good morning everyone the subcommittee on fisheries wildlife and or sions will now come to order we're meeting today for the consideration of four measures h r twenty nine sixty four the captive primate safety act h r fifty three feet a bill to authorize the secretary of commerce to sale or exchange certain national oceanic and atmospheric administration property located in norfolk virginia fifty four fifty one the coastal zone reauthorization act of two thousand eight hundred fifty seven forty one the shark conservation act i would now like to recognize the ranking member mr brown for any opening remarks you may care to  just ask you all the existing relationships between the states and federal activists offshore these provisions will be used by outside groups of him to offshore natural gas development that would be used to litigate legitimate offshore in cost of energy activities with these bills without you back and chair thanks the ranking member the gentleman from south carolina mr brown for his opening remarks pursuant to committee rule three and house rule eleven consent that step be authorized to make necessary and technical changes to all the bills reported today subject to the approval of the minority hearing minority hearing no objection so ordered i also ask unanimous consent that for any bill ordered reported today with amendments that the bill be considered reported with an amendment to strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the text of the bill with perfecting amendments adopted in the subcommittee hearing objection so ordered now the first item for consideration this morning is h r twenty nine sixty four the captive primate safety act h r twenty nine sixty four would amend the lacie act to prohibit the sale or the purchase of non human primates in interstate or foreign commerce the bill is narrowly crafted to serve as a federal backstop to aid the states in enforcing their own wildlife laws h r twenty nine sixty four would safeguard public health and safety and protect the welfare of non human primates by minimizing contact with strangers and untrained people that can lead to possible disease spread and physical harm to both the public and the non human primate themselves it would not impact trade or transportation of the animals for zoos or research facilities and it was supported by a wide range of primate experts considered read and open for amendment at any point hearing no objection so ordered we are now ready to start the amendment process are there any amendments to the bill  i thank the gentleman for his amendment is there any further discussion of the amendment i have an amendment to the amendment and ask unanimous consent that it be considered as read  my amendment supports mr brown's goal of ensuring that non human primate owners can obtain veterinary care for their animals but does add some conditions to ensure the wellbeing of both animals and people during the animals transit and stay at the veterinarian facility in addition the amendment would clarify that the transportation provision a veterinary care must be in accordance with all otherwise applicable state and local laws is there if not the question is on the back dahlia one amendment to the amendment offered by the gentleman from south carolina all those in favor signify by saying all those opposed signify by saying no the i's appear to have it the  have it and the amendment is agreed to the question is now on the amendment offered by the gentleman from south carolina as amendment as amended all those in favor say aye all those opposed say no the i's appear to have it the ayes ha office of law enforcement administration primary concern is the serviceability to meet the standard forthwith created by this division in this congress and lonely or proposed to substantially increase the workload of the law enforcement division by an act void of their current seventy vacances the net effect of my members would be to further increase their lot of work for the two hundred twenty five agents which is still thirty positions below their highest level five years ago and thirty six age below their statutory limit we are going to mandate new responsibilities and we should at least give them the resources they need to enforce the laws to simply pass the laws without any real hope of having them effectively implemented short amendment i thank the gentleman from south carolina is there any further discussion on the brown amendment if not i support the amendment and i thank the gentleman offering it if not the question is now on the amendment offer by the gentleman from south carolina all those in favor signify by saying all those opposed signify by saying no the i's appear to have it the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to are there any further amendments the question is now on h r twenty nine sixty four as amended to all those in favor say that was opposed in the opinion of the chair the eyes have it the bill is recommended favorably to the full committee on natural the next item for consideration is h r fifty three fifty a bill to authorize the secretary of commerce to negotiate an agreement with the city of norful virginia to convey or changer property utilized by the national  atmospheric administration beginning in two thousand to part of revitalization of its downtown waterfront the city expressed an interest in acquiring a three point seven acre know up property in order to complete its plans to redevelop the fort north fork neighborhood although this property is actively used by nola the agency has expressed interest in either conveying or exchanging the property with the city provided that there is no disruption of no activities and that no additional costs are zero and by the federal government this legislation authorized the secretary of commerce to negotiate a final