Continued Discussion of the NMS proposal

[njdiver]

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

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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.

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http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/...74&context=elq