(a) To the extent funds are available from bonds or other sources, the council, in consultation with the State Coastal Conservancy and other relevant entities, shall establish and administer the Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Reduction Program for the purpose of achieving the following goals:

(1) Developing demonstration projects to research how important environmental and ecological factors interact across space and time to influence how geographically dispersed eelgrass beds function for carbon dioxide removal and hypoxia reduction.

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(2) Generating an inventory of locations where conservation or restoration of aquatic habitats, including eelgrass, can be successfully applied to mitigate ocean acidification and hypoxia.

(3) Incorporating consideration of carbon dioxide removal for eelgrass restoration projects during the habitat restoration planning process in order to fully account for the benefits of long-term carbon storage of habitat restoration in addition to the habitat value.

(4) Supporting science, monitoring, and coordination to ensure that ocean and coastal policy and management in California reflect best readily available science on strategies to reduce ocean acidification and hypoxia to implement this section.

(b) In advancing approaches in the program to remove carbon dioxide from seawater, the council shall consider approaches that provide multiple cobenefits, including, but not limited to, providing essential fish and bird habitat, improving water quality, and mitigating the impacts of sea level rise.

(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 846, Sec. 1. (SB 1363) Effective January 1, 2017.)