agreement with the city any agreement would have to be in the best interest of no other and any settlement amount would have to provide fair market value for the property i now recognize the gentleman from south carolina for any statement he would like to make  know is there any other member that wishes to speak on this legislation i now ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read open for amendment at any point hearing no objection so ordered i have an amendment that in the nature of a substitute and i ask unanimous consent that it be considered as read hearing no objection so ordered my management would make several clarifying changes to the bill as introduced specifically it makes the proces that result from any settlements subject to appropriations and requires that both the appropriations committee and the committee on natural resources be notified if a settlement is reached the amendment also includes language to clarify that any agreement between the parties must be in accordance with existing statutes governing federal property and that future property appraisals are conducted in conformance with the uniform appraisal standards for federal land acquisitions finally in order to focus the attention of both parties to reach an agreement it inserts a two year timeframe for negotiations before the authority granted to the secretary under the bill automatic automatically terminates this amendment is supported by no us the city of new york for the bill's sponsor and our colleagues on the appropriations committee is there are further discussion on this amendment if not the question is on the amendment all those in favor say aye all those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair the eyes have it and the amendment is agreed to the question is now on the passage of  r fifty three fifty as amended all those in favor say aye all those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair the eyes have it and the bill is recommended to the full committee on natural resources the next item for consideration is h r fifty four fifty one the coastal zone reauthorization act of two thousand and eight its a bill to renew an increase appropriation support implementation of the coastal zone management act by the north and the coastal states the congress last to reauthorize this easy m a n one nine hundred ninety six much has happened over the past twelve years to highlight the new challenges confronting coastal regions across the country including the pacific territory that i represent the island of guam recent reports issued by the ocean commission's delivered a much needed wake up call to the congress to engage not only coastal managers but all stakeholders in a thoughtful dialogue to determine how the c m a should be amended to address emerging challenges such as regional governance climate change adaptation energy development and habitat protection and conservation the reality however is that this dialogue has only just begun and while i am optimistic that in time a new consensus will be forthcoming we need to act now to ensure that no one and the coastal states have sufficient resources today to successfully implement the c m a the coastal zone management act remains one of our most valuable laws to ensure that our nation's coastal zone where over fifty percent of the u s population lives and which generates four point five trillion dollars or roughly half of our nation's gross domestic comments mr section gerri thank you very much i would just like to compliment you on your opening statement and associate myself with your remarks i was particularly interested in the part of your opening statement where you talked about the rapid pace of change that takes place in the coastal areas in fact it seems to me that all of the geographic areas in our great country the coastal zone areas change the quickest and while you were while you were giving your opening statement i was i thought i thought of a story that i heard recently i was over in st michaels maryland and one of the things that makes st michael's famous is that when the british during the revolution tried to  that as the british came and fired their weapons at the at the at the colonists they shot their weapons into the tree tops and i thought to myself how different the area that we now call the eastern shore of maryland must have been back in those days when nobody lived there and now as you travel down the eastern shore you come to one town after another and developments and settlements in between the  towns and out in the st michael's area itself it's actually one house after another such a wonderful place to live those are the kinds of changes that come to the taken place in coastal areas not just over hundreds of years but just in my lifetime i became interested in sailing in the early one nine hundred seventy s and i sailed up in the new jersey waters in a little twenty two foot sailboat to see a lot of a place called cedar creek and i'd sail out into barnegat bay i wonder a body of water in a couple of a couple of decades so you're right the coastal zone management act was originally written and i think correctly it was a good idea to write it in one thousand nine hundred seventy two but things have changed in the coastal areas more than any other area in our country since one nine hundred seventy two and so i support your amendment in the nature of a substitute i think it is well written and well well intended and well written  do have an amendment that i would like to offer to it at the appropriate time but i compliment you on your hard work in this area i thank the gentleman from new jersey mr saxon mr salley would you have any comments i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read and open for amendment at any point hearing no objection so ordered i have an amendment in the nature