U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy - Joint Ocean Commission Initiative

NOAA, Damage Assessment and Restoration ProgramAccidental vessel groundings can cause devastating damage to fragile coral reefs. Restoration efforts,such as the project illustrated here, can help promote recovery. Boulders are placed on the damaged reefto create a substrate for transplanted corals and future natural growth.• The Coastal Zone Management Act, which provides for management of shorelineareas that may include coral reefs.• The Clean Water Act, which regulates the discharge of dredged or fill materials intoU.S. waters.• The Sikes Act, which requires the U.S. Department of Defense to provide for conservationand rehabilitation of natural resources on military installations, which in somelocations include corals.• The Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and Lacey Act, all ofwhich contain some provisions that can be applied to the protection of corals.Responsibility for implementing these and other laws with implications for coral reefmanagement is shared by a number of federal agencies. For example, the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA)and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have regulatoryand management responsibilities related to pollution from land-based sources. NOAA hasthe authority to regulate fishing in coral reef ecosystems. And, action on global climatechange is under the purview of many agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Energyand State.Interagency and Intergovernmental Coral Reef Management InitiativesThe U.S. Coral Reef Task ForceThe U.S. Coral Reef Task Force was created by executive order in 1998 with the purposeof improving coordination among the many agencies that manage various aspects of thenation’s coral reef resources. Task Force responsibilities include developing strategies tomap and monitor U.S. coral reefs, studying the causes of, and recommending solutionsfor, coral reef degradation, and promoting conservation and sustainable use of coral reefsat the international level. Several broad action plans have been developed by the TaskForce, although not all have been implemented.The Task Force, which is co-chaired by the U.S. Departments of the Interior andCommerce, works primarily through consensus building among its member federal agenciesand state and territorial government representatives. Two notable absences from the324 A N O CEAN B LUEPRINT FOR THE 21ST C ENTURY