CoastGIS'99: geomatics and coastal environment
the federal government retains considerable control over commerce,
navigation, defence, fisheries, and international matters. Under section 8(g) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, states share federal
revenues within 3 nautical miles beyond their state seaward boundary
(43 USC §§ 1303 et seq.). States may also exert influence over federal
activities within the Exclusive Economic Zone, as established by the
federal consistency provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act
(16 USC §§ 1451 et seq.). Many of these complexities and overlapping
geometries can be seen in figure 2.
Figure 2
Marine regulatory
and jurisdictional bounderies
in South Florida, us.
In the US, federal and state agencies have a variety of overlapping
authorities and jurisdictions. Some of the most important federal players
include the US Coast Guard, US Environmental Protection Agency, US
Minerals Management Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, and NOAA.
This fragmented approach to management of ocean resources at the
national level often results in redundant efforts, inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and lack of coordination among agencies with tangled, overlapping jurisdictions. Perhaps more problematic are the unidentified
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