from: The CSO Weekly Report, May 16, 2008  / Issue 08.15, Coastal States Organization,

http://www.coastalstates.org:

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation unanimously endorsed the plan, which would roughly double the size of the Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. H.R. 1187 would add more than 1,000 square nautical miles to Northern California's extensive network of marine sanctuaries. The proposal would nearly double the size of the Gulf of Farrallones and Cordell Banks sanctuaries, expanding their boundaries westward and northward off the coast of Sonoma County, California.  A popular nesting ground for elephant seals and sea lines, the protected area hosts more than one-third of the world's whale and dolphin species including the largest concentration of endangered blue whales.  The second sanctuary bill, S. 2281, would give an eightfold expansion to Lake Huron's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The sanctuary, known as "shipwreck alley," currently contains 116 wrecks preserved in the lake's cold, fresh waters. The expansion pushes the boundary eastward to the international boundary to protect another 178 shipwrecks. The designations do not prohibit commercial fishing but do bar oil drilling and other development.