Hydrographic Services Amendments of 2003

Hydrographic Services Amendments of 2004 - Title I: NOAA Hydrographic Services Improvement - (Sec. 102) Amends the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 1998 (HSIA) to require the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (Administrator) to establish, equip, and maintain up to four Regional Navigation Response teams in priority coastal areas to conduct activities related to navigational safety and the validation of hydrographic data.

Authorizes the Administrator to: (1) establish and implement a volunteer program and accept volunteer services; and (2) participate in a joint institute that develops new hydrographic technology and conducts academic, educational, and outreach activities that assist the Administrator.

(Sec. 103) Designates as Koss Cove a cove on the southern coast of Elrington Island in Alaska, in honor of the late Able Bodied Seaman Eric Steiner Koss who served on the NOAA vessel RAINIER and died in the performance of a nautical charting mission off the Alaskan coast.

(Sec. 104) Requires the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) and the Secretary of the Interior to provide to specified congressional committees a plan to depict the same shorelines on NOAA nautical charts and U.S. Geological Survey mapping products.

(Sec. 105) Revises HSIA requirements relating to the Hydrographic Services Advisory Panel and certain duties of the Secretary and the NOAA Administrator.

(Sec. 106) Authorizes specified funds under HSIA in each fiscal year for the Great Lakes Water Level Observation Network.

Title II: Fishery Survey Vessels - (Sec. 201) Amends the Fisheries Survey Vessel Authorization Act of 2000 to revise and extend for FY 2005 and 2006 the authorization of appropriations for certain fishery survey vessels.

(Sec. 202) Directs the Secretary to report to specified committees on the acquisition of a new hydrographic survey vessel having specified capabilities, the retirement of any current vessel(s), and operation and maintenance cost comparisons between the two.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov