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Title 33, Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-102

§1101 Congressional Declaration of Policy and Objectives

Title 33 › CHAPTER 22 — SEA GRANT COLLEGES AND MARINE SCIENCE DEVELOPMENT › SUBCHAPTER I — MARINE RESOURCES AND ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT › § 1101

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Create and keep a coordinated, long-term national marine science program to help people and the country. The program must protect health and property, support commerce and transportation, strengthen national security, help restore commercial fisheries, and make better use of ocean and coastal resources. It sets eight goals: speed development of marine resources, expand knowledge of the ocean, encourage private investment and marine business, keep U.S. leadership, improve education and training, improve marine tools and vehicles, coordinate agencies to avoid waste, and work with other countries when it benefits the nation.

Full Legal Text

Title 33, §1101

Navigation and Navigable Waters, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to develop, encourage, and maintain a coordinated, comprehensive, and long-range national program in marine science for the benefit of mankind to assist in protection of health and property, enhancement of commerce, transportation, and national security, rehabilitation of our commercial fisheries, and increased utilization of these and other resources.
(b)The marine science activities of the United States should be conducted so as to contribute to the following objectives:
(1)The accelerated development of the resources of the marine environment.
(2)The expansion of human knowledge of the marine environment.
(3)The encouragement of private investment enterprise in exploration, technological development, marine commerce, and economic utilization of the resources of the marine environment.
(4)The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in marine science and resource development.
(5)The advancement of education and training in marine science.
(6)The development and improvement of the capabilities, performance, use, and efficiency of vehicles, equipment, and instruments for use in exploration, research, surveys, the recovery of resources, and the transmission of energy in the marine environment.
(7)The effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the Nation, with close cooperation among all interested agencies, public and private, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, facilities, and equipment, or waste.
(8)The cooperation by the United States with other nations and groups of nations and international organizations in marine science activities when such cooperation is in the national interest.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title

of 2021 Amendment Pub. L. 116–289, § 1, Jan. 5, 2021, 134 Stat. 4886, provided that: “This Act [enacting subchapter III of this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Young Fishermen’s Development Act’.”

Short Title

section 1 of title I of Pub. L. 89–454, as renumbered and amended by Pub. L. 89–688, § 2(a), Oct. 15, 1966, 80 Stat. 1001, provided that: “This title [enacting this subchapter] may be cited as the ‘Marine Resources and Engineering Development Act of 1966’.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

33 U.S.C. § 1101

Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102