16 USC 6405 – Coral reef stewardship partnerships
(a) In general
To further community-based stewardship of coral reefs, coral reef stewardship partnerships for Federal and non-Federal coral reefs may be established in accordance with this section.
(b) Standards and procedures
Terms Used In 16 USC 6405
- county: includes a parish, or any other equivalent subdivision of a State or Territory of the United States. See 1 USC 2
- individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7
The Administrator shall develop and adopt—
(1) standards for identifying individual coral reefs and ecologically significant units of coral reefs; and
(2) processes for adjudicating multiple applicants for stewardship of the same coral reef or ecologically significant unit of a reef to ensure no geographic overlap in representation among stewardship partnerships authorized by this section.
(c) Membership for Federal coral reefs
A coral reef stewardship partnership that has identified, as the subject of its stewardship activities, a coral reef or ecologically significant unit of a coral reef that is fully or partially under the management jurisdiction of any Federal agency specified in section 6402(c) of this title shall, at a minimum, include the following:
(1) That Federal agency, a representative of which shall serve as chairperson of the coral reef stewardship partnership.
(2) A State or county‘s resource management agency to the extent that such partnership covers a reef within such States or county’s jurisdiction.
(3) A coral reef research center designated under section 6411(b) of this title.
(4) A nongovernmental organization.
(5) A covered Native entity culturally affiliated with the subject reef or ecologically significant unit, if any.
(6) Such other members as the partnership considers appropriate, such as interested stakeholder groups and covered Native entities.
(d) Membership for non-Federal coral reefs
(1) In general
A coral reef stewardship partnership that has identified, as the subject of its stewardship activities, a coral reef or ecologically significant component of a coral reef that is not under the management jurisdiction of any Federal agency specified in section 6402(c) of this title shall, at a minimum, include the following:
(A) A State or county’s resource management agency or a covered Native entity, a representative of which shall serve as the chairperson of the coral reef stewardship partnership.
(B) A coral reef research center designated under section 6411(b) of this title.
(C) A nongovernmental organization.
(D) Such other members as the partnership considers appropriate, such as interested stakeholder groups.
(2) Additional members
(A) In general
Subject to subparagraph (B), a coral reef stewardship partnership described in paragraph (1) may also include representatives of one or more Federal agencies.
(B) Requests; approval
A representative of a Federal agency described in subparagraph (A) may become a member of a coral reef stewardship partnership described in paragraph (1) if—
(i) the representative submits a request to become a member to the chairperson of the partnership referred to in paragraph (1)(A); and
(ii) the chairperson consents to the request.
(e) Nonapplicability of Federal Advisory Committee Act
The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) 1 shall not apply to coral reef stewardship partnerships under this section.