Sandy Hook Bay National Marine Sanctuary

[njdiver]

http://www.navesinkmaritime.org/National-Marine-Sanctuary

[njdiver]

Here are two sites that explain the process on how to create a NMS:

http://www.nominate.noaa.gov/

http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/management/designations.html

[IrishAyes]

Personally, I get very scared any time the government gets involved in anything. Once they do, it seems to always be a down hill spiral. 

[njdiver]

Just announced via email:

https://m.facebook.com/sandyhooknationalmarinesanctuary/

[njdiver]

National Marine Sanctuary Act

(Snip)

The NMSA provides several tools for protecting designated national marine sanctuaries. For example:

The NMSA provides the program with the authority to issue regulations for each sanctuary and the system as a whole. These regulations can, among other things, specify the types of activities that can and cannot occur within the sanctuary. [See section 308 of the NMSA.]

The NMSA requires the program to prepare and periodically update management plans that guide day-to-day activities at each sanctuary. [See sections 304(a) and 304(e) of the NMSA.]

The NMSA authorizes NOAA and the program to assess civil penalties (up to $130,000 per day per violation) for violations of the NMSA or its implementing regulations and damages against people that injure sanctuary resources. [See sections 306, 307 and 312 of the NMSA.]

The NMSA requires federal agencies whose actions are “likely to destroy, cause the loss of, or injure a sanctuary resource,” to consult with the program before taking the action. The program is, in these cases, required to recommend reasonable and prudent alternatives to protect sanctuary resources. [See section 304(d) of the NMSA.]

(Snip)

http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/about/legislation/



The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) regulations are codified at 15 CFR Part 922.

Regulations have the effect and enforceability of law and are written in a specific manner. ONMS regulations prohibit specific kinds of activities, describe and define the boundaries of the designated national marine sanctuaries and set up a system of permits to allow the conduct of certain types of activities (that would otherwise not be allowed).

(Snip)

While each danctuary has its own unique set of regulations, there are some regulatory prohibitions that are typical for many sanctuaries:

Discharging material or other matter into the sanctuary;

Disturbance of, construction on or alteration of the seabed;

Disturbance of cultural resources; and

Exploring for, developing or producing oil, gas or minerals (with a grandfather clause for preexisting operations).

In addition, some sanctuaries prohibit other activities, such as the disturbance of marine mammals, seabirds and sea turtles, operation of aircraft in certain zones, use of personal watercraft, mineral mining and anchoring of vessels.

(Snip)

http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/regulations/



NOAA: Final Notice Of Fee Calculations For Special Use Permits
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 19, 2015

In accordance with a requirement of Public Law 106-513 (16 U.S.C. 1441(b)), NOAA hereby gives public notice of the methods, formulas and rationale for the calculations it will use in order to assess fees associated with special use permits (SUPs).

(From the Federal Register) — Congress first granted NOAA the authority to issue SUPs for conducting specific activities in national marine sanctuaries in the 1988 Amendments to the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (“NMSA”) (16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.) (Pub. L. 100-627). The NMSA allows NOAA to establish categories of activities that may be subject to an SUP. The list of applicable categories of activities was last updated in 2013 (78 FR 25957). SUPs may be issued for the placement and recovery of objects on the seabed related to public or private events, or commercial filming; the continued presence of commercial submarine cables; the disposal of cremated human remains; recreational diving near the USS Monitor; the deployment of fireworks displays; or the operation of aircraft below the minimum altitude in restricted zones of national marine sanctuaries. Congress also gave NOAA the discretion to assess an SUP fee and laid out the basic components of an SUP fee (16 U.S.C. 1441 (d)).

Read the full article here:

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/11/19/2015-29524/final-notice-of-fee-calculations-for-special-use-permits


http://policy.oceanleadership.org/noaa-final-notal-use-permits/


(Snip)= Irrelevant material deleted.

[wb]

this smells like Pew!

we are doomed...

[fellinger]

Contact your Congressman..... I have.

[njdiver]

Petition opposing the Sandy Hook National Marine Sanctuary nomination:

https://www.change.org/p/sanctuary-nominations-noaa-gov-oppose-sandy-hook-bay-and-twin-rivers-marine-sanctuary-designation?recruiter=277674041&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

[njdiver]

(Snip)

Reed Bohne, the Northeast and Great Lakes regions director of national sanctuaries for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

(Snip)

"A state’s governor could alter the designation, which would then again be reviewed by NOAA, or outrightly end the process, he said. "

http://tworivertimes.com/marine-sanctuary-proposal-is-floated-and-stakeholders-take-sides/

[njdiver]

NJOA and JCAA both reached consensus this week, to oppose the SHNMS.

