Sec. 301. Coral reef conservation and restoration assistance
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The Secretary of the Interior may provide scientific expertise and technical assistance, and subject to the availability of appropriations, financial assistance for the conservation and restoration of coral reefs consistent with all applicable laws governing resource management in Federal, State, and Tribal waters, including— the national coral reef resilience strategy in effect under section 204A of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, as amended by section 101; coral reef action plans in effect under section 205 of that Act, as applicable; and coral reef emergency plans in effect under section 209 of that Act, as applicable.
The Secretary may establish within the Office of Insular Affairs a Coral Reef Initiative Program— to provide grant funding to support local management, conservation, and protection of coral reef ecosystems in— insular areas of covered States; and Freely Associated States; to complement the other conservation and assistance activities conducted under this Act; and to provide other technical, scientific, and financial assistance and conduct conservation activities that advance the purpose of this Act.
The Secretary of the Interior may consult with the Secretary of Commerce regarding the conduct of any activities to conserve and restore coral reefs and coral reef ecosystems in waters managed under the jurisdiction of the Federal agencies specified in paragraphs
(2)and
(3)of section 203(c) of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, as amended by section 101. Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary of the Interior may enter into cooperative agreements with covered reef managers to fund coral reef conservation and restoration activities in waters managed under the jurisdiction of such managers that— are consistent with the national coral reef resilience strategy in effect under section 204A of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, as amended by section 101; and support and enhance the success of— coral reef action plans in effect under section 205 of that Act; and coral reef emergency plans in effect under section 209 of that Act. In this section, the terms conservation , coral reef , covered reef manager , covered State , restoration , and State have the meaning given those terms in section 218 of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, as amended by section 101.