Full document / COSOC-W-86-002 - the National Sea Grant Library

Estuarineand Coastal Management• Toots ofthe
Trade. Proceedingsof the TenthNationalConference
of TheCoastal Society. October 12-15.19S6. New
Orleans.LA. Copyrightby The CoastalSociety
1987.
LEGAL ANALYSIS OF
ARTIFICIAL REEF DEVELOPMENT
A. L Sage
Mississippi Law Research Institute
University of Mississippi LawCenter
University.MS 38677
Introduction
The analysis herein Is taken from the legal component of a five-part
study of artificial reef planning and development for a three-state
area in the Northern Culf of Mexico, the specific area being the
Florida Panhandle and the Alabama and Mississippi coasts. The study
was directed by Dr. James I. Jones of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant
Consortium, co-sponsor of tho project with Continental Shelf
Associates, Inc., of Tequesta, Florida. Funds for the project were
provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Ron Schaled of
NMFS' St. Petersburg office served as program monitor.
The legal aspects of the study has both regional and national
characteristics, and the author has attempted to present both in this
paper. The subject matter covered by this paper includes permitting
and legal liability, while development Incentives and international
navigation law were also covered In the study. The regional/national
dichotomy is clearly apparent in the section on permitting, since the
areas specifically studied have Joint federal/state permit applications
for artificial reef construction. The section on liability is more
general in nature, but does cover certain aspects of the local law of
the three states involved, such as sovereign Immunity.
Federal Permitting
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is the primary permitting
authority for artificial roof construction and maintenance. Actually,
it is the only such federal authority, because, even though numerous
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