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JUNE 30, 1999, WEDNESDAY

SECTION: IN THE NEWS

LENGTH: 5278 words

HEADLINE: PREPARED STATEMENT OF
SALLY YOZELL
DEPUTY ASST. SECRETARY FOR OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND
ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPT. OF COMMERCE
BEFORE THE SENATE COMMERCE, SCIENCE AND TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
OCEANS AND FISHERIES SUBCOMMITTEE

BODY:

INTRODUCTION
Good afternoon, Madame Chair and members of the Subcommittee. My name is Sally Yozell and I am the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I would like to thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the Administration's proposal to reauthorize the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA), and on legislation to protect our coral reefs. Both the National Marine Sanctuaries Preservation Act of 1999 and Senator Snowe's and Senator Inouye's coral reef bills will further our ability to protect our National marine treasures. We at NOAA appreciate the interest in, and strong support for, the National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) System and coral reefs demonstrated by the Committee Members. First, I will discuss the reauthorization of the NMSA and then will address coral reef protection issues as reflected in S. 725, the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 1999, and S. 1253, the Coral Reef Protection Act of 1999. NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARIES
In 1972, Congress established the National Marine Sanctuary System to protect our Nation's "special places" in the marine environment Today, 25 years later, there are 12 sanctuaries in the system, with a 13th, Thunder Bay in Lake Huron, Michigan undergoing designation. They range from the historic shipwreck of the Civil War vessel the USS Monitor, to the 5,300 square miles encompassing the submerged Monterey Canyon in California In all, over 18,000 square miles of important marine habitats, including coral reefs, kelp forests, rocky shores, sandy beach and open ocean, are managed and protected by NOAA
I would like to begin first by talking about the important needs and strong support for the National Marine Sanctuary Program as identified in the President's Lands Legacy Initiative. Second, I will highlight some of the recent accomplishments of the National Marine Sanctuary System. Finally, I would like to present some ideas for the 1999 reauthorization of the NMSA, as presented in the Administration's proposal transmitted to Congress on June 9, 1999.
THE PRESIDENT'S LANDS LEGACY INITIATIVE
The President's FY 2000 budget includes a $1 billion Lands Legacy Initiative to expand federal efforts to save America's natural treasures. This initiative would provide $105 million to NOAA to protect America's valuable ocean and coastal resources and to strengthen state and local efforts to address the problems caused by urban growth and sprawl.
America's ocean and coastal areas are under siege by a whole suite of activities, including coastal population growth, development, maritime commerce, commercial and recreational fishing, and tourism. The economic and environmental well-being we derive from ocean and coastal resources and the beauty they provide is being seriously undermined by the use of these ' resources in unsustainable ways. Escalating losses and degradation of wetlands, beaches, fisheries, and essential habitats, and marine ecosystems must be reversed.
The Lands Legacy Initiative will help ensure that our Nation's most treasured marine areas are conserved and protected for the benefit of present and future generations. The proposed $15 million increase for the Sanctuary program would, for the first time, allow all existing marine sanctuaries to approach core operating and staffing levels. At core operating level, each sanctuary would have enough staff, equipment, boats, facilities, and resources to carry out its basic mandate to protect sanctuary resources, conduct research, monitoring, education and interpretive programs, and involve local communities in nearly every aspect of sanctuary management. The core operating level varies from site to site and is a function of the Sanctuary's size, location, complexity of resource issues, and management objectives and priorities.The increased funding would also provide resources to:
1) Enhance Conservation of Existing Sanctuaries
- Design permanent system-wide monitoring programs to track the status and trends of sanctuary resources and the overall health of the sanctuary ecosystem;
- Expand the coral reef monitoring program;
- Initiate submerged cultural resource survey inventories where appropriate;
- Develop system-wide Geographic Information System (GIS) capability;
- Continue the five-year review and revision of Sanctuary management plans at selected sites; and
- Conduct habitat characterization and mapping at each Sanctuary.
