333 



sovereign rights of the coastal nation to explore the shelf and ex- 

 ploit its natural resources. Therefore, the committee may wish to con- 

 sider redefining the coastal and estuarine zone to include the conti- 

 nental shelf which the Convention defines as "the seabed and subsoil 

 of the submarine areas adjacent to the coast but outside the area of 

 the territorial sea, to a depth of 200 meters, or, beyond that limit, tO' 

 where the depth of the superjacent waters admits of the exploitation 

 of the natural resources of the said areas'' and "the seabed and subsoil 

 of similar submarine areas adjacent to the coast of islands." 



Section 304 (c), page 5, defines "coastal State" as including Puerto 

 Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. We assume it 

 is not intended to include the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands,. 

 the District of Columbia, and the Panama Canal Zone. 



Section 305(a), page 6, of the bill authorizes the Secretary of Com- 

 merce to make annual grants to any coastal State in the development 

 of a management plan and program for the land and water resources 

 of the coastal and estuarine zone, provided that no sucli grant shall 

 be made under this subsection until the Secretary finds that the coastal 

 State is adequately and expeditiously developing such management 

 plan and program. 



This provision appears to preclude grants to States which have not 

 yet started to develop a management plan and program. The commit- 

 tee may wish to consider language changes which would allow States- 

 which have not started to develop a management plan and program 

 to receive grants for the purpose of developing a management plan 

 and program. 



Section 306(a), page 7, of the bill authorizes the Secretary to make- 

 annual grants to any coastal State for not more than G6% percent 

 of the costs of administering the coastal State's management plan and 

 program. Section 306(c) (4), page 8, of this bill states that the grants- 

 for implementing the management plan and program. It is not clear 

 whether the grants issued under this section are intended to cover the 

 costs of administering the management plan and program or if these 

 gi"ants are solely intended as operating grants for the implementation 

 of the management plan and program. The committee may wisli to 

 clarify this language. 



Section 306(c) (2), page 8, requires the coastal State to make pro- 

 visions for public notice and to hold public hearings on the develop- 

 ment of the management plan and program. All required public hear- 

 ings under this title must be announced at least 30 days before they 

 take place and all relevant materials, documents, and studies must 

 be readily available to the public for study at least 30 days in advance 

 of the actual hearing or hearings. The committee may wish to increase 

 the number of days notice for public hearings in order that the public 

 may have advance notice that relevant studies and docmnents are to< 

 be available at least 30 days in advance of the hearings. This would 

 give the public the benefit of the full 30 days to examine the relevant 

 documents. 



Section 307(a), page 12, should be clarified as it is now unclear 

 whether it provides that States must adequately consider the views of 

 principally affected Federal agencies prior to submitting their plans- 

 to the Secretary or whether the Secretary must adequately consider the 



