Regional Ocean Partnership Act
This bill allows the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to designate and support Regional Ocean Partnerships between coastal states that share a common ocean or coastal area or border the Great Lakes. It also allows partnerships between coastal states and non-coastal states that share a common watershed or would contribute to the priorities of the partnership.
Specifically, NOAA may designate a partnership as a Regional Ocean Partnership if it (1) is established to coordinate the management of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources among state governments and Indian tribes; (2) focuses on the environmental issues affecting the ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes areas of the coastal states participating in the partnership; (3) complements existing coastal and ocean management efforts of states and Indian tribes on an interstate scale, focusing on shared regional priorities; (4) does not have a regulatory function; and (5) is not duplicative of an existing Regional Ocean Partnership.
The bill designates the following entities as Regional Ocean Partnerships:
- the Gulf of Mexico Alliance,
- the Northeast Regional Ocean Council,
- the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean, and
- the West Coast Ocean Alliance.
Each partnership must maintain mechanisms for coordination, consultation and engagement with the federal government, Indian tribes, nongovernmental entities, and other federally mandated regional entities.
A partnership may use provided federal funds to award grants and enter into contracts for certain purposes, including to monitor the water quality and living resources of multistate ocean and coastal ecosystems.