21st Century Guide to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary NOAA Protected Ecosystem, Marine Life, Mammals, Fish, Birds, Invertebrates, Plants, Reptiles (CD-ROM)

This up-to-date electronic book on CD-ROM provides comprehensive information on over 100 marine species at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, with biological information and photographs of marine mammals, fish, birds, invertebrates, plants, reptiles, and more. Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary is home to a rich and diverse community of marine life. The shoreline topography and currents in this region facilitate mixing of cool, nutrient rich waters from the north with warmer waters from the south, creating a biologic transition zone that brims with life. The Channel Islands provides everyone with a plethora of outdoor activities to choose from. Kayaking to any of the five islands, whether it is for a day trip or for a couple of nights of camping, shows the surrounding marine life in the area and spectacular views of the Santa Ynez Mountains on the mainland. Someone looking for a different view of the Islands can join one of the many boat or plane excursions bringing people to the five Islands year round. The islands provide fabulous snorkeling and SCUBA opportunities to even the unexperienced diver, where the diverse kelp forests can be explored in pristine waters. Boating, fishing, swimming, and even hiking and whale and bird watching can also be explored when visiting the Channel Islands Nation Marine Sanctuary. The National Marine Sanctuaries system is administered by NOAA. An environmental bill that focused on ocean health, the National Marine, Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, established a system of marine protected areas. This new system would be administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), established in 1970. The National Marine Sanctuaries Act - The purpose of this Act was to prevent "unregulated dumping of material into the oceans, coastal, and other waters" that endanger "human health, welfare, and amenities, and the marine environment, ecological systems and economic potentialities." Within this law, the transportation and dumping of radioactive, chemical, or biological substances were forbidden. However, this Act also included Title III, later called the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, which charged the Secretary of the Department of Commerce to identify, designate, and manage marine sites based on conservational, ecological, recreational, historical, aesthetic, scientific or educational value within significant national ocean and Great Lake waters. Under the newly created agency, NOAA began examining nationally significant marine areas for possible sanctuary designation. Two years after the Act was passed, the nation's first marine sanctuary was created to preserve the wreckage of the USS Monitor, a Civil War ironclad, resting in 240 feet of water off North Carolina, 16 miles off the coast of North Carolina. Over the next 25 years, eleven additional marine sanctuaries would be added. On the Pacific Ocean, Olympic Coast, Washington State and Monterey Bay, Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank in California joined the system and brought into it a rich diversity of marine ecosystems. The Flower Garden Banks, a coral oasis in a sea of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico was designated. In the Atlantic Ocean, Gray's Reef Stellwagen Bank, and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuaries protected precious coral reefs and rich fishing grounds, loggerhead turtles and right whales. In the Hawaiian Islands, a sanctuary protecting Humpback Whales was established to help preserve important breeding grounds of these vulnerable cetaceans. And the marine sanctuary farthest from the U.S. mainland was designated in Fagatale Bay, American Samoa in a fringing coral reef nestled within an eroded volcanic crater. In Fall 1999, the thirteenth sanctuary, and the first in the Great Lakes in Thunder Bay, Michigan, joined the system. This incredible CD-ROM is packed with over 16,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windo

This incredible CD-ROM is packed with over 16,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Macintosh systems. The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality to this impressive collection of government documents and material. Our news and educational discs are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Adobe Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages that can be rapidly reviewed, searched by finding specific words, or printed without untold hours of tedious research and downloading. Vast archives of important public domain government information that might otherwise remain inaccessible are available for instant review no matter where you are. This book-on-a-disc format makes a great reference work and educational tool. There is no other reference that is as fast, convenient, comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and portable - everything you need to know, from the federal sources you trust.