57 



International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from 

 Ships (MARPOL) ; the International Convention on the Prevention of 

 Wastes and Other Matter (the London Convention) , and customary 

 international law as reflected in the 1982 Law of the Sea 

 Convention. Pursuant to its statutory authority under the Ocean 

 Dumping Act, NOAA conducts a program for monitoring and 

 assessment of the condition of dumpsites and, in conjunction with 

 other federal agencies, participates in formulating U.S. 

 positions for the London Convention which regulates ocean dumping 

 on the international level. 



NOAA' s Coastal Ocean Program is supporting Federal -academic 

 research partnerships for assessing and predicting tne effects of 

 multiple stresses in coastal environments, incluc mc the Florida 

 Keys, Florida Bay, the Chesapeake Bay, coastal Louisiana, the 

 Great Lakes, the Pacific northwest, and Long Island. NOAA' s 

 Coastwatch program provides coastal users with timely ocean 

 remote sensed data. NOAA is also a partner in the Coastal 

 America Program that is taking action to deal with problems such 

 as coastal habitat degradation and loss, nonpoint source 

 pollution, and contaminated sediments. 



NAVIGATIONAL ISSUES 



The oceans are a significant part of the world's highways, and 

 increasingly so. Shipping accounts for over 95% of the U.S. 

 international trade- -a rapidly growing sector of this Nation's 

 economy. In turn, issues involving navigation, safety, and 

 protection of the marine environment become more crucial. With 

 respect to navigation, in fulfilling its statutory responsibility 

 for surveying and preparing the nautical charts of the Nation's 

 coastal waters, NOAA works in coordination with several 

 agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Defense Mapping 

 Agency, and the Departments of State and the Interior. NOAA is 

 expanding the use of private contract resources to conduct new 

 hydrographic surveys of our port and harbor approach areas to 

 replace surveys that are more than 50 years old. NOAA is also 

 working with the Coast Guard, the maritime community and private 

 sector partners to develop a new generation of navigation 

 products based on electronic chart technologies. The first of 

 these products, digital raster charts, produced and distributed 

 by the private sector, are now available for most U.S. waters. 



Also, NOAA is a member of the Baseline Committee, an interagency 

 group that addresses the ongoing questions involving depiction of 

 the U.S. baselines used to determine our international marine 

 boundaries. NOAA also worked with the Coast Guard, and 

 Departments of Defense and State to provide for the ability to 

 implement systems for mandatory reporting and routing of vessels. 

 As part of its damage assessment program, NOAA works closely with 

 other agencies such as the Coast Guard in carrying out its marine 