2) Plan for the Future of the Sanctuary System
The Lands Legacy funding will position the Sanctuary system to consider the protection and conservation of additional significant and threatened areas by:
- First allowing the designation and full implementation of NOAA's thirteenth sanctuary and only site currently in the designation process, Thunder Bay, Michigan in Lake Huron;
- And, once the existing programs are up to par, work with states and communities to identify potential sites for the future.
3) Expand Environmental Education and Outreach Efforts
Of the $15 million increase, $3 million will begin the process of establishing a network of interpretive facilities, where the public and environmental decision-makers can learn about sanctuary resources and marine conservation issues. Currently, none of our sanctuaries have basic facilities for public education about these special areas. Adequate facilities, especially interpretive centers, are critical for the Sanctuary System as they provide the gateway to visiting a sanctuary. At these interpretive centers, many people will be able to experience and learn about the diverse wonders teeming beneath the waves.
NOAA plans to work, whenever possible, through partnerships with existing aquaria, museums, and other facilities. For example, we are working in partnership with the National Park Service in the Florida Keys to develop a visitors' center with excess Navy property. In Boston, we are partnering with the New England Aquarium to take advantage of the more than one million visitors there.

In Hawaii, we plan to complete an interpretive center in Kihei, Maui. These are just a few examples of goals we hope to accomplish in 2000.
YEAR OF OPPORTUNITY
The Year of the Ocean in 1998 provided a tremendous opportunity for NOAA to develop several successful high-profile partnerships which are essential to the sanctuary program. These partnerships increased public awareness of the important work NOAA is doing in our sanctuaries. In March 1998, Dr. Bob Ballard brought the Jason Project to the Monterey Bay Sanctuary in California. Using student argonauts and teachers from around the country, the Jason Project broadcast live educational programs from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Sanctuary, and NOAA ships to over two million school children across the U.S. and throughout the world.
One year ago, with a $5 million grant from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, NOAA and the National Geographic Society launched the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, a five-year project of deep-water exploration and public education in NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries. Dr. Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Society Explorer- in-Residence, is leading the expeditions to the 12 marine sanctuaries, using the newly designed DeepWorker, a one-person submersible capable of exploring to depths of 2000 feet. New underwater technologies will allow us to bring the ocean treasures of our sanctuaries to classrooms, the public, and scientists and managers in ways never before possible.The Sustainable Seas Expeditions began on April 15, 1999 at the Gulf of the Farallones NMS off San Francisco. In total, more than 29 research projects and dozens of education projects, including teacher training and student summits, will be conducted throughout the sanctuaries in this first year alone. Through live internet broadcasts and news coverage, millions of Americans will be able to experience these scientific discoveries and extraordinary educational experiences first-hand.
In June 1998, Monterey Bay hosted another important Year of the Ocean activity -- the National Ocean Conference. NOAA and the Navy co-hosted an ocean policy conference that brought President Clinton, the First Lady, Vice President Gore, Cabinet Secretaries, Members of Congress, agency heads, conservation groups and industry, scientists and teachers to discuss the role oceans play in our lives and our environment. The Sanctuary organized a highly successful community Oceans Fair to celebrate our ties to the community and our commitment to conserving the oceans.
Finally, the Audubon Society took the opportunity in its December 1998 issue of Audubon to reflect back on the greatest conservation accomplishments of the past 100 years. In the article, entitled "The Century of Conservation," the society lists "10 of the top gems" in the Nation's "crown jewels of its natural heritage." Within this distinguished list is NOAA's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
SANCTUARY MANAGEMENT PLAN IMPLEMENTATION
Management Plan Implementation
I would now like to turn to some recent initiatives and accomplishments of the Sanctuary Program. All 12 designated national marine sanctuaries have management plans that contain site-specific long-range research and education priorities, regulations, and other resource management measures to conserve and protect sanctuary resources. The plans vary in age and complexity as well as the resources they protect. Each year, the sanctuary managers develop annual operating plans to prioritize and detail action items that implement components of their management plans. The number and types of elements included in an annual operating plan are ultimately determined by annual program funding.
The Sanctuary Program has made substantial progress over the last few years, with small appropriation increases and through partnerships, to find additional resources to help implement components of individual sanctuary management plans. However, funding has not been sufficient to allow the program to fully implement every plan.