[fluke - u]

  ... Thats good news ...

[wb]

NJOA and JCAA both reached consensus this week, to oppose the SHNMS.

//sarcasm

O thank God....kinda like reaching a consensus in favor of ending world hunger.

ummmm. yeah..... aren't groups like these organized specifically for reasons like this?

we certainly would not expect NOT to reach a consensus....

end sarcasm//

[Hotrod]

 

[njdiver]

More info:

PROBLEMS THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED

While we have made great improvements in issues such as water quality, wildlife and public access in the NMS waters, there continue to be issues that are detrimental to optimal man/nature interaction and general enjoyment of the waters included in the NMS.

Some issues are non-contentious and have almost universal support, but simply are not making meaningful headway, while other issues, on the face of it, may be contentious. Often, even the issues that may appear to be contentious still have a common goal, but there is disagreement about the methods.

Contentious debate is unpleasant and therefore the debate is often avoided, but this does not make the issue go away. Only debate and analysis in a proper forum provides the chance that optimal solutions will be developed.

At present no such forum exists. A structure like an NMS makes it more difficult for the issue of concern to be ignored, and by keeping it on the table over a long period of time, adjustments can be made. Very often the issue does not need to be regulated, but instead improved education resolves the issue.

This is a list of issues that have been raised by various stake holders. These issues have not been vetted as right or wrong, they are simply concerns that have been raised and that, if resolved, will result in improvements that benefit everybody.

Lack of general boater courtesy
Lack of awareness with regard to river and bay wildlife and river quality issues
Lack of awareness with regard to NMS recreational and commercial opportunities
Reductions in recreational boating interest
Storm runoff water quality issues
Lack of native oysters
Lack of spartina grasses
Lack of edible species awareness
Clamming restrictions (check out the neat graphic)
Dissolved oxygen deficiencies
Ineffective bulkheading
Ineffective river scaping
Poor land side trash management
Bridge replacements issues
Land side impervious surface issues
Lack of dredging
Limits in NMS access
Inadequate ecosystem man/nature sustainable education
Lack of protection of culturally significant NMS activities such as boat racing, hunting, fishing and port facilities
Overall poor and non-optimized fisheries yield
Local fish to table inadequacies
Poor feeder creek conditions
Fertilizer overloading
Poor insecticide practices
PCB's and other industrial residue
River and bay bottom degradation
Silting
Lack of existing regulation (law) enforcement

This is a long list and is sure to grow, but if a mechanism can be developed where, as a local community, we make slow headway on most of them, the future will be much brighter. The vast majority of these issues do not need a huge investment to achieve improvements, but they do require general awareness by all stake holders and constant attention.

An NMS will provide a forum. None of this can be solved through special interest pressure, it can only be solved if the bay and rivers are presented as a valid common stake holder.

DISCOVER ENGAGE SUSTAIN

http://www.navesinkmaritime.org/Problems-that-need-to-be-addressed

[njdiver]

And more:

http://www.app.com/story/news/local/land-environment/2016/04/08/sandy-hook-bay-national-marine-sanctuary/82610356/

[njdiver]

Zoning the Oceans: Using the National Marine Sanctuaries Act and the Antiquities Act to Establish Marine Protection Areas and Marine Reserves in America

(Snip)

The National Marine Sanctuaries Act appears to represent the best option for consolidating these management regimes and establishing a new, unified system of marine protected areas in the United States. The Act is clearly flawed-there are too many ways to derail proposed designations and far too little money and legal authority to properly police existing sanctuaries. As discussed above, however, the NMSA at least provides a structure for creating MPAs, a process for receiving and incorporating public comment, and a designation term- sanctuary-that invokes something more powerful, more dignified, and more important than "marine park" or "marine protected area." Executive Order 13158 and the federal government's renewed funding for the marine sanctuary program represent important first steps in the effort to better designate and manage MPAs. If the federal government continues to prioritize the sanctuary program, and amends the NMSA in the few key ways discussed above, it will be possible to create and effectively protect an enviable system of United States marine sanctuaries.

(Snip)

http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1674&context=elq