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[112th Congress Public Law 183]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]

[[Page 126 STAT. 1422]]

Public Law 112-183
112th Congress

                                 An Act

 
To prohibit the sale of billfish. <<NOTE: Oct. 5, 2012 -  [H.R. 2706]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Billfish 
Conservation Act of 2012. 16 USC 1801 note.>> 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Billfish Conservation Act of 2012''.
SEC. 2. <<NOTE: 16 USC 1827a note.>> FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States carefully regulates its domestic 
        fisheries for billfish and participates in international fishery 
        management bodies in the Atlantic and Pacific.
            (2) Global billfish populations have declined significantly, 
        however, because of overfishing primarily through retention of 
        bycatch by non-United States commercial fishing fleets.
            (3) Ending the importation of foreign-caught billfish for 
        sale in the United States aligns with U.S. management measures 
        of billfish and protects the significant economic benefits to 
        the U.S. economy of recreational fishing and marine commerce and 
        the traditional cultural fisheries.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.

    The Congress enacts this Act pursuant to clause 3 of section 8 of 
article I of the Constitution.
SEC. 4. <<NOTE: 16 USC 1827a.>> PROHIBITION ON SALE OF BILLFISH.

    (a) Prohibition.--No person shall offer for sale, sell, or have 
custody, control, or possession of for purposes of offering for sale or 
selling billfish or products containing billfish.
    (b) Penalty.--For purposes of section 308(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), a violation 
of this section shall be treated as an act prohibited by section 307 of 
that Act (16 U.S.C. 1857).
    (c) <<NOTE: Hawaii.>>  Exemptions for Traditional Fisheries and 
Markets.--
            (1) Subsection (a) does not apply to billfish caught by US 
        fishing vessels and landed in the State of Hawaii or Pacific 
        Insular Areas as defined in section 3(35) of the Magnuson-
        Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 
        1802(35)).
            (2) Subsection (a) does not apply to billfish landed by 
        foreign fishing vessels in the Pacific Insular Areas when the 
        foreign caught billfish is exported to non-US markets or

[[Page 126 STAT. 1423]]

        retained within Hawaii and the Pacific Insular Areas for local 
        consumption.

    (d) Billfish Defined.--In this section the term ``billfish''--
            (1) means any fish of the species--
                    (A) Makaira nigricans (blue marlin);
                    (B) Kajikia audax (striped marlin);
                    (C) Istiompax indica (black marlin);
                    (D) Istiophorus platypterus (sailfish);
                    (E) Tetrapturus angustirostris (shortbill 
                spearfish);
                    (F) Kajikia albida (white marlin);
                    (G) Tetrapturus georgii (roundscale spearfish);
                    (H) Tetrapturus belone (Mediterranean spearfish); 
                and
                    (I) Tetrapturus pfluegeri (longbill spearfish); and
            (2) does not include the species Xiphias gladius 
        (swordfish).

    Approved October 5, 2012.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 2706:
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HOUSE REPORTS: No. 112-656 (Comm. on Natural Resources).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 158 (2012):
            Sept. 10, considered and passed House.
            Sept. 21, considered and passed Senate.

                                  <all>
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