§6415 Definitions

Summary

It gives plain meanings for words used in the coral reef chapter. Administrator means the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Alaska Native Corporation means the same as “Native Corporation” in title 43, section 1602. Appropriate congressional committees are the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee. Conservation means actions to keep native corals and related species healthy and self-sustaining with minimal invasive-species harm, and includes things like monitoring, restoration, mapping, management help, law enforcement, conflict resolution, outreach, and safe navigation and anchoring. Coral means species in the phylum Cnidaria, including stony, soft, black, blue, and fire corals. Coral products are any living or dead coral specimens, parts, derivatives, or products that contain them. Coral reef means a calcium-carbonate reef or shoal made in whole or part by coral, coral remains, crustose coralline algae, and other attached marine life. Coral reef ecosystem means corals and the nearby reef communities plus the biological and physical factors and processes that affect coral growth, reproduction, recruitment, and biodiversity. Coral reef ecosystem services are the benefits reefs provide, such as protecting coasts, providing habitat with economic, ecological, medical, or cultural value, supporting cultural practices and traditional ecological knowledge, and aesthetic value. Covered Native entity means a Native entity that has interests in a coral reef ecosystem. Covered reef manager means a reef management unit of a covered State, the covered State itself, or a coral reef stewardship partnership under section 6405. Covered State means Florida, Hawaii, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, or the United States Virgin Islands. Federal reef manager means a lead reef-management unit of NOAA, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or the Office of Insular Affairs, or a stewardship partnership under section 6405(c). Institution of higher education has the meaning in title 20, section 1001. Interested stakeholder groups include businesses, commercial or recreational fishers, recreational users, government units, colleges, and nongovernmental organizations with an interest in a reef. National Coral Reef Resilience Strategy means the strategy under section 6403. Native entity means an Indian Tribe (see title 25, section 5304), an Alaska Native Corporation, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, or a Native Hawaiian organization (see title 20, section 7517). Nonprofit organization means a non-college organization run for public purposes, not for profit, that uses net proceeds to support its work. Restoration means actions to rebuild or create functioning reef habitat within its historic range to restore ecological, economic, cultural, or coastal benefits and help native coral populations. Resilience means the ability of corals and reefs to resist and recover from disturbances and keep providing reef services, judged by measurable science-based standards. Secretary means the Secretary of Commerce. State means any U.S. State or listed territory or other U.S. territory or associated sovereign that has a coral reef within its seaward boundaries. Stewardship for a reef includes conservation, restoration, and public outreach and education. Task Force means the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force established under section 6451.