Sanctuary Management Plan Review
Some of the sanctuary management plans are nearly twenty years old. The site priorities and specific education, research, and resource protection goals may be outdated. Last December, NOAA initiated a process to involve the public in a systematic review of sanctuary management plans. Stellwagen Bank NMS in Massachusetts became the first site in the national system to begin a management plan review process by holding public scoping meetings that will help evaluate the success in meeting sanctuary goals and objectives and by making revisions, if necessary, to its management plan and regulations. Channel Islands (California) has also initiated its five-year review process by holding scoping meetings earlier this month, and Gray's Reef (Georgia) NMS will begin its review process later this year.
Expeditions to U.S.S. Monitor Continue to Meet the Goals of the Monitor Comprehensive Plan Last April, pursuant to Section 4 of Public Law 104-283 (The National Marine Sanctuaries Preservation Act), NOAA submitted to Congress a new plan entitled "Charting a New Course for the Monitor: A Comprehensive, Long Range Preservation Plan with Options for Management, Stabilization, Preservation, Recovery, Conservation, and Exhibition of Materials and Artifacts from the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary."
The first phase of the plan was initiated last summer during the successful 1998 expedition to the USS Monitor off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The primary purpose of this expedition was to complete all tasks that must precede the stabilization of the hull and recovery of major hull components, as called for in the Monitor NMS Long Range Comprehensive Preservation Plan. Major 1998 accomplishments include: thoroughly mapping and documenting key areas of the Monitor's hull, mapping and recovering exposed and threatened artifacts, and recovering of the Monitor's unique iron propeller and an 11-foot section of shari. The expedition was the combined effort of the U.S. Navy, NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries, the NOAA Diving Center, the National Undersea Research Center (NURC) / University of North Carolina at Wilmington, the Cambrian Foundation, and The Mariners' Museum.
We are currently undertaking a Navy expedition to test the feasibility of stabilizing the Monitor's hull and removing significant hull components. In August a second expedition involving NOAA, NURC and Cambrian Foundation divers will document and assess the Navy's mission results and continue mapping and recovery of artifacts that might be damaged during the upcoming stabilization and recovery operations. If adequate funding is obtained, the goals for the next two years include the stabilization of the Monitor's hull and the recovery of the steam machinery, guns and turret.
MONITORING OF NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY RESOURCES
One of the most critical needs within the Sanctuary Program is monitoring. NOAA is currently developing a system-wide plan to monitor its natural resources. This effort will begin in our coral reef sites, including the Florida Keys, Flower Gardens, Gray's Reef, Hawaiian Islands, and Fagatele Bay. This initiative is an effort to ensure that all sites containing coral reefs and coral communities have, at a minimum, comparable and effective monitoring. The goals are to obtain information that will provide managers With accurate characterizations of their sites and to describe current conditions in a manner that allows detection of changes over time. The fullfunding of our Lands Legacy Initiative is critical to implementing this system-wide monitoring program.
As one component of the coral monitoring program, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary initiated a five-year zone monitoring program in 1997 to look at changes in ecosystem function and populations of key species to gauge the relative effectiveness of the sanctuary's zoning program. Sanctuary and Florida Department of Environmental Protection staff recently brought together various scientists involved in monitoring the zones and determined that, after the first full year of protection, the Sanctuary's 23 no-take zones are showing signs of restoring spiny lobster and fish populations.
The breadth of system-wide, regional, and local monitoring programs will increase with time as specific needs are identified, as management issues emerge, and as partnership opportunities arise. Initial plans are to work with other relevant parts of NOAA to design a focused monitoring program in the sanctuaries. Specifically, a plan is being developed with NOS' National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science that will incorporate many NOAA experts in the design and implementation of the coral reef and system-wide monitoring efforts. In addition, discussions with mapping experts in NOAA and USGS are likely to lead to cooperation on habitat mapping, which will provide site characterizations at larger scales than is possible using ground surveys.

These efforts are but a few examples of the initiatives being undertaken by the National Marine Sanctuary Program to protect and manage our Nation's "special places." With an eye toward the future, I would like to discuss the 1999 reauthorization of the NMSA.
