Contact: Justin Kenney FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(301) 713-3145 x153 2/6/95
The Clinton administration's 1996 budget calls for continued support of the 14 national marine sanctuaries around the country, and responds to public concerns over the assessment of sanctuary user fees, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said today.
In calling for a $12 million appropriation equal to the effect of the 1995 appropriation the administration's 1996 budget eliminates the requirement to collect user fees to offset the program budget. It retains the possibility of user fees to supplement the budget. NOAA will also continue to work with sanctuary communities to increase voluntary support through donations, fees, foundations, product marketing, corporate sponsorships and other innovative fundraising initiatives. NOAA will retain any funds received through these means as additive to current program funding levels for use in protecting and managing national marine sanctuaries.
þThis past year, we continued to work with local communities to protect the marine environment and the economies they support. We also heard from these same communities and elsewhere that although support for national marine sanctuaries must continue at both the public and private levels, imposing mandatory user fees on sanctuary users to offset the federal commitment is not the solution,þ said Jeffrey Benoit, director of NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.
The 1995 appropriation called for collecting up to 25% of the sanctuary program budget through mandatory user fees. In public meetings, constituents expressed concern that such action would erode growing support for protecting and preserving the marine environment. The President's budget reflects that concern and removes mandatory user fees.
National marine sanctuaries are designated to protect marine environments that have nationally and sometimes internationally significant conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, research, educational or aesthetic qualities. As steward of the nation's coastal and ocean resources, NOAA's Sanctuaries and Reserves Division administers the National Marine Sanctuary Program.