Boxer Praises Obama Administration for Expanding California Marine Sanctuaries

Press Release

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today praised the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) final rule to expand the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries, which would more than double the size of the sanctuaries and permanently protect the entire Sonoma County coastline and part of the Mendocino County coastline to just south of Alder Creek.

Senator Boxer said, "I am grateful to the Obama Administration for this historic decision, which will more than double these magnificent national marine sanctuaries off the California coast and permanently protect one of the most productive coastal ocean regions on the planet."

Senator Boxer and former Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) were the chief sponsors of legislation to expand the sanctuaries and urged the Administration to use its authority to permanently protect the area.

Senator Boxer and Congresswoman Woolsey joined NOAA officials when the proposed expansionwas first announced in December 2012. After a process lasting more than two years that included public comment and research by NOAA and its scientific partners, the rule will go into effect after a review period.

The expansion will help support the more than half a million jobs and over $34 billion in economic activity that depend on ocean tourism, recreation, and fishing in California. It will also permanently protect important habitat for at least 25 threatened or endangered species, including magnificent blue whales, humpback whales, northern fur seals and leatherback turtles -- California's official marine reptile; spectacular living reefs of corals and sponges; one-third of the world's whale and dolphin species; at least 163 bird species, including the largest colony of seabirds in the continental U.S.; and more than 300 species of fish, including commercially valuable salmon and groundfish.

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