I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 958

To authorize certain hydrographic services programs, to name a cove in 

Alaska in honor of the late Able Bodied Seaman Eric Steiner Koss, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2003

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Resources 

A BILL

To authorize certain hydrographic services programs, to 

name a cove in Alaska in honor of the late Able Bodied 

Seaman Eric Steiner Koss, 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 ‘‘Hydrographic Services 

5 Amendments of 2003’’.
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1 TITLE I—NOAA HYDROGRAPHIC 

2 SERVICES IMPROVEMENT 

3 SEC. 101. REFERENCES. 

4 Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 

5 this title an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 

6 of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi7 sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a 

8 section or other provision of the Hydrographic Services 

9 Improvement Act of 1998 (33 U.S.C. 892 et seq.). 

10 SEC. 102. FUNCTIONS OF ADMINISTRATOR. 

11 (a) REGIONAL NAVIGATION RESPONSE TEAMS.—

12 Section 303(a) (33 U.S.C. 892a(a)) is amended by strik13 ing paragraphs (7) and (8) and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(7) establish, equip, and maintain up to 10 

15 Regional Navigation Response teams in priority 

16 coastal areas identified by the Secretary, in con17 sultation with the Commandant of the Coast Guard, 

18 to conduct activities related to navigational safety 

19 and the validation of hydrographic data; 

20 ‘‘(8) to the greatest extent practicable and cost21 effective, fulfill the requirements of paragraphs (1) 

22 and (7) through contracts or other agreements with 

23 private sector entities; and 

24 ‘‘(9) participate in the development of, and im25 plement for the United States in cooperation with 
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1 other appropriate Federal agencies, international 

2 standards for hydrographic data and hydrographic 

3 services.’’.

4 (b) AUTHORITY TO ACCEPT VOLUNTEER SERV5 ICES.—Section 303 (33 U.S.C. 892a) is amended by add6 ing at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(d) AUTHORITY TO ACCEPT VOLUNTEER SERV8 ICES.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To help fulfill the duties of 

10 the Administrator, including authorities under the 

11 Act of 1947 (33 U.S.C. 883a et seq.), this Act, or 

12 in response to a maritime emergency, the Adminis13 trator may—

14 ‘‘(A) establish a volunteer program; and 

15 ‘‘(B) enter into special agreements with 

16 qualified organizations to assist in the imple17 mentation of a volunteer program.

18 ‘‘(2) LEGAL STATUS OF VOLUNTEERS.—

19 ‘‘(A) Paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 

20 7(c) of the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (16 

21 U.S.C. 742f(c)) shall apply to volunteers who 

22 provide services to the Administrator under a 

23 volunteer program established under paragraph 

24 (1). 
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1 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), 

2 any reference in section 7(c) of the Fish and 

3 Wildlife Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. 742f(c)) to the 

4 Secretary of Interior or the Secretary of Com5 merce is deemed to refer to the Administrator. 

6 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED ORGANIZATION.—In this sub7 section, the term ‘qualified organization’ means a 

8 nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization, deter9 mined by the Administrator to have demonstrated 

10 expertise in boating safety and a commitment to im11 proving the quality of hydrographic services and re12 lated oceanographic and meteorological information 

13 that is made available to mariners. 

14 ‘‘(e) PARTICIPATION IN JOINT INSTITUTE.—The Sec15 retary may participate in a joint institute that develops 

16 new hydrographic technology and conducts academic, edu17 cational, and outreach activities that assist the Adminis18 trator in fulfilling the functions of the Administrator 

19 under this section.’’.

20 SEC. 103. QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM. 

21 (a) ACCEPTANCE AND RECOGNITION OF CERTIFI22 CATIONS.—Section 304(b) (33 U.S.C. 892b(b)) is amend23 ed by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(3) ACCEPTANCE AND RECOGNITION OF CER25 TIFICATIONS.—The Administrator shall, to the max-
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1 imum extent practicable, assure that any inter2 national organizations and agreements to which the 

3 United States is a party that affect hydrographic 

4 products and nautical charts accept or recognize, re5 spectively, hydrographic products certified by the 

6 Administrator under this subsection.’’. 

7 (b) IMPLEMENTATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDER AND

8 OMB CIRCULAR.—Section 304 (33 U.S.C. 892b) is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(f) ANNUAL STUDY AND REPORT REGARDING IM11 PLEMENTATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDER AND OMB CIR12 CULAR.—

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 

14 annually conduct a study of, and report to the panel 

15 established under section 305 regarding, steps taken 

16 to comply with section 3(d) of Executive Order 

17 12906 and Office of Management and Budget Cir18 cular A–16 with respect to the collection and pro19 duction of new hydrographic data and products by 

20 the Administration. 

