I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 10010 

To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

to add an economic cause as an allowable cause to declare a fishery 

resource disaster. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 18, 2024 

Ms. MACE (for herself, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. 

GOLDEN of Maine, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. CARL, 

Mr. D’ESPOSITO, and Mr. DONALDS) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act to add an economic cause as an allowable cause to declare a fishery resource disaster. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect American 

5 Fisheries Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ECONOMIC FISHERY RESOURCE DISASTERS. 

2 Section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

3 Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1861a(a)) 

4 is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

6 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

7 ‘‘economic cause,’’ after ‘‘discrete anthropogenic 

8 cause,’’; 

9 (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) 

10 through (G) as subparagraphs (F) through (I), 

11 respectively; 

12 (C) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 

13 subparagraph (D); 

14 (D) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(C) ECONOMIC CAUSE.—The term ‘eco17 nomic cause’ means any activity carried out by 

18 a foreign person that the Secretary deter19 mines— 

20 ‘‘(i) distorts the market for a fishery 

21 resource; 

22 ‘‘(ii) disrupts the sustainable harvest 

23 of a fishery resource; or 

24 ‘‘(iii) hinders the operational or eco25 nomic viability of a fishery resource.’’; 


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1 (E) in subparagraph (D)(i), as so redesig2 nated, by inserting ‘‘or significant disruption to 

3 the fishery resource or economy of a fishing 

4 community’’ after ‘‘fishery resource’’; and 

5 (F) by inserting after subparagraph (D), 

6 as so redesignated, the following: 

7 ‘‘(E) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘for8 eign person’ means— 

9 ‘‘(i) an individual who is not a citizen 

10 or national of the United States; 

11 ‘‘(ii) a government of a foreign coun12 try and any unit of such government; 

13 ‘‘(iii) an international financial insti14 tution (as the term ‘international financial 

15 institutions’ is defined in section 1701(c) 

16 of the International Financial Institutions 

17 Act (22 U.S.C. 262r(c))); 

18 ‘‘(iv) a partnership, association, cor19 poration, organization, or other combina20 tion of persons organized under the laws of 

21 or having its principal place of business in 

22 a foreign country; and 

23 ‘‘(v) a partnership, association, cor24 poration, organization, or other combina25 tion of persons organized under the laws of 


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1 the United States that is owned by, di2 rectly or indirectly controlled by, or subject 

3 to the direction of a person or an entity 

4 described in clauses (i) through (iv).’’; 

5 (2) in paragraph (3)(B)(v)— 

6 (A) in subclause (III), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

7 the end; 

8 (B) in subclause (IV), by striking the pe9 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

10 (C) by inserting after subclause (IV) the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(V) if applicable with respect to 

13 the cause of the fishery resource dis14 aster, information documenting the 

15 adverse effects of activities carried out 

16 by a foreign person on the operational 

17 or economic viability of the applicable 

18 fishery, including— 

19 ‘‘(aa) illegal, unreported, or 

20 unregulated fishing, including the 

21 use of forced or child labor; 

22 ‘‘(bb) predatory pricing; and 

23 ‘‘(cc) the provision of sub24 sidies that— 


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1 ‘‘(AA) have an adverse 

2 effect on the price in the 

3 United States or export 

4 markets of seafood produced 

5 by the applicable fishery; or 

6 ‘‘(BB) otherwise cause 

7 a distortion of such mar8 kets.’’; 

9 (3) in paragraph (4)(B)(i)(II)— 

10 (A) in item (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

11 end; 

12 (B) in item (jj), by striking the period at 

13 the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(kk) prices in the United 

16 States or export markets of sea17 food produced in the fishery; and 

18 ‘‘(ll) if the requester submits 

19 information described in para20 graph (3)(B)(v)(V), any activities 

21 carried out by a foreign person 

22 that contribute to an economic 

23 cause of the fishery resource dis24 aster and the specific economic 

25 effects thereof.’’; and 


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1 (4) in paragraph (5)(A)— 

2 (A) in clause (iii)— 

3 (i) by striking ‘‘a combination’’ and 

4 inserting ‘‘any combination’’; and 

5 (ii) by striking ‘‘and an anthropogenic 

6 cause’’ and inserting ‘‘, anthropogenic 

7 cause, or economic cause’’; 

8 (B) by redesignating clauses (iii) and (iv) 

9 as clauses (iv) and (v), respectively; and 

10 (C) by inserting after clause (ii) the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(iii) an economic cause;’’. 

Æ 


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