of a substitute and i ask unanim during the feb twenty eighth hearing on caesium a related bills the fisheries subcommittee received support of testimony regarding the need to provide immediate assistance to coastal states to address several emerging challenges those included the likely effects of climate change on coastal regions the need to plan for renewable energy development and the preservation of working waterfronts based on these recommendation my amendment in the nature of a substitute would incorporate into the underlying bill revised versions of three separate bills h r thirty two twenty three that keep our waterfronts working active two thousand and seven h r fifty four fifty two the coastal state renewable new voluntary and i stress voluntary grant programs to encourage coastal states to complete plans to address the challenges affecting coastal states from maine to hawaii ongoing state efforts demonstrate the need for such support two weeks ago the commonwealth of massachusetts released the first state ocean zoning plan intended in part to plan for renewable ocean energy development off shores other states such as oregon and new hampshire also are confronting these issues the california resources agency along with the coastal states organization recently announced a call to action highlighting the need for greater attention and financial assistance to address the likely impacts of climate change on coastal communities and the environment specifically it stated and i quote while mitigation of greenhouse gases is critical to minimizing future impacts state and local resource managers have immediate responsibilities to plan for and adapt for these impacts and must begin by assessing  the the severe in nature of impacts on coastal communities industries infrastructure and natural resources to address these two issues my amendments incorporate the language of two bills h r fifty four fifty two and  fifty four fifty three introduced by our colleague congresswoman lois capps in addition my amendment incorporates congressman tom allen's working waterfronts bill h r thirty two twenty three this non controversial bill would implement recommendations gathered as part of the two thousand and seven national symposium of working waterways and waterfronts to provide new tools to encourage state and local preservation of working waterfronts such as fishing ports in closing my amendment addresses challenges affecting the coastal zone right now each provision is strongly supported by the coastal states and other stakeholders moreover the provisions from caps bills already passed the congress last year as part of chairman recalls energy legislation so i urge the adoption of my amendment to address the pressing issues resources that we have in this country it was embarrassing to see the president go to saudi arabia to drill more so we could have a more supply this country has more rich resources than any other nation in the world but we have come to the conclusion that the harvest our resources that's bad but it's bad and just certain areas it's ok to harvest those resources moving from you know from the east and northeast down to the south which is my district and i'm grateful to represent about one hundred seventy miles of the coast of south carolina we have some of the most beautiful beaches in the whole nation we're grateful for all those folks that company new jersey you know the parts of new england down to south carolina to enjoy beaches we have some forty million visitors a year so i'm grateful for those beaches but i'm concerned that if we don't do something of them were destroyed technology is there to harvest resources it's a shame that we want to restrict movement where we can harvest them there was put in the last last i guess two weeks ago we were discussing this looting we were in regards to the point of order raised by our colleague from south carolina the chair is prepared to rule against this point of order shale suitable alternative energy development sites this goes beyond the original bill which is pure numbers reauthorization of existing coastal zone managers that grant programs with three years and certainly goes beyond the authority of states on the existing in addition the new program in section seven working waterfront grants does not appear to restrict this application to the state's coastal zone especially when using the unrestricted terms access coupled with the president and land acquisition servitude the authorization for the two new programs in section five and section six beyond the years of authorization covered in regional bill which are two thousand and nine to two thousand and eleven and section five on page four line twenty one t the chair is prepared to rule against this point of order the coastal zone management act conveys considerable discretionary authority to the coastal states to plan and administer coastal management programs to address the comprehensive federal policies contained in the act this includes planning for a wide variety of activities within a state's coastal zone and also for activities outside of the state's coastal zone but affecting that area no these new plans are materially no different in school than other existing plans previously developed under the by the coastal states for issues such as coastal polluted runoff preservation of public access or ocean planning considering these facts the amendment is germane to the bill the staff has discussed this question with the parliamentarian's office and they agree that the substitute is germane consequently there is no substantial bases to sustain the point of order in addition i would note there is nothing in this bill or the amendment that would preclude energy development if anything it facilitate renewable energy development the question is shall the decision of the chair