II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1451 

To prohibit the sale of billfish. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 29, 2011 

Mr. VITTER (for himself, Mr. NELSON of Florida, Mr. MCCAIN, and Mr. 

WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To prohibit the sale of billfish. 

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 ‘‘Billfish Conservation 

5 Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Billfish populations are severely depleted 

9 and in need of greater protection. 

10 (2) Billfish population declines are largely at11 tributable to overfishing by non-United States comVerDate Mar 15 2010 18:17 Jul 30, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1451.IS S1451

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•S 1451 IS

1 mercial fishing fleets that harvest billfish as bycatch 

2 while targeting other species. 

3 (3) Commercial fisheries in the United States 

4 do not target billfish. 

5 (4) The current United States prohibition on 

6 the commercial harvest and sale of billfish is limited 

7 to Atlantic-caught fish. 

8 (5) There are no existing conservation measures 

9 that prohibit the importation of Pacific-caught bill10 fish. 

11 (6) Billfish account for less than 0.1 percent of 

12 the market value of United States seafood. 

13 (7) The United States seafood market is highly 

14 elastic and consumers have a large number of sus15 tainable seafood alternatives. 

16 (8) Catch and release recreational angling for 

17 billfish generates billions of dollars in economic ben18 efits to the United States economy each year. 

19 (9) Prohibiting the sale of Pacific-caught bill20 fish in the continental United States will assist in 

21 the recovery of billfish populations worldwide. 

22 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY. 

23 The Congress enacts this Act pursuant to clause 3 

24 of section 8 of article I of the Constitution. 


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1 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF BILLFISH. 

2 (a) PROHIBITION.—No person shall offer for sale, 

3 sell, or have custody, control, or possession of for purposes 

4 of offering for sale or selling billfish or products con5 taining billfish. 

6 (b) PENALTY.—For purposes of section 308(a) of the 

7 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage8 ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), a violation of this section 

9 shall be treated as an act prohibited by section 307 of 

10 that Act (16 U.S.C. 1857). 

11 (c) EXEMPTION FOR TRADITIONAL FISHERIES AND

12 MARKETS.—Subsection (a) does not apply to the State of 

13 Hawaii and Pacific Insular Area as defined in section 

14 3(35) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 

15 Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1802(35)), except that bill16 fish may be sold under this exemption only in Hawaii and 

17 the Pacific Insular Area. 

18 (d) BILLFISH DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

19 ‘‘billfish’’— 

20 (1) means any fish of the species— 

21 (A) Makaira nigricans (blue marlin); 

22 (B) Kajikia audax (striped marlin); 

23 (C) Istiompax indica (black marlin); 

24 (D) Istiophorus platypterus (sailfish); 

25 (E) Tetrapturus angustirostris (shortbill 

26 spearfish); 


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1 (F) Kajikia albida (white marlin); 

2 (G) Tetrapturus georgii (roundscale spear3 fish); 

4 (H) Tetrapturus belone (Mediterranean 

5 spearfish); and 

6 (I) Tetrapturus pfluegeri (longbill spear7 fish); and 

8 (2) does not include the species Xiphias gladius 

9 (swordfish). 

Æ 


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