FYI:
Informative reference link.
Overview of California Ocean and Coastal Laws
Snipets therefrom:
Introduction
This inventory of California ocean laws is developed in response to Action Item 2 of the Governor’s Ocean Action Strategy1 and the Ocean Protection Council’s strategic plan. These documents direct an update of California’s inventory of ocean and coastal laws and
regulations. This inventory is designed to serve as reference material for the
work of the Ocean Protection Council and state and local agencies interested in ocean resource management. The inventory provides a generalized list of laws, which affect natural resources within the state’s coastal and
marine jurisdiction. Naturally, some redaction of relevant laws occurred in development of the inventory; laws that are not unique to ocean and coastal resources are generally not included in this inventory. For example, mining and timber laws are not included, though the regulation of these resources may directly or indirectly affect coastal and ocean resources. Included in this inventory are laws from various departments and commissions of California’s chief resources agencies: the
Resources Agency and California Environmental Protection Agency, as well as selected federal laws.
The
Pacific Ocean and its resources are so fundamental to California’s
legal landscape that it is referenced in our Constitution and founding documents.
References to the ocean and coastal resources are found in well over half of California’s 29 codes. Some codes provide a detailed regime for the identification and management of ocean resources; others mention these ocean resources only as a subset of a larger set of natural resources that are managed or regulated by the state. Two codes in particular provide
detailed laws concerning ocean and coastal resources. The Resources Code and the
Fish and
Game Code contain significant detail concerning the management of ocean and coastal resources. The regulation of saltwater
fish and fisheries, for example, is both detailed and complex in its organization. While this inventory discusses relevant portions of these codes, an evaluation of how these laws integrate federal or local law would be beyond this document’s intended
scope. This inventory provides a starting point for
California resource managers and other persons interested in these resources to identify where relevant laws are found and a simplified overview of their
scope and effect.
. . .
Article III, section 2 of the California Constitution provides that the boundaries of the state are those stated in the Constitution of 1849, as modified pursuant to statute.
California
Government Code Sections 170 and 171 provide for the boundaries of the state taking into consideration
offshore islands, bays and inland waters. Government Code §172 declares definitions and boundaries of certain navigable waters of the State. These code sections were enacted in 1949 in response to the United States Supreme Court decision in United States v. California, which held that the federal government, and not the states, has paramount rights to the lands offshore of the “inland waters” of the State.
The dispute over who owned the submerged lands lying off the California coast was partially resolved in 1953 by the Submerged Lands Act (SLA), discussed below, the main purpose of which was to modify the effect of the California decision by moving the boundary between federal and state jurisdiction to the seaward boundaries of the state.
Other sections of this code define the specific boundaries of several California counties whose boundaries include the
Pacific Ocean. The Harbor and
Navigation Code designates the state’s official “coastline” with reference to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic
Survey of 1933.
Under the above referenced state law, California's territorial boundaries extend three nautical miles (6076.103 ft x 3) beyond the outermost islands,
reefs, and rocks, and include all waters between those islands and the coast. Under this state law definition, the entire Santa Barbara Channel is arguably within the state. On the other hand, federal law as set forth in the Submerged Lands Act as interpreted by subsequent decisions of the United States Supreme Court, defines California's state
ownership boundaries more narrowly, extending three geographical miles (6087.15 feet x 3) from the coast and where inland waters meet the sea. Technically the three geographical miles are measured by creating concentric arcs from points on a base line that consists of either lower low
water adjacent to a
seaward physical point (an island, rock, breakwater, etc.) or a straight closing line across the mouth of a bay determined by the United States Supreme Court to be an inland
water (Monterey Bay and San Diego Bay are examples). This definition provides a three-mile-wide band around any islands lying off the coast, but excludes waters between the islands and the coast. Under this federal law definition of California's boundaries, areas such as the central portion of the Santa Barbara Channel are not within the state waters.
https://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/docs/Documents_Page/Noteworthy/Overview_Ocean_Coastal_Laws.pdf
Bon voyages.