stand as the judgment of the committee all those in favor signify by saying i those opposed signify by say the eyes appear to have it in the opinion of the chair the eyes ha up there any other discussions on the amendment mr saxon you know will go ahead with  act which is the national estuary and research reserve program grants have an amendment to reauthorize the national estuary research reserve system which will update the foundation for the foundation for the system and bring the legislation in line how the system has evolved over time to still a national estuary research reserve is located in my district in new jersey which has been there now for some years it is one of twenty six reserves around the country that make up the national estuary research reserve system the system was developed to protect the biologically ecologically economically statically important areas along our coast known as estuaries the mission of the jacques cousteau reserve and all of the reserves in the system for that matter is to promote the responsible use management of our nation's nation through a program combining scientific research education and stewardship located within the unique new jersey pine barrens forest ecosystem on the coastal plain and the barrier islands of the coastal region we serve is of special ecological value the high environmental quality of the habitats within the reserve are consistent with the objective of the reserve system and preserve areas which retain a healthy ecosystem and provide for opportunity to serve the needs of our long term research monitoring programs the national estuary research reserve system was first authorized in one thousand nine hundred eighty two we have learned much about the value of our estuaries over the last thirty six years and it is time to improve the underlying authorization to better reflect how the program has evolved over the years  my amendment would better support the core mission of the national estuary research reserve system of research monitoring education training and natural resource stewardship including a system wide monitoring program coastal training last night and i'm concerned with not had enough time to examine how this amendment will change the existing nationalist research reserve system and what other ramifications i'm in with might have as i mentioned before have to  and technology committee and possibly energy commerce committee if energy used as a standalone bill we might be able to work out those potential referral problems support a bill gets introduced by every member of his office a day and accept it we may not i thank the gentleman and i can appreciate the concern raised by the ranking member regarding the late hour of the committee staff received a copy of mr sax's amendment i agree that additional advance notice is always preferred that said the ideas in the section amendment reflect the recommendations offered by ms jaime kosar who testified on behalf of the national research reserve association during the february twenty eighth oversight hearing on the caesium a related bills no one raised any concern about these recommendations during the hearing or afterwards we would be very happy to work with the gentleman from south carolina to address his concerns as the bill moves forward because we're moving something isn't in which he might not be amenable to suggestions quite the opposite i think if we move it along that we keep everything in play and moving in an expeditious way without compromising anybody's sense of concern at this point i thank the gentleman from hawaii is there any one else on the committee that wishes to make any statements if not the question is on the amendment offered by mr saxon all those in favor signify by saying i i all those opposed signify by saying no the i's appear to have it the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to thank you i wanted to apologize because of other committee requirements i wasn't unable to attend be part of the discussion of the substitute amendment but i wanted to voice for the record my appreciation of the chair including my climate change and key stakeholders and i would like also to mention that last week the nation's leading scientists and policy makers and staff on issues pertaining to this amendment and this a substitute bill of and then meant gathered in monterey many of them are here on capitol hill this week and the discussion there was about ways we could advance positive marine conservation legislation i think this fits into an example of what that conference was about this amendment is consistent with what was discussed and accomplished and moderate just a few days ago so i thank the chair again and urge my colleagues to move forward and i am grateful that we can push this forward amendment my intent is to offer this amendment today and withdraw for further consideration of the full committee but as you mentioned in your opening statement as i emphasized later more and more people are moving to the coast to enjoy the beauty of recreational opportunities the pressures of urbanisation and pollution along our coast threaten to impair watersheds impact wildlife habitat and cause irreparable damage to fragile coastal areas during the years that i've been here in congress i made it a priority to promote the protection of our oceans and effective conservation and management of our living marine resources from protecting coastal wetlands to cleaning up our estuaries to promoting sustainable fisheries to preventing ocean pollution all  priorities of mine during my tenure here in congress we have accomplished a great deal as highlighted by more than two hundred recommendations contained in the u s commission on ocean policy report much remains to be done my amendment today would add a provision to provide grants to coastal communities to support