I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2956

To amend the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act of 1986 to authorize the

provision of certain disaster assistance to commercial fishermen through

State and local government agencies and nonprofit organizations, and

for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 1, 1996

Mr. STUDDS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Resources

A BILL

To amend the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act of 1986 to

authorize the provision of certain disaster assistance to

commercial fishermen through State and local government agencies and nonprofit organizations, and for other

purposes.

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 ‘‘Fisheries Disaster As5 sistance Act of 1996’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO INTERJURISDICTIONAL FISH2 ERIES ACT OF 1986.

3 Section 308(d) of the Interjurisdictional Fisheries

4 Act of 1986 (16 U.S.C. 4107(d)) is amended—

5 (1) in the heading by striking ‘‘GRANTS’’ and

6 inserting ‘‘ASSISTANCE’’;

7 (2) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘award grants

8 to persons engaged in commercial fisheries, for unin9 sured losses determined by the Secretary to have

10 been suffered’’ and inserting ‘‘help persons engaged

11 in commercial fisheries, either by providing assist12 ance directly to those persons or by providing assist13 ance indirectly through State and local government

14 agencies and nonprofit organizations, for projects or

15 other measures to alleviate harm determined by the

16 Secretary to have been incurred’’;

17 (3) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘a grant under

18 this subsection’’ and inserting ‘‘assistance provided

19 directly to a person under this subsection’’;

20 (4) by amending paragraph (4) to read as fol21 lows:

22 ‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary may not award any assistance

23 under this subsection under a fishing capacity reduction

24 program designed to remove fishing vessels and fishing

25 permits from any New England fishery until there has

26 taken effect, after the date of enactment of the Fisheries
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1 Disaster Assistance Act of 1996, an amendment to the

2 Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan that is

3 designed to rebuild stocks of cod, haddock, and yellow tail

4 flounder in a manner that is consistent with requirements

5 under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Manage6 ment Act (if any are in effect) for rebuilding overfished

7 stocks.

8 ‘‘(B) As a condition of awarding assistance with re9 spect to a vessel under a fishing capacity reduction pro10 gram described in subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall—

11 ‘‘(i) prohibit the vessel from being used for fish12 ing; and

13 ‘‘(ii) require that the vessel be—

14 ‘‘(I) scrapped or otherwise disposed of in a

15 manner approved by the Secretary; or

16 ‘‘(II) donated to a nonprofit organization

17 and thereafter used only for purposes of re18 search, education, or training.

19 ‘‘(C) A vessel that is prohibited from fishing under

20 subparagraph (B) shall not be eligible for a fishery en21 dorsement under section 12108(a) of title 46, United

22 States Code, and any such endorsement for the vessel shall

23 not be effective.’’; and

24 (5) in paragraph (5) by striking ‘‘for awarding

25 grants’’ and all that follows through the end of the
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1 paragraph and inserting ‘‘receiving assistance under

2 this subsection.’’.

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