I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1771 
To reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Office of the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 26, 2009 
Mr. SARBANES (for himself, Mr. WITTMAN, and Mr. KRATOVIL) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Office of the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chesapeake Bay 
Science, Education, and Ecosystem Enhancement Act of 
2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF NOAA CHESAPEAKE BAY OF-
FICE. 
Section 307 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration Authorization Act of 1992 (15 U.S.C. 
1511d) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘(in this 
section’’ and all that follows and inserting a pe-
riod; 
(B) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(2) The Office shall be headed by a Director, 
who— 
‘‘(A) shall have knowledge and experience 
in research or resource management efforts in 
the Chesapeake Bay; and 
‘‘(B) shall be responsible for the adminis-
tration and operation of the office and the im-
plementation of this Act.’’; and 
(C) by striking paragraph (3); 
(2) in subsection (b)— 
(A) by striking so much as precedes para-
graph (1) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 
focus the relevant science, research, and resource manage-
ment capabilities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
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Administration as they apply to the Chesapeake Bay and 
to utilize the Office to—’’; 
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘Sec-
retary of Commerce’’ and inserting ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’; 
(C) in paragraph (3)— 
(i) by striking the matter preceding 
subparagraph (A) and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) coordinate the programs and activities of 
the various organizations within the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration in furtherance 
of such administration’s coastal resource steward-
ship mission, including—’’; 
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at the end of 
clause (vi), and by inserting after clause 
(vii) the following: 
‘‘(viii) coastal hazards and climate 
change; and’’; and 
(iii) subparagraph (B), by striking 
‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at the end of 
clause (iii), by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the 
semicolon at the end of clause (iv), and by 
adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(v) 
integrated 
ecosystem 
assess-
ments;’’; 
(D) in paragraph (4)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘Environmental Pro-
tection Agency’’ and inserting ‘‘Chesapeake 
Executive Council’’; and 
(ii) by inserting before the semicolon 
at the end the following: ‘‘as appropriate to 
further purposes of this section’’; 
(E) by striking paragraphs (5) and (7); 
(F) by redesignating paragraph (6) as 
paragraph (5), and by adding ‘‘and’’ after the 
semicolon at the end of such paragraph; and 
(G) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(6) perform any functions necessary to sup-
port the programs referred to in paragraph (3)’’; 
and 
(3) by striking subsection (c) and all that fol-
lows through the end of the section and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(c) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall imple-
ment the program activities authorized by this sub-
section to support the activity of the Chesapeake Ex-
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ecutive Council and to further the purposes of this 
section. 
‘‘(2) ENSURING
SCIENTIFIC
AND
TECHNICAL 
MERIT.—The Director shall— 
‘‘(A) establish and utilize an effective and 
transparent mechanism to ensure that projects 
funded under this section have undergone ap-
propriate peer review; and 
‘‘(B) provide other appropriate means to 
determine that such projects have acceptable 
scientific and technical merit for the purpose of 
achieving maximum utilization of available 
funds and resources to benefit the Chesapeake 
Bay area. 
‘‘(3) CONSULTATION WITH CHESAPEAKE EXEC-
UTIVE COUNCIL.—The Director shall, in the imple-
mentation of the program activities authorized under 
this section, consult with the Chesapeake Executive 
Council, to ensure that the activities of the Office 
are consistent with the purposes and priorities of the 
Chesapeake Bay Agreement and plans developed 
pursuant to the Agreement. 
‘‘(4) INTEGRATED COASTAL OBSERVATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall col-
laborate with scientific and academic institu-
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tions, State and Federal agencies, non-govern-
mental organizations, and other constituents in 
the Chesapeake Bay watershed, to support the 
development of an integrated observations sys-
tem for the Chesapeake Bay. 
‘‘(B) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.—To sup-
port the system referred to in subparagraph (A) 
and provide a complete set of environmental in-
formation for the Chesapeake Bay, the Director 
shall— 
‘‘(i) coordinate existing monitoring 
and observing activities in the Chesapeake 
Bay; 
‘‘(ii) identify new data collection needs 
and deploy new technologies, as appro-
priate; 
‘‘(iii) collect and analyze the scientific 
information necessary for the management 
of living marine resources and the marine 
habitat associated with such resources; 
‘‘(iv) manage and interpret the infor-
mation described in clause (iii); and 
‘‘(v) organize the information de-
scribed in clause (iii) into products that 
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are useful to policy makers, resource man-
agers, scientists, and the public. 