THE NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARIES PRESERVATION ACT OF 1999
With the help of interested constituents and stakeholders, NOAA has identified areas where the NMSA may be improved. I would like to highlight some of those areas for you today.
Primary Mandate - Resource Protection
The primary mandate of the NMSA is stated as "resource protection". The Administration's proposal clarifies and improves the mandate for ecosystem management by including such language as "maintain natural biodiversity and biological communities, and to protect, and where appropriate, restore and enhance natural habitats, populations, and ecological processes". The Administration's proposal also stresses the importance of"precautionary and preventive management actions".
Effective System Management
Management of the System would not be fully effective without the partnerships of others. The Administration's bill adds language to increase NOAA's ability to use additional resources to manage National Marine Sanctuaries and to expand the role of non-profit organizations and the use of the Sanctuary logo by collaborating organizations.
Decreasing Burdens and Clarifying Procedures
The Administration's proposal simplifies the procedures necessary to change a term of designation for an existing sanctuary. In addition, it increases flexibility and predictability for issuance of special use permits and revises natural resource damage assessment provisions to better reflect current practices.
Strengthening Research and Education Missions
Effective scientific research and education and public outreach are fundamental to good resource protection. To strengthen NOAA's ability to understand and manage sanctuary resources, our proposal emphasizes research and education activities that are appropriate to further our resource protection mission. To better bring our sanctuaries to the public, the Administration's bill also provides for the development of interpretive facilities.
Adequate Funding
Finally, our legislation authorizes $29 million for the Sanctuary Program, as outlined in the President's FY2000 budget request. This increase in funding is imperative to fully and effectively manage the National Marine Sanctuary System. Reauthorization of the NMSA provides us with a unique opportunity to strengthen the Nation's only comprehensive system of marine protected areas. We look forward to working with the Committee on these important issues.
CORAL REEF PROTECTION
I would like to turn my attention now to S. 725, the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 1999 and S. 1253, the Coral Reef Protection Act of 1999 I would like to take this opportunity to thank Senators Snowe and Inouye for their leadership in introducing bills to address the serious problems surrounding our coral reefs.
Coral reefs are extremely valuable for a variety of reasons, including the thousands of jobs and billions of dollars they generate every year from tourism, recreation and fishing. Coral reefs are probably the most valuable and the most threatened marine ecosystems on the planet.
Right now the future of these incredible "rainforests of the sea" is very much at risk. Coral reefs in the U.S. and around the world are quickly being destroyed by a powerful combination of stresses such as polluted runoff, fishing impacts, ship groundings, marine debris trade and coral reef species, and new diseases. Most of our fragile coral reefs are being hit by these impacts simultaneously. In addition, we are still discovering the impacts of global climate change on coral reefs. During the past two years we have seen unprecedented levels of coral bleaching and mortality associated with abnormally high sea temperatures. Evidence now shows that increasing carbon dioxide levels could significantly impact reefs worldwide by slowing their growth. Together, these impacts overwhelm the corals and other reef species. Our reefs are dying deaths of a thousand cuts.
The Nation's reefs cannot withstand this onslaught of insults. If we don't act now, we will lose our most precious, valuable and irreplaceable reefs. The social and economic costs to current and future generations will be severe. Many of our coral reefs are in crisis. This is a battle we cannot afford to lose.The Administration strongly supports comprehensive legislation that increases conservation and restoration of coral reefs and coral reef ecosystems. Senate bills 725 and 1253 are powerful steps forward in addressing the coral reef crisis. I applaud the Committee's leadership and commitment to protecting these incredible reef resources and the communities and economies that depend on them. I would like to briefly present some specific information on the threats to our coral reefs and what can be done to address the coral crisis. I also have specific comments on the two coral bills.
World wide coral reefs cover less than one percent of the ocean floor. They are some of the largest and oldest living structures on earth. Like tropical rainforests they contain some of the highest biodiversity on the planet. Coral reefs are home to 25 % of all marine fish species and thousands of other species.
