Bill Text: CA SJR5 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Passed) 2009-09-11 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 96, Statutes of 2009. [SJR5 Detail]

Download: California-2009-SJR5-Introduced.html

---

BILL NUMBER: SJR 5	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senators Wiggins and Pavley
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Chesbro, Evans, Huffman, Nava, and
Skinner)

                        MARCH 25, 2009

   Relative to the federal Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank
National Marine Sanctuaries Boundary Modification and Protection Act.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 5, as introduced, Wiggins. Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell
Bank National Marine Sanctuaries Boundary Modification and Protection
Act.
   This measure would call upon the Congress of the United States to
quickly pass the federal Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank
National Marine Sanctuaries Boundary Modification and Protection Act
and the President of the United States to expeditiously sign it into
law.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, Inclusion in the National Marine Sanctuary System offers
comprehensive and permanent protection to important marine resources,
large scale ecosystem management, and vital oceanic research
investments, while allowing for recreational, shipping, and fishing
activities; and
   WHEREAS, Sonoma and Marin Counties' coastal waters just south of
Bodega Head are within the boundaries of the Gulf of the Farallones
and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries and enjoy the
protections and benefits of the National Marine Sanctuary System; and

   WHEREAS, The Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National
Marine Sanctuaries Boundary Modification and Protection Act (H.R. 223
and S. 212), authored by Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey and sponsored by
Senator Barbara Boxer, would adjust the boundaries of those two
marine sanctuaries north and westward to add deeper and biologically
important waters, and would extend the boundaries of the Gulf of the
Farallones National Marine Sanctuary just past Point Arena, thus
including the entire Sonoma Coast and the southern Mendocino Coast;
and
   WHEREAS, The area encompossed by the Sonoma Coast and southern
Mendocino Coast is one of the most biologically rich regions in the
world. These waters are within one of the four coastal upwelling
zones on the planet, comprising only 1 percent of the ocean, but
producing 20 percent of the world's fish. Additionally, the coastal
estuaries of that area are important passages for endangered salmon
and steelhead, essential haul sites places for seals and sea lions,
migration corridors for the California Gray Whale and other whale
species, and prolific nurseries for hundreds of aquatic species; and
   WHEREAS, These important marine resources, among the richest on
the planet, must be protected from oil spills and other forms of
pollution; and
   WHEREAS, By expanding the boundaries of the Gulf of the Farallones
and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries, the Gulf of the
Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries Boundary
Modification and Protection Act (H.R. 223 and S. 212) will protect
the University of California, Davis, Bodega Marine Laboratory's
investment in marine research, regional jobs that are dependent on
commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, recreational uses, and
indefinable aesthetic benefits; and
   WHEREAS, A congressional and executive moratorium on offshore oil
exploration and exploitation was removed in 2008, leaving these
waters of special biological significance unprotected; now,
therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature joins with the Counties of
Marin, Mendocino, and Sonoma, the California Coastal Commission, and
the State Lands Commission to call upon the Congress of the United
States to quickly pass the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank
National Marine Sanctuaries Boundary Modification and Protection Act
(H.R. 223 and S. 212) and the President of the United States to
expeditiously sign that act into law; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the President pro
Tempore of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from
California in the Congress of the United States, and to the Chairs of
the House Committee on National Resources and the Senate Committee
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.