21 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the 

22 study and report, the Administrator shall consult 

23 with the Federal Geographic Data Committee.’’.
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1 SEC. 104. PLAN REGARDING PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND RE2 MOTE SENSING. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

5 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall 

6 submit to the Congress a plan for increasing, consistent 

7 with this title, contracting with the private sector for pho8 togrammetric, remote sensing, and other geospatial ref9 erence services related to hydrographic data acquisition or 

10 hydrographic services activities performed by the National 

11 Ocean Service. In preparing the plan, the Administrator 

12 shall consult with private sector entities knowledgeable in 

13 photogrammetry and remote sensing. 

14 (b) CONTENTS.—The plan shall include the following: 

15 (1) An assessment of which of the photo16 grammetric, remote sensing, and other geospatial 

17 reference services related to hydrographic data ac18 quisition or hydrographic services activities per19 formed by the National Ocean Service can be per20 formed adequately by private-sector entities. 

21 (2) An evaluation of the relative cost-effective22 ness of the Federal Government and private-sector 

23 entities in performing those activities. 

24 (3) A strategy for enhancing and improving the 

25 acquisition and contract management capabilities of 

26 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
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1 tion to assist in the utilization of private sector enti2 ties for photogrammetric, remote sensing, and other 

3 geospatial reference services related to hydrographic 

4 data acquisition or hydrographic services activities 

5 performed by the National Ocean Service, includ6 ing—

7 (A) the transfer and retraining of per8 sonnel to become contracting officer technical 

9 representatives; 

10 (B) education in the use of contracting 

11 procedures in accordance with section 303(b)(3) 

12 of the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act 

13 of 1998, as amended by this Act; and 

14 (C) the utilization of training, education, 

15 and acquisition and contract management capa16 bilities of other Federal agencies that are expert 

17 and experienced in contracting for such serv18 ices. 

19 SEC. 105. ACQUISITION OF HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEY VES20 SEL. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce may, 

22 in accordance with this section, acquire, by purchase, 

23 lease, lease-purchase, or charter, and equip one hydro24 graphic survey vessel. 
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1 (b) VESSEL REQUIREMENTS.—Any vessel acquired 

2 and equipped under this section must be capable of—

3 (1) staying at sea continuously for at least 30 

4 days; 

5 (2) carrying at least 4 hydrographic survey 

6 launches; 

7 (3) conducting hydrographic surveys; and 

8 (4) conducting other work necessary to provide 

9 mariners with the accurate and timely data needed 

10 to conduct safe and efficient maritime commerce. 

11 (c) PLAN.—No later than 6 months after the enact12 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit 

13 to the Committee on Resources of the House of Represent14 atives and the Committee on Commerce, Science and 

15 Transportation of the Senate a detailed plan for imple16 menting this section, including—

17 (1) a timetable and cost estimates for the ac18 quisition and equipping of the vessel under sub19 section (a); 

20 (2) an explanation of what vessel or vessels 

21 would be retired when the vessel described in sub22 section (a) becomes operational; and 

23 (3) a comparison of the 10-year estimated costs 

24 of operation and maintenance of a new vessel versus 

25 the 2 vessels proposed for retirement. 
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1 (d) AUTHORIZATION.—To prepare the plan required 

2 under subsection (b), there is authorized to be appro3 priated to the Secretary of Commerce $1,000,000 for fis4 cal year 2004. 

5 SEC. 106. KOSS COVE. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi7 sion of law or existing policy, the cove described in sub8 section (b) shall be known and designated as ‘‘Koss Cove’’, 

9 in honor of the late Able Bodied Seaman Eric Steiner 

10 Koss of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis11 tration vessel RAINER who died in the performance of 

12 a nautical charting mission off the Alaskan coast. 

13 (b) COVE DESCRIBED.—The cove referred to in sub14 section (a) is—

15 (1) adjacent to and southeast of Point 

16 Elrington, Alaska, and forms a portion of the south17 ern coast of Elrington Island; 

(2) 3 18 ⁄4 mile across the mouth; 

19 (3) centered at 59 degrees 56.1 minutes North, 

20 148 degrees 14 minutes West; and 

21 (4) 45 miles of Seaward, Alaska. 

22 (c) REFERENCES.—Any reference in any law, regula23 tion, document, record, map, or other paper of the United 

24 States to the cove described in subsection (b) is deemed 

25 to be a reference to Koss Cove. 
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1 SEC. 107. DEPICTION OF SAME SHORELINES ON CHARTS 

2 AND MAPPING PRODUCTS. 

3 Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 

4 of the Act, the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary 

5 of the Interior, in consultation with the Federal Emer6 gency Management Agency, shall provide to the Com7 mittee on Resources of the House of Representatives and 

8 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

9 of the Senate a plan to depict the same shorelines on Na10 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration nautical 

11 charts and United States Geological Survey mapping 

12 products. 

13 TITLE II—FISHERY SURVEY 

14 VESSELS 

15 SEC. 201. FISHERY SURVEY VESSELS. 

16 Section 302(c) of the Fisheries Survey Vessel Author17 ization Act of 2000 (33 U.S.C. 891b note) is amended 

18 by striking ‘‘2002 and 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘2004, 2005, 

19 and 2006’’.

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