The U.S. has significant coral reefs in the southern Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the western Pacific. Coral reefs in U.S. waters cover approximately 17,000 square kilometers and include:
- The Florida Keys Coral Reef System, the third largest barrier reef in the world reaching over 360 kilometers in length. The Keys coral reefs are home to over 5,500 species and the world's largest sea grass bed (Florida Bay);
- Diverse Caribbean coral reefs in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands;
- Approximately 90% of all U.S. reefs are in the .western Pacific islands of Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.
In the U.S., coral reefs have significant economic and social value. For example, reefs are the foundation of billions of dollars in economic activity through fishing and tourism:- Over 50 % of all federally managed fisheries species depend on coral reefs for some part of their life;
- The annual dockside value of commercial U.S. fisheries from coral reef ecosystems is over $100 million.
- The annual value of reef-dependent recreational fisheries probably exceeds $100 million per year.
- U.S. coral reef ecosystems support billions of dollars in tourism every year. For example, tourism related to coral reef ecosystems produces over $2.0 billion per year in the Florida Keys and Hawaii.
Coral reefs are also valuable sources of new medicines and biochemicals. It is estimated that marine ecosystems, and coral reefs in particular, will be the primary source of new biomedical compounds in the 21 st century. Thousands of unique chemicals have already been described and the exploration has just begun. Powerful new anti- cancer, anti-coagulant, and anti-inflammation compounds have recently been developed from coral reef species.
Coral reefs also help prevent shoreline erosion and provide life saving protection from waves and storms for millions of people in coastal communities.

All of this is currently at risk.
Recent studies suggest that over 60% of the world's coral reefs are being degraded or destroyed by human activities. Ten percent of the reefs may already be degraded beyond recovery.
Many of our Nation's reefs have been destroyed or seriously degraded, especially shallow reefs near coastal areas with large populations. Under natural conditions coral reefs are quite resilient and can recover from natural disturbances such as storms and changes in sea level. The current coral reef crisis is driven by a variety of human activities that together overwhelm the reef and destroy coral reef communities.Signs that our reefs are in trouble are numerous. For example,
- Increased pollution and sedimentation in many coastal areas have damaged reef resources;
- The number of coral diseases and the number of infections has increased dramatically in Florida and Caribbean reefs in the last five years;
- In Florida and Caribbean reefs, two of the most common shallow water coral species have severely declined throughout their range with losses of over 95% in some areas.
- In the Caribbean, over 20% of the reef-dependent fisheries are considered over-fished; the status of most others is unknown;
- In some Hawaiian reefs, the most abundant reef fish species have declined by 40% to 60%.
- Every year hundreds of vessels strike U.S. coral reefs causing significant damage that goes largely unrepaired. In the Florida Keys alone, approximately 500 small vessel groundings occur each year.
- The number of reef-dependent species considered at risk, threatened or endangered is increasing.
- Last year we observed unprecedented levels of coral bleaching associated with abnormally high sea surface temperatures; - And we have no comprehensive program to monitor, protect or restore the nation's coral reefs.
I wish I could give you a more comprehensive assessment of the condition of U.S. coral reef resources. Unfortunately the data are not available. We estimate that less than 10 % of the Nation's coral reefs have been adequately mapped and characterized to determine their current condition. Even fewer are adequately monitored to track their health.
Our state and territorial partners are in desperate need of maps and other tools, information and resources to implement coral reef monitoring programs, track the health of their reefs, and take action to protect them. Providing this kind of assistance is critical to the future of the Nation's coral reefs because over 35% of all U S. coral reefs are within state or territorial waters.
On land, we often takes maps for granted. Imagine trying to manage our National Forests or make land-use decisions as a state resource manager without adequate maps of where the resources are, what condition they are in, and what they are being used for. This is our current situation for coral reefs. Local, state and federal managers are having to make very difficult decisions without some of the most basic information.
We can dramatically change this situation. By helping states and territories implement effective mapping, assessment, monitoring, research and restoration, we can build a comprehensive effort to regularly track and improve the health of U.S. coral reefs. This is one of two critical steps towards winning the battle for our coral reefs.
The other critical step is action. Many of our corals are being destroyed faster than they can recover. We must reduce the threats to our reefs or face the very real possibility that coral reefs as we know them will disappear within our lifetime.