important planning assistance to coordinate and implement activities to promote coastal ecosystem health and reduce the causes that degrade coastal waters and habitat i first offered a we a similar amendment during the hundred seventh congress did not make it into the final version of the bill but it's relevant and important has become more evident as time has passed providing affective support for integrated coastal and watershed management is vital to our oceans and coasts and the only way we will build sustainable coastal communities for the long term success depends on all partners to effectively use the tools that we have at hand develop new tools where they are needed and employ innovative innovative approaches which we can all learn and build a sustainable solution from  amendment today would provide another two vital tool that is much needed my colleagues support this amendment i guess i should add in full committee madam chair lady that is just by way of introduction what i'm trying what i would like to try to do with this amendment is it is a way of dealing with the many issues that have to do with runoff and non point source pollution that communities are struggling with all up and down the east coast and i'm sure other coastal areas as well as well as in guam and i think this would be an opportunity for the federal government to send help directly to communities who who want to volunteer to step up and deal with this is a grant where communities could apply through the state system of the federal money would then flow through the states to the communities and they would have therefore access to the resources that they need to deal with these very aggravating problems that have to do during my tenure here we have been relatively successful we as a country have been relatively successful in dealing with point sources of pollution when it comes to people fertilizing their lawns when it comes to oil drop o f oil that comes from cars as they drive down the road another non point sources pets etc we have been relatively unsuccessful and this is an amendment which will bring federal dollars to bear on those difficult issues you know i represent the beach area you're on and i know that we have we have to close the beaches and it's because of the runoff you know the bacteria accumulates on the beaches and so we try to address that  put the amendment in and withdraw because obviously we can talk about that there's a formula put in here two to one federal the state contribution after two thousand and eleven one to one ratio after two thousand and twelve the problem is and why i agree we i think we should withdraw the amendment right now as i'm not sure that those ratios are the best because it depends on the kind of survey that you're going to do some of these surveys i think might be such that i'm assuming that that hard and strict formula of state and federal matching as annunciation in the amendment might work against what we're trying to accomplish so  even though on the on its face it looks like it's all said about federal and state contributions i myself had some reservations about the idea of setting up a ratio  ratio or two thousand and twelve anyway this is why we're doing this in full committee but my point was i don't i don't want to lose the the essence of what we're talking about and in formula ratios that can we can that's that's subject to all kinds of discussion and and and  reconsideration if we agree on the on the fundamental underlying principle which is what the amendment is i thank the gentleman from hawaii and mr jackson can i speak to the amendment  no different than the rest of the program  i thank the gentleman i wish to recognize mr whitman vibrant coastal communities and ecosystems within tidewater virginia and more than sixty percent of our population live within the coast and that population continues to grow virginia is blessed to have over five thousand miles of shoreline four title rivers the chesapeake bay and the atlantic ocean coastline and it's clear that the coastal zone management is an important issue for my state my district and caesium reauthorization gives us an opportunity to continue to support this graham that has done an important job coordinating efforts to solve coastal management issues i do have a few concerns with the amendment in the nature of a substitute as it's written and i support renewable energy production and realize that oceans do play an important role in meeting our growing energy demand and i also recognize that as climate changes communities will need to take steps to adapt and mitigate these changes however i am concerned about the open ended funding level authorized in the language and finally i know that many watermen in my district are concerned about the access issues in principle i support mr allen's goal to preserve working waterfronts however i would like to make sure that the language does not create unintended conflicts or overly burden localities and private citizens and i do look forward to working with my colleagues on these important issues facing our coastal communities i do want to first offer my support for mr saxon's amendment to h r fifty four fifty one to include a grant program to assist states and localities promoting conservation projects and i can tell you having been there it is extraordinarily important in getting these projects underway as he points to these non point sources of pollution are the biggest challenge in our coastal areas in being able to make sure that localities have the tools that they need to address those issues are are extraordinarily important having served on a local board and being frustrated with being asked to do things whether it's a federal requirement or a state requirement not having the resources to do them is one of the one of the critical pieces i think