II 
Calendar No. 1098 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1187 
[Report No. 110–516] 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
APRIL 1 (legislative day, MARCH 13), 2008 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation 
OCTOBER 1 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 
Reported by Mr. INOUYE, with amendments 
[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 
AN ACT 
To expand the boundaries of the Gulf of the Farallones 
National Marine Sanctuary and the Cordell Bank Na-
tional Marine Sanctuary, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gulf of the Farallones 
and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries Boundary 
Modification and Protection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Gulf of the Farallones extends approxi-
mately 100 miles along the coast of Marin and 
Sonoma counties of northern California. It includes 
approximately 
one-half 
of 
California’s 
nesting 
seabirds, rich benthic marine life on hard-rock sub-
strate, prolific fisheries, and substantial concentra-
tions of resident and seasonally migratory marine 
mammals. 
(2) Cordell Bank is adjacent to the Gulf of the 
Farallones and is a submerged island with spectac-
ular, unique, and nationally significant marine envi-
ronments. 
(3) These marine environments have national 
and international significance, exceed the biological 
productivity of tropical rain forests, and support 
high levels of biological diversity. 
(4) These biological communities are easily sus-
ceptible to damage from human activities, and must 
be properly conserved for themselves and to protect 
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the economic viability of their contribution to na-
tional and regional economies. 
(5) The Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Bank 
include some of the Nation’s richest fishing grounds, 
supporting important commercial and recreational 
fisheries. These fisheries are regulated by State and 
Federal fishery agencies and are supported and fos-
tered through protection of the waters and habitats 
of Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary 
and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. 
(6) The report of the Commission on Ocean 
Policy established by Public Law 106–256 calls for 
comprehensive protection for the most productive 
ocean environments and recommends that they be 
managed as ecosystems. 
(7) New scientific discoveries by the National 
Marine Sanctuary Program support comprehensive 
protection for these marine environments by broad-
ening the geographic scope of the existing Gulf of 
the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the 
Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. 
(8) Cordell Bank is at the nexus of an ocean 
upwelling system, which produces the highest bio-
mass concentrations on the west coast of the United 
States. 
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SEC. 3. POLICY AND PURPOSE. 
(a) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States in 
this Act to protect and preserve living and other resources 
of the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank marine 
environments. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act are the fol-
lowing: 
(1) To extend the boundaries of the Gulf of the 
Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the 
Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary to the 
areas described in section 5. 
(2) To strengthen the protections that apply in 
the Sanctuaries. 
(3) To educate and interpret for the public the 
ecological value and national importance of those 
marine environments. 
(4) To manage human uses of the Sanctuaries 
under this Act and the National Marine Sanctuaries 
Act (16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.). 
(c) EFFECT ON FISHING ACTIVITIES.—Nothing in 
this Act is intended to alter any existing authorities re-
garding the conduct and location of fishing activities in 
the Sanctuaries. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
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