In many cases we know what the problems are and what we need to do to solve them. The best possible way to protect and restore coral reefs is to stop the things that are destroying them. We must act now at local, state or territory and national levels to reduce the impacts of coastal water pollution, fishing impacts, marine debris, ship strikes and other key threats to our reefs.
At the National Ocean Conference, President Clinton signed Executive Order 13089 on coral reef protection which established the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, which is co-chaired by the Department of Commerce and the Department of Interior, and tasked federal agencies with developing new comprehensive measures to map, monitor, protect and restore our precious coral reefs. As part of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, federal agencies, states and territories are developing a national action plan to prioritize and address threats to our Nation's reefs. While the Task Force Action Plan is still in draft form, the Task Force has already identified many of the key threats and possible solutions as called for in the Executive Order. Key actions proposed for FY 2000 include:
1. Launching a comprehensive effort to map and assess U.S. coral reefs in the Pacific;
2. Establish a coordinated network of coral reef protected areas, building on existing sites and activities;
3. Implement a coordinated reef monitoring program;
4. Build emergency response capabilities and restoration efforts;
5. Strengthen local and regional efforts to protect and manage reefs by supporting the U.S. Islands Coral Reef Initiative.
6. Work on the international front to address global and regional threats to coral reefs.
NOAA's FY 2000 budget includes $12 million to directly support these actions and begin fulfilling the Executive Order for conservation and restoration of coral reefs. It is NOAA's first request specifically targeting coral reefs. NOAA has no funding to specifically address the coral crisis at this time.
S.725 and S. 1253 both propose authorization for important new resources to begin addressing the coral crisis. Both bills would establish a competitive grant program to make these resources available to government and non-government entities at local, state and territory levels where direct actions can be taken to protect individual reefs. We strongly support these programs and their focus on on-the-ground efforts such as monitoring, management, education and restoration. We would consult with our partners on the Coral Reef Task Force to effectively direct such resources.
Both bills also include an important tool to leverage federal dollars by establishing a formal mechanism for working with a qualified non- profit organization to collect and allocate matching monetary donations from the private sector. We believe local-level actions and public-private partnerships are powerful tools for coral reef conservation and restoration. However, the Administration recommends that section 5 of S725 and section 10 of S 1263 be amended to conform to the following principles. Federal funds should not earn interest, should not be under the control of non-Federal personnel and should not be held outside of the Treasury.
S. 1253 includes several additional elements to comprehensively address aspect of the coral crisis. For example, it includes authorizations to directly support federal efforts to conserve and restore coral reefs. NOAA has a wide range of responsibilities for coral reefs and reef resources including management of federal fisheries and National Marine Sanctuaries with coral resources. NOAA currently has tools and capabilities that, with these additional resources, could provide key tools, information and resources to help government and non-governmental partners protect, restore and sustainably use coral reefs.
S. 1253 also includes a provision to help prevent the destructive and dangerous practice of abandoning vessels on U.S. reefs. We are very concerned about the risks these vessels create to the reefs and the coastal communities that depend on them. We are also concerned about the lack of effective mechanisms to prevent and remove such vessels. We believe this provision in S. 1253 could help prevent vessel abandonment on coral reefs but want to work with the Committee to review additional measures which may also be necessary. We look forward to working with you, our federal and state partners, and the private sector to develop a broader approach to addressing this problem.
The Administration's FY 2000 budget includes a total of $ 21 million in new funding to support the coral reef conservation and restoration efforts I've discussed here today. This includes $12 million for the Department of Commerce and $9 million for the Department of the Interior. Coordinated action by both NOAA and the Department of the Interior are essential to meet the Nation's coral reef conservation needs. S. 1253 provides the necessary authorization to carry out these actions for our coral reefs.
I would like to reiterate the Administration's strong support for comprehensive legislation that increases conservation and protection of coral reefs and coral reef ecosystems. I thank Senators Snowe and Inouye for focusing on this important issue.CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I applaud Committee's leadership and commitment to protecting our incredible ocean resources, and the communities and economies that depend on them. We look forward to working with you to win the battle for the Nation's precious coral reefs and our valuable National Marine Sanctuaries.
END

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