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16 USC Sec. 1453 01/05/99

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TITLE 16 - CONSERVATION

CHAPTER 33 - COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT

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Sec. 1453. Definitions

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For purposes of this chapter -

(1) The term ''coastal zone'' means the coastal waters

(including the lands therein and thereunder) and the adjacent

shorelands (including the waters therein and thereunder),

strongly influenced by each other and in proximity to the

shorelines of the several coastal states, and includes islands,

transitional and intertidal areas, salt marshes, wetlands, and

beaches. The zone extends, in Great Lakes waters, to the

international boundary between the United States and Canada and,

in other areas, seaward to the outer limit of State title and

ownership under the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.),

the Act of March 2, 1917 (48 U.S.C. 749) (48 U.S.C. 731 et seq.),

the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana

Islands in Political Union with the United States of America, as

approved by the Act of March 24, 1976 (48 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.),

or section 1 of the Act of November 20, 1963 (48 U.S.C. 1705), as

applicable. The zone extends inland from the shorelines only to

the extent necessary to control shorelands, the uses of which

have a direct and significant impact on the coastal waters, and

to control those geographical areas which are likely to be

affected by or vulnerable to sea level rise. Excluded from the

coastal zone are lands the use of which is by law subject solely

to the discretion of or which is held in trust by the Federal

Government, its officers or agents.

(2) The term ''coastal resource of national significance''

means any coastal wetland, beach, dune, barrier island, reef,

estuary, or fish and wildlife habitat, if any such area is

determined by a coastal state to be of substantial biological or

natural storm protective value.

(3) The term ''coastal waters'' means (A) in the Great Lakes

area, the waters within the territorial jurisdiction of the

United States consisting of the Great Lakes, their connecting

waters, harbors, roadsteads, and estuary-type areas such as bays,

shallows, and marshes and (B) in other areas, those waters,

adjacent to the shorelines, which contain a measurable quantity

or percentage of sea water, including, but not limited to,

sounds, bays, lagoons, bayous, ponds, and estuaries.

(4) The term ''coastal state'' means a state of the United

States in, or bordering on, the Atlantic, Pacific, or Arctic

Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, Long Island Sound, or one or more of

the Great Lakes. For the purposes of this chapter, the term also

includes Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth

of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Trust Territories of the

Pacific Islands, and American Samoa.