Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Coral reefs are an important natural resource that provide ecosystem goods and services, including high levels of biodiversity, the provision of seafood and medicinal compounds, coastal surge protection and shoreline stabilization, recreational opportunities, and the retention of cultural and traditional lifestyles and practices, all of which are of enormous economic and environmental benefits to the United States. Coral reef conservation and restoration are in the national interest of the United States and its citizens.
Scientific research suggests that the health and functioning of coral reef ecosystems may be reduced by direct human impacts, deteriorating water quality, changing ocean conditions including warming seas and ocean acidification, invasive species, coral bleaching, and coral diseases. Due to the complex nature of coral reef ecosystems, more research is needed to understand their structure and function, and their response to natural and human disturbance. Basic and applied research conducted by academic and nonprofit research institutions, Federal agencies, and State, local, and territorial agencies is indispensable to understanding, conserving, and restoring coral reefs and coral reef ecosystems.
Coral reef restoration is essential for the effective conservation and recovery of coral reef ecosystems, and innovative tools, technologies, and strategies to aid these efforts are desperately needed. Artificial reefs are not an adequate replacement for lost or degraded coral reefs but may provide benefits to coral reef ecosystems and local communities in certain contexts. Extensive public involvement and consensus-based cooperation and consultation between Federal agencies, State, local, and territorial agencies, academic and nonprofit research institutions, coral reef-dependent businesses, and coral reef-focused nongovernmental organizations, are essential to furthering the conservation and restoration of coral reef and coral reef ecosystems and ensure balanced economic and environmental benefits for the American people.
The development and implementation of Marine Reserve fishing closures for the purpose of coral reef conservation should represent a last-resort option for Federal resource managers, unless they— are developed and implemented through extensive public involvement by local citizens and consensus-based cooperation and consultation between Federal agencies, affected State, local, and territorial agencies, locally knowledgeable academic and nonprofit research institutions, locally affected coral reef-dependent businesses, and locally operating coral reef-focused nongovernmental organizations; are based on rigorous scientific evidence; and feature an adaptive management approach with clearly identifiable, measurable, science-based goals.
The rapid decline of coral reefs in the last four decades, both in the United States and globally, is unsustainable and requires urgent, renewed attention toward understanding, conserving, and restoring coral reefs.