Establishment of Marine Reserves and a Marine Conservation Area Within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

On August 11, 2006 NOAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish a network of marine zones within the state and federal waters of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS or Sanctuary). State waters in the Sanctuary extend from the shoreline of the islands to approximately 3 nautical miles from shore. Federal waters of the Sanctuary extend from the offshore extent of state waters to the Sanctuary's outer boundary. In this final rule, NOAA is issuing final regulations for the federal-waters portion of the Sanctuary. NOAA has decided to defer a final decision and seeking additional comment on the state-waters portion of the Sanctuary pending action by the State of California to extend the boundaries of several existing state-waters zones to the three mile state-federal-waters boundary. Marine zones are discrete areas that have special regulations differing from the regulations that apply throughout or above the Sanctuary as a whole. The purpose of these zones within the federal waters of the Sanctuary is to further the protection of Sanctuary biodiversity and complement an existing network established by the State of California in October 2002, and implemented in April 2003, under its authorities. Two types of zones are being established by this action: Marine reserves and marine conservation areas. All extractive activities (e.g., removal of any Sanctuary resource) and injury to Sanctuary resources are prohibited in all marine reserves. Commercial and recreational lobster fishing and recreational fishing for pelagic species are allowed within the marine conservation area, while all other extraction and injury are prohibited. This action establishes approximately 110.5 square nautical miles of marine reserves and 1.7 square nautical miles of marine conservation area in the federal waters of the Sanctuary. As part of this action, NOAA is also modifying the terms of designation for the Sanctuary, which were originally published on October 2, 1980