SECTIONS 36000-36003 - California Statutes

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

SECTION 36000-36003

36000. This division shall be known and may be cited as the
California Ocean Resources Management Act of 1990 (CORMA).

36001. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The Pacific Ocean and its many renewable and nonrenewable
resources are of economic, environmental, aesthetic, recreational,
military, and scientific importance to the people of the state and
the nation.
(b) Humankind will benefit from ocean resources as technology
continues to develop. Our ability to protect, preserve, coordinate,
develop, and utilize these resources requires that we do so in an
informed and balanced manner.
(c) On March 10, 1983, President Reagan established by
proclamation an exclusive economic zone for the United States,
declaring sovereign rights over living and nonliving resources within
the 200-mile United States exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
(d) On December 27, 1988, President Reagan extended by
proclamation the seaward limit of United States territorial waters
from 3 to 12 nautical miles.
(e) The establishment of the exclusive economic zone and the
extension of the Territorial Sea create zones under federal
jurisdiction adjacent to state waters, and provide opportunity for
all coastal states of the United States to more fully exercise and
assert their responsibilities pertaining to the protection,
conservation, and development of ocean resources under United States
jurisdiction.
(f) Exploration, scientific research, development, and production
of ocean resources resulting from differing jurisdictions and
multiple programs in federal and state waters, will increase the
chance of conflicting demands on ocean resources and uses, such as
those for food, energy, minerals, and waste disposal.
(g) Resolution of conflicting interests in the use, development,
and conservation of ocean resources will become one of the major
policy issues facing the state. The problems which will emerge in the
future due to interactions of competing users are already prevalent
to some degree today.
(h) State agencies do have particular regulatory or program
interests in protecting and managing resources and uses in state
waters and for coordinating state interests in the territorial sea
and the EEZ, but the state needs to formulate a framework of
statewide objectives for management of ocean resources and their
uses, and outline a clear statement of functional responsibility for
state ocean resources management.
(i) The exclusive economic zone, the territorial sea, state
waters, and terrestrial environments are an interdependent system
that has to be managed through a cooperative effort between
appropriate federal, state, and local agencies. The fluid, dynamic
nature of the ocean and the migration of many of its living resources
beyond state and federal boundaries extend the ocean management
interests of this state beyond the three-nautical-mile limit
currently managed by the state pursuant to the federal Submerged
Lands Act (43 U.S.C. Sec. 1301 et seq.).

36002. The Legislature further finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) It is the policy of the State of California to do the
following:
(1) Assess the long-term values and benefits of the conservation
and development of ocean resources and uses with the objective of
restoring or maintaining the health of the ocean ecosystem and
ensuring the proper management of renewable and nonrenewable
resources.
(2) Encourage ocean resources development which is environmentally
sound, sustainable, and economically beneficial.
(3) Provide for efficient and coordinated resources management in
state and federal waters.
(4) Assert the interests of this state in cooperation with federal
agencies in the sound management of ocean resources.
(5) Promote research, study, and understanding of ocean processes
and resources to acquire the scientific information necessary to
understand the ocean ecosystem and life-support systems and the
relationships of ocean development activities and associated impacts
on ocean and coastal resources of the state and adjacent zones of
federal jurisdiction.
(6) Encourage research and development of innovative,
environmentally compatible marine technologies for protection,
exploration, and utilization of ocean resources.
(b) It is further the policy of the State of California to develop
and maintain an ocean resources planning and management program to
promote and ensure coordinated management of federal resources and
uses with those in state waters, and with adjacent states, to ensure
effective participation in federal planning and management of ocean
resources and uses which may affect this state, and to coordinate
state agency management of ocean resources with local government
management of coastal zone uses and resources above the mean high
tide line.

36003. (a) No authority is created under this division, nor shall
any of its purposes or provisions be used by any public or private
agency or person, to delay or deny any existing or future project or
activity during the preparation and delivery of the report and plan
required by this division.
(b) No authority is created under this division to supersede
current state agency statutory authority.
(c) The task force established pursuant to Section 36300 shall
cease to exist upon delivery of its report and plan to the Governor
and the Legislature.