Monitoring of estuary habitat restoration projects

In this section, the term “Under Secretary” means the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere of the Department of Commerce. The Under Secretary, in consultation with the Council, shall develop and maintain an appropriate database of information concerning estuary habitat restoration projects carried out under this chapter, including information on project techniques, project completion, monitoring data, and other relevant information. The Under Secretary, in consultation with the Council, shall develop standard data formats for monitoring projects, along with requirements for types of data collected and frequency of monitoring. The Under Secretary shall have general data compilation, coordination, and analysis responsibilities to carry out this chapter and in support of the strategy developed under this section, including compilation of information that pertains to estuary habitat restoration projects from other Federal, State, and local sources and that meets the quality control requirements and data standards established under this section. The Under Secretary shall use existing programs within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to create and maintain the database required under this section. The Under Secretary shall make the information collected and maintained under this section available to the public.