‘‘(C) CHESAPEAKE
BAY
INTERPRETIVE 
BUOY
SYSTEM.—To further the development 
and implementation of the Chesapeake Bay In-
terpretive Buoy System, the Director shall— 
‘‘(i) support the establishment and 
implementation of the Captain John Smith 
Chesapeake National Historic Trail; 
‘‘(ii) delineate key waypoints along the 
trail and provide appropriate real-time 
data and information for trail users; 
‘‘(iii) interpret data and information 
for use by educators and students to in-
spire stewardship of Chesapeake Bay; and 
‘‘(iv) incorporate the Chesapeake Bay 
Interpretive Buoy System into the Inte-
grated Ocean Observing System regional 
network of observatories. 
‘‘(5) CHESAPEAKE
BAY
WATERSHED
EDU-
CATION AND TRAINING PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall es-
tablish a Chesapeake Bay watershed education 
and training program. The program shall— 
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‘‘(i) continue and expand the Chesa-
peake Bay watershed education programs 
offered by the Office immediately before 
the enactment of the Chesapeake Bay 
Science, Education, and Ecosystem En-
hancement Act of 2009; 
‘‘(ii) improve the understanding of el-
ementary and secondary school students 
and teachers of the living resources of the 
ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay; 
‘‘(iii) provide community education to 
improve watershed protection; and 
‘‘(iv) meet the educational goals of the 
Chesapeake 2000 Agreement. 
‘‘(B) GRANT
PROGRAM.—The Director 
may award grants for the purposes of this para-
graph. Grants awarded under this subpara-
graph may be used to support education and 
training projects that enhance understanding 
and assessment of a specific environmental 
problem in the Chesapeake Bay watershed or a 
goal of the Chesapeake Bay Program, or pro-
tect or restore living resources of the Chesa-
peake Bay watershed, including projects that— 
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‘‘(i) provide classroom education, in-
cluding the development and use of dis-
tance learning and other innovative tech-
nologies, related to the Chesapeake Bay 
watershed; 
‘‘(ii) provide watershed educational 
experiences in the Chesapeake Bay water-
shed; 
‘‘(iii) provide professional development 
for teachers related to the Chesapeake Bay 
watershed and the dissemination of perti-
nent education materials oriented to vary-
ing grade levels; 
‘‘(iv) demonstrate or disseminate envi-
ronmental educational tools and materials 
related to the Chesapeake Bay watershed; 
‘‘(v) demonstrate field methods, prac-
tices, and techniques including assessment 
of environmental and ecological conditions 
and analysis of environmental problems; 
‘‘(vi) build the capacity of organiza-
tions to deliver high quality environmental 
education programs; and 
‘‘(vii) educate local land use officials 
and decision makers on the relationship of 
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land use to natural resource and watershed 
protection. 
‘‘(C) COLLABORATION.—The Director shall 
implement the education and training program 
in collaboration with the heads of other relevant 
Federal agencies. 
‘‘(6) COASTAL AND LIVING RESOURCES MAN-
AGEMENT AND HABITAT PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall es-
tablish a Chesapeake Bay coastal living re-
sources management and habitat program to 
support coordinated management, protection, 
characterization, and restoration of priority 
Chesapeake Bay habitats and living resources, 
including oysters, blue crabs, and submerged 
aquatic vegetation. 
‘‘(B) ACTIVITIES.—Under the program, 
the Director may, subject to the availability of 
appropriations, carry out or enter into grants, 
contracts, and cooperative agreements and pro-
vide technical assistance to support— 
‘‘(i) native oyster restoration; 
‘‘(ii) fish and shellfish aquaculture; 
‘‘(iii) establishment of submerged 
aquatic vegetation propagation programs; 
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‘‘(iv) the development of programs 
that protect and restore critical coastal 
habitats; 
‘‘(v) habitat mapping, characteriza-
tion, and assessment techniques necessary 
to identify, assess, and monitor restoration 
actions; 
‘‘(vi) application and transfer of ap-
plied scientific research and ecosystem 
management tools to fisheries and habitat 
managers; 
‘‘(vii) collection, synthesis, and shar-
ing of information to inform and influence 
coastal and living resource management 
issues; and 
‘‘(viii) other activities that the Direc-
tor determines are appropriate to carry out 
the purposes of such program. 
‘‘(d) REPORTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall submit 
a biennial report to the Congress and the Secretary 
of Commerce on the activities of the Office and on 
progress made in protecting and restoring the living 
resources and habitat of the Chesapeake Bay. 
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