Enforcement at Coastal Resources Management

This article is the last of a seven week-series of articles that highlight the activities of the Coral Reef Initiative summer interns stationed at CRMO and DEQ. This week, CRM enforcement summer intern, Roxanna Arriola, describes her summer project.

By Roxanna Arriola
Special to the Saipan Tribune

Our island is home to many different species of plant and animals, but often people overlook the vast quantities of species that reside in our ocean. An ecosystem of its own, the ocean changes daily, often due to man-made disturbances. When I first received the news that I had been accepted as the Coastal Resources Management enforcement intern, I was overjoyed. Not only because the position would keep me occupied during the summer, but also because protecting our island environment is important to me.

Being the enforcement intern means that I am part of enforcing the laws that protect and conserve our fragile environment. The CRM office has the job of permitting and monitoring wetland and coastal zone areas. Every new project that is to be built in these zones has to be permitted and the developers must follow certain procedures. These procedures keep our oceans and our wetlands safe and clean. Every project that is built is frequently monitored to ensure the safety of the surrounding environment.

A number of disturbances such as trash lying around, runoff into a body of water, or incorrect irrigation, could call for a citation. As an intern here at CRM, I am able to experience this monitoring hands-on by following the enforcement officers to the various sites on island.

The island is broken into six major areas; five on Saipan and one for Managaha. My task here at CRM is to identify all the major permits that were issued between the years of 1987-2002. Of those permitted projects, I have to identify which ones were never built. Not building a permitted project within a certain amount of time is a violation of the permit. This calls for the permit to be terminated. Once I have compiled a list of these permits that must be terminated I have to write a letter of termination.

This letter explains to the permit holder that they have violated permit procedures and that their permit is terminated. If they still wish to build they must acquire a new permit.

The letter is then sent out to the various companies. This project has given me an understanding of how complicated the permitting process actually is. There are many terms and conditions before and after you acquire a permit that people must follow. This permitting process is extremely important to our coastal and wetland areas and must be strictly adhered to.

Now that the summer is through, I plan to return to Northern Marianas Academy for my senior year of high school. Next summer I hope to be back here as an intern once again.