Environment America and our partner, Environment California, applaud Rep. Bordallo, Chairwoman of the Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee for bringing up HR 1187, the Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries Boundary Modification and Protection Act, in subcommittee today. It was reported out by unanimous consent. The Subcommittee has now taken a critical first step in moving HR 1187, a bipartisan bill to expand the Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Banks National Marine Sanctuaries off the central coast of California, through Congress. Co-sponsored by Reps. Lynn Woolsey, (Calif.) and Wayne Gilchrest, (Md.), this bill will protect the critical food and nutrient supply for the downstream marine sanctuaries off the coast of central California and preserve an area of immense marine productivity from any threats.
The proposed expansion will roughly double the size of the existing Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Banks sanctuaries, but more importantly will protect the source of their immense productivity which is the California Current Coastal Upwelling centered on Pt. Arena. In this place, cold, nutrient rich water rises from below the continental shelf and fertilizes the base of a vast food chain extending for more than 100 miles as far south as
Monterey Bay. The expansion area hosts rich communities of seabirds, shorebirds, fish, and marine mammals and supports the marine ecwaitosystem to the south. It is one of just a handful of deep coastal upwelling zones around the world, the only one in the
United States, and therefore offers a unique opportunity to study, preserve and protect a rare marine resource.
It has been 14 years since Congress last designated a marine sanctuary, the Olympic Coast sanctuary off the northern and central coast of Washington. Marine sanctuaries heal our damaged oceans, can rebuild over fished fish stocks, and create refuges from the effects of global warming and ocean acidification. After this long , we hope Congress will finish the job and complete passage of the legislation before it goes on recess this summer.