to making sure that our cesium program is successful so i applaud mr saxton for his efforts here and i think that that's that's critical for this as i understand to the amendment concerning the national estrin reserve system  is is a very important piece of cesium and i'm interested because my district also includes one of these reserve system centers along the york river the chesapeake bay virginia reserve conducts basic and applied research in monitoring efforts to better manage virginia's coastal region and researchers from a variety of state and federal agencies academic institutions and private organizations conduct a variety of different research and monitoring programs at the reserve and it's critical to make sure that we develop the data necessary to properly implement the caesium program and the reserve is managed by the virginians to the marine science and the college of william and mary and as i said they do a fantastic job and the information that comes out of there is so critical to managing  pollution control programs on the back and also making sure that we make proper resource decisions there so i hope to work with mr sachs and saxton ranking member brown and the chairwoman to address this important again i support both of those and as i think they're very valuable i think there are some things that we can do to find to them to make them and i thank the gentleman from virginia mr whitman and now i recognize the gentleman from career as i have done i want to tell you that in time to come when the recognition takes place of those who have been crucial in the saving of coastal areas and those who will be recognized for their legislative act human and foresight on a worldwide basis mr saxton is going to be in the forefront  i can tell you for example the asian elephant has been saved today in south asia because of the efforts of jim saxton that's not the only thing that's just believe me i don't wan limited virtues so i can speak authoritatively on that but that's my intention because this will be a culmination of his contributions as he leaves us this coastal community conservation and i'll tell you why i think  it shows his legislative abilities there's probably some concern every i think most people on the committee know that i've become very very concerned about energy independence and the question of being able to what's the proper approach that we need to take in energy independence in the outer continental shelf inevitably that will raise questions of the environment it raises questions about good scientific knowledge such as mr whitman has has clearly enunciated weather center yes to every side whether it happens to do a non point source pollution and in coastal areas and able to fund it from a practical point of view we should be doing that but from a legal point of view which is what takes place all the time now if you make a proposal as as i and mr peterson have for example about the possibility of exploration for natural gas resources offshore and instantly i mean inevitably you're going to have legal challenges are all environmental laws being properly applied as it should be there's no question i have no argument with any of that but the problem takes place over and over again i'll draw a parallel  he use is so on our in in the ocean with respect to marine mammals everybody's got an opinion but there's very little in the way of scientific evidence or or surveys that can give us some sense of legislators in the direction we should be going if we if we want to accomplish something so i think the way this is written is so comprehensive jim i give you credit on this and the staff that helped to put it together this is a survey that needs to be that surveys that need to be done anyway we should be doing this regard less of whether it's about renewable energy which i fully completely agree with or whether it's capturing energy that may already be there in a safe way oceanographic observations and measurements of the physical ocean environment especially of course i have to admit to a conflict here so i just make lee active areas you know i'm living right in the middle of one there's a new island being created off the big island of hawaii right now that should should  ck up above the ocean of all fifty thousand years there's a new island being built and we need to observe that this is the earth being this is actual earth being born the way the way the earth was came from the ocean and so we need to survey that sensitive marine ecosystems other areas possessing important conservation recreational ecological story aesthetic values we should be doing that surveys of existing marine unions in outer continental shelf and identification of potential conflicts if we do that now we're go save ourselves a lot of legal grief later on and probably in the near future when we take up the issues of is it possible to go to the outer continental shelf shelves and and safely be  ocean and the extraction of energy the opposite i think this is a very very shrewdly put together piece of legislation that lets us move forward to get the kind of information we need to have in order to make your dishes decisions that will take into account what's required of us legally and what is required of us in terms of policy and the last thing i would say is that from the point of view of people from  hawaii not only does this provide support for an integrated coastal and watershed management system but it's crucial to ensuring that the oceans and the coasts are developed in a sustainable manner for the long term again i think mr whitman has kind of summarized that as well i think this is jim i think this is as good a piece of legislation as i've ever seen in terms of its being comprehensive and insightful and as i said from the whine point of view we have a concept called from the ocean to the