 

4 Foundation; 

5 ‘‘(13) the Governor, or a representative of the 

6 Governor, of the Commonwealth of the Northern 

7 Mariana Islands; 

8 ‘‘(14) the Governor, or a representative of the 

9 Governor, of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; 

10 ‘‘(15) the Governor, or a representative of the 

11 Governor, of the State of Florida; 

12 ‘‘(16) the Governor, or a representative of the 

13 Governor, of the State of Hawaii; 

14 ‘‘(17) the Governor, or a representative of the 

15 Governor, of the Territory of Guam; 

16 ‘‘(18) the Governor, or a representative of the 

17 Governor, of the Territory of American Samoa; and 

18 ‘‘(19) the Governor, or a representative of the 

19 Governor, of the Virgin Islands. 

20 ‘‘(e) NONVOTING MEMBERS.—The President, or a 

21 representative of the President, of each of the Freely Asso22 ciated States of the Federated States of Micronesia, the 

23 Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of 

24 Palau may appoint a nonvoting member of the Task 

25 Force. 


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1 ‘‘(f) WORKING GROUPS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The co-chairs of the Task 

3 Force may establish working groups as necessary to 

4 meet the goals and duties of this Act. The Task 

5 Force may request the co-chairs to establish such a 

6 working group. 

7 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPATION BY NONGOVERNMENTAL

8 ORGANIZATIONS.—The co-chairs may allow a non9 governmental organization to participate in such a 

10 working group. 

11 ‘‘(g) FACA.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act 

12 (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Task Force.’’. 

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

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

15 6401 et seq.) is amended— 

16 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec17 tions 209 through 211 as relating to sections 213 

18 through 215; and 

19 (2) by inserting the following after the item re20 lating to section 207: 

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

‘‘Sec. 210. Vessel grounding inventory. 

‘‘Sec. 211. Regional coordination. 

‘‘Sec. 212. United States Coral Reef Task Force.’’. 


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1 SEC. 7. FUNDING FOR MARINE SCIENCE FACILITY, CORAL 

2 REEF RESEARCH, AND COASTAL ECOLOGY 

3 AND DEVELOPMENT. 

4 (a) AMERICAN SAMOA COMMUNITY COLLEGE.— 

5 There is authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000 to the 

6 Secretary of Commerce, acting through the National Oce7 anic and Atmospheric Administration, to provide funds to 

8 the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College program to 

9 administer a marine science facility for coral reef research 

10 and protection, and coastal ecology and development, at 

11 the American Samoa Community College. 

12 (b) UNIVERSITY OF GUAM.—There is authorized to 

13 be appropriated $1,000,000 to the Secretary of Com14 merce, acting through the National Oceanic and Atmos15 pheric Administration, to provide funds to the University 

16 of Guam for coral reef research and protection. 

17 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 Section 213 of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

19 2000 (formerly 16 U.S.C. 6408), as redesignated by sec20 tion 4, is amended— 

21 (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol22 lows: 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

24 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to 

25 be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce to 

26 carry out this title $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, 


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1 $32,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, $34,000,000 for 

2 fiscal year 2010 and $35,000,000 for fiscal years 

3 2011 and 2012. 

4 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—Of the amount authorized 

5 by this subsection for each of fiscal years 2008 

6 through 2012— 

7 ‘‘(A) no less than 30 percent shall be used 

8 for the grant program under section 204; 

9 ‘‘(B) up to 10 percent shall be used for the 

10 Fund established under section 205; 

11 ‘‘(C) $500,000 may be used by the Sec12 retary of the Interior to support operations of 

13 the United States Coral Reef Task Force; and 

14 ‘‘(D) $250,000 may be used by the Sec15 retary of Commerce to support such oper16 ations.’’; 

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

18 and inserting ‘‘$2,000,000’’; 

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

20 following: 

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

22 There is authorized to be appropriated— 

23 ‘‘(1) to the Administrator to carry out section 

24 209, $8,000,000 for fiscal years 2008 through 2012, 

25 to remain available until expended; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) to the Secretary of the Interior, acting 

2 through the Office of Insular Affairs, for the grant 

3 program under section 209, $4,000,000 for each of 

4 fiscal years 2008 through 2012.’’; and 

5 (4) by striking subsection (d). 

Æ 


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