United States Analysis
Status: Initial for EEZ and in-depth for several individual states
Within the United States, the feasibility of using Marine Conservation Agreements (MCAs) must be analyzed at the individual state or federal level, depending on where within the seascape the proposed MCA will be located. Individual coastal states possess management responsibility for most activities in state waters, which start at the state's coastline and generally extend seaward three nautical miles (except in Connecticut, Florida and Texas, with the latter two extending seaward nine nautical miles). The U.S. federal government has jurisdiction within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which generally starts at the seaward limit of the states' jurisdiction and extends 200 nautical miles from the coastline. Below you’ll find high level overviews for U.S. state waters and U.S. federal waters as well links to more detailed information on each U.S. coastal state.
U.S. State Overview
Each U.S. ocean coast state1 has a unique landscape and seascape, as well as its own way of managing ocean and coastal resources, which affect the ability of practitioners to implement MCAs. Given the differences in state management regimes, state-level analyses help determine the role and feasibility of MCAs in each specific jurisdiction. As such, this toolkit provides both in-depth and initial analyses for various coastal states in the United States.2 If MCAs are not well established in any given state, practitioners should consider augmenting the information provided here by using the Field Guide to identify the relevant steps and issues to consider before undertaking an MCA project. A comprehensive listing of state agency contact information can be found within Contacts and within each state analysis page. A table summarizing the state analyses can be viewed by clicking the blue arrows below the map.
U.S. State Analysis Summary Table 
Click the arrows to open or close the table summarizing U.S. States Analyses.
Federal EEZ Overview
The management and conservation of federal waters in the U.S. is complicated. There are over 140 federal laws and more than 20 federal entities that relate to ocean management within the jurisdiction of the United States federal government.3 Jurisdictional authority over some activities is well-established, such as for off-shore fisheries and oil exploration, while for other activities is poorly established, such as for aquaculture and bioprospecting.4 A primer on U.S. ocean jurisdictions was developed by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (download pdf, 155k).
The U.S. Federal Submerged Lands Act (download .pdf, 176k), and subsequent court rulings interpreting it, formally transfers ownership and authority of certain submerged lands to the states as well as defines the seaward boundaries of state jurisdiction. The U.S. Federal Clean Water Act (download .pdf, 537k) provides a framework for regulation of water quality in surface and tidal waters, including wetlands, to which states must conform. The BEACH Act (download .pdf, 116k) provides funding for monitoring of water quality at bathing beaches. Finally, all coastal states have federally approved coastal plans under the Coastal Zone Management Act (download .pdf, 196k).
Multiple Uses and Leasing
Despite recent assertion that it is not legally possible or functionally necessary to privatize ocean lands and resources lying within the EEZ of the United States5, private entities have already acquired proprietary rights for oil, natural gas, sand, gravel, salt, sulfur, and utility transmission lines. For example, in 2006 the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement had recorded 8,270 active oil and gas leases that cover 44 million acres of the EEZ.6 Other existing uses include hazardous material sites, shipping channels, dumping areas, artificial reefs, and marine protected areas. In addition, new leasing programs are currently being considered for alternative energy and aquaculture facilities. The question remains if and how these new and historical leasing programs can be used for conservation purposes as well as development, resource extraction, and energy purposes.
1 While Great Lakes states are coastal states under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), the focus of this toolkit is on marine—or saltwater—conservation. U.S. territories, also included under the CZMA, have been omitted only for lack of time. We hope to include them in the future.
2 Sources of information for the U.S. State analyses include descriptions and evaluations of state coastal management programs available from the NOAA web site, and the increasingly rich information available on state agency web sites. We also frequently consulted the Submerged Lands Survey: Update 2000 (pdf, 491k), presented at the 19th Annual International Submerged Lands Management Conference, and the Surfrider Foundation’s State of the Beach (2007). While we cannot guarantee the accuracy of everything in the state analyses, every effort has been made to appropriately characterize state management regimes. Please Contact Us if you discover errors or significant omissions.
3 Pew Oceans Commission. 2003. America's Living Oceans: Charting a Course for Sea Change. A Report to the Nation. Pew Oceans Commission, Arlington, VA. Accessed on-line on December 10, 2007. (Web site)
4 U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. 2004. An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century. Final Report. Washington, D.C. Accessed on-line on December 10, 2007. (Web site)
5 Osherenko, G. 2007. New Discourses on Ocean Governance: Understanding Property Rights and the Public Trust. Journal of Envt'l Law & Lit. Volume 21.
6 Minerals Management Service. 2006. Status of Federal OCS Leasing Program 2006. Washington, D.C. (pdf, 2.2M)
