1

The Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation

2

(Jones) recommended the following amendment:

3

4

     Senate Amendment

5

     Delete lines 50 through 102

6

and insert:

7

beds of Brevard County, Charlotte County, Lee County, Manatee

8

County, Monroe County, or Pinellas County or the natural

9

resources that depend on the health and productivity of those

10

seagrass beds.

11

     (b) "Fund" means the Ecosystem Management and Restoration

12

Trust Fund.

13

     (c) "Natural resources" means land, air, water, ground

14

water, drinking water supplies, fish and their habitats,

15

wildlife and their habitats, biota, and other such resources

16

belonging to, managed by, held in trust by, appertaining to, or

17

otherwise controlled by the state.

18

     (d) "Seagrass bed" means a community of flowering

19

underwater plants which is located in shallow marine waters,

20

such as in a bay or lagoon, or along the continental shelf in

21

the Gulf of Mexico.

22

     (2) The Legislature finds that:

23

     (a) The preservation of seagrass beds is critical to

24

protecting the marine life, water quality, and ocean-based

25

economy of this state. Seagrass beds maintain water quality and

26

provide food, habitat, and nursery areas for numerous species of

27

marine life. This state's multimillion-dollar fishing and diving

28

industries depend on the health and productivity of the seagrass

29

beds. Estimates indicate that thousands of acres of seagrass

30

beds in this state have been scarred from boat propellers.

31

Impacts from boat groundings fragment the grass bed, restricting

32

the movement of the marine life that depends upon the habitat.

33

Seagrass beds can take up to a decade to recover from propeller

34

scars.

35

     (b) Seagrass beds and the natural resources that depend on

36

the health and productivity of seagrass beds are subject to

37

instantaneous injury or loss from a variety of negligent and

38

willful acts in ways that cannot be foreseen and provided for in

39

the normal budget process. Due to the unforseeability of such

40

incidents, funds have not been available for reimbursement of

41

extraordinary expenses incurred by the Department of

42

Environmental Protection in seeking compensation, on behalf of

43

the residents of the state, for the injury to or destruction of

44

these natural resources. As a result, a significant amount of

45

monetary damages recovered by the state for injury to or

46

destruction of its seagrass beds and the natural resources that

47

depend on the health and productivity of seagrass beds are

48

deposited into the general accounts of the State Treasury and

49

are not specifically set aside for the restoration or

50

rehabilitation of the injured or destroyed natural resources in

51

areas of the state where the injury or loss occurred.

52

     (3) The purpose of this section is to establish a pilot

53

program that provides for the immediate stabilization and

54

restoration of seagrass beds in Brevard, Charlotte, Lee,

55

Manatee, Monroe, and Pinellas Counties where damage has occurred

56

and to remediate the injury to or destruction of natural

57

resources that are dependent upon the health and productivity of

58

those seagrass beds.

59

     (4)(a) All damages recovered by or on behalf of the state

60

for injury to or destruction of the seagrass beds in Brevard,

61

Charlotte,

3/4/2008  9:54:00 AM     592-04378A-08