sea that the only way you can make sense in terms of proper stewardship is to understand that even though you may have a high point of a mountain and a low point of the ocean at oceanside everything is connected together that ocean affects what happens on the land what happens on the land affects the ocean and that you have to have a comprehensive point of view that's what this amendment does and i'm proud to support you on it and i hope the committee will recognise it  by incorporating it into whatever bill we have and as i said i look forward to putting in an amendment at that time to name it after mr saxton i thank the gentleman from hawaii and thank him for his strong gentleman mr kildee for his remarks and we'll go back to the amendment offered by the gentleman from new jersey mr saxon i want to thank you for offering this important amendment and then i do agree that it is better to withdraw it for now although it's received great support here from the members and we will work together to work out any questions and then i'll place it on the fast track and i a are there any further amendments the question is now on the amendment in the nature of a substitute is amended all in favor say aye it was opposed in the opinion of the chair the eyes appear to have it and the amendment is agreed to the question is now on the adoption of h r fifty four fifty one is amended all in favor say aye those opposed in the opinion of the chair the eyes appear to have it and the bill is recommended favorably to the full committee the final item is consideration h r fifty seven forty one the shark conservation act of two thousand and eight h r fifty seven forty one includes several measures to strengthen the implementation and the enforcement of the shark finning prohibition congress passed way back in two thousand and ensure that the original intent of congress is achieved first the bill eliminates any enforcement loophole related to the transport of shark fins by prohibiting any vessel from having custody control or possession of shark fins without the corresponding carcass this is intended to ensure that u s vessels cannot circumvent the ban by traveling to the high seas purchasing fins from vessels engaged in shark finning and bringing them into the u s waters when congress finning ban in two thousand it assumed these transport vessels were covered pursuant to the definition of fishing vessel in the magnusson act but we know now a clarification is needed second the bill as introduced deletes the rebuttal presumption that shark fins were taken held or landed in violation of the law if the total weight of the shark fins landed or found on board exceeds five percent of the total weight of the shark carcasses this fit into carcass ratio was intended to provide a mechanism for enforcing the fitting prohibition by ensuring that the amount of thins landed is proportional to the amount of bodies however it is very difficult to determine whether a given set of fins be long to a particular dressed carcass as a result there are reports of fisherman mixing fins and carcasses for maximum profit continuing to discard less desirable fin sharks at sea finally the bill amends the high seas fishing moratorium protection act to allow the secretary of commerce to identify and list nations that have fishing vessels that have not adopted a regulatory program for the conservation of sharks that is similar to the united states this amendment promotes the conservation of sharks internationally and provides a more equal playing field for u s fishermen who are already subject to the banned this is an issue that was much discussed when the ban was put into place in two thousand and it makes sense to provide u s fisherman with this level of protection and i now recognizing the ranking member mr brown for south carolina for any opening remarks he'd like to make sure i can support this legislature with the changes that would be made in the  and just want to comment about how important the closing this loophole is to shore conservation as we all know sharks have a tendency if we are not if we don't closely manage to be overfished especially with their long maturity times this will go a long way to making sure that everybody is working on a level playing field as far as shark harvest as especially critical for our pelagic sharks as we know our challenge from time to time by overfishing  wish to speak on the legislation i now ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read and open for amendment at any point during no objection so ordered i have an amendment in the nature of a substitute and i ask unanimous consent that it be so ordered my amendment would make two changes to the bill as introduced first includes language recommended by the administration to address the transshipment loophole without restricting the legal transshipment of shark dance there was a concern raised at the hearing that our initial effort to address this loophole was too broad so we worked with the administration to address that second it restores the rebuttal presumption provision in the original law we had proposed deleting it for the reasons i mentioned above but the administration was concerned that simply deleting it might create more confusion for the enforcement in short the amendment will improve shark conservation and close the transshipment loophole without creating new problems that were not intended is there any further discussion on the amendment if not the question is on the amendment all those in favor say aye all those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair the eyes have it in the amendment is agreed to the question is now on passage of  is no further business i thank the members of the staff of the subcommittee for their work and participation in this markup and without objection the subcommittee stands adjour