Regulacje i polityka gospodarcza · 15.09.1999

National Marine Sanctuary Program

NOAA is withdrawing the Northwest Straits from consideration as an Active Candidate for designation as a National Marine Sanctuary. The Northwest Straits are located north of Puget Sound, and encompass marine waters surrounding the San Juan Islands, north to the Canadian border, U.S. waters west to the entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Haro and Rosario Straits and the lower portion of the Strait of Georgia. The Northwest Straits site was identified by NOAA for evaluation as a national marine sanctuary by being listed on the National Marine Sanctuary Program's Site Evaluation List (SEL) in 1983 (as ``Washington State Nearshore''). Congress directed NOAA to prepare a designation prospectus on Northwest Straits in 1988 and the site became an Active Candidate. For reasons related to designation guidance contained in the 1996 reauthorization of the National Marine Sanctuary Act (NMSA), the findings of a Congressionally-convened Northwest Straits Citizens Advisory Commission, and limited agency resources, NOAA is discontinuing consideration of the site for possible designation as a national marine sanctuary.