I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 788 

To amend and enhance the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium 

Protection Act to improve the conservation of sharks. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 24, 2019 

Mr. WEBSTER of Florida (for himself, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. 

YOUNG, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. JONES, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. TONKO, 

Mr. YOHO, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. POSEY, and Mr. HIGGINS of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend and enhance the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act to improve the conservation of 

sharks. 

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 ‘‘Sustainable Shark 

5 Fisheries and Trade Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to establish a certification 

3 process to ensure that foreign nations engaging in shark 

4 trade into or through the United States conserve and man5 age populations of sharks in a manner that is comparable 

6 to regulatory programs in the United States and that ef7 fectively prohibits the practice of removing shark fins and 

8 discarding the carcass at sea. 

9 SEC. 3. SHARK CONSERVATION AND TRADE FAIRNESS CER10 TIFICATION. 

11 Section 610 of the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Mora12 torium Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1826k) is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (a)— 

14 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

15 after the semicolon at the end; 

16 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe17 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

19 ‘‘(3) a nation if— 

20 ‘‘(A) that nation or any individual or entity 

21 of that nation has imported shark products into 

22 the United States or seeks to import shark 

23 products into the United States; and 

24 ‘‘(B) the nation has not sought and ob25 tained, by not later than the effective date of 

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1 retary under that subsection that the nation 

2 has in effect a regulatory program to provide 

3 for the conservation of sharks, including meas4 ures to prohibit removal of any of the fins of 

5 a shark (including the tail) and discarding the 

6 carcass of the shark at sea, that is comparable 

7 to that of the United States.’’; 

8 (2) in subsection (b), in paragraphs (2) and 

9 (3), by striking ‘‘subsection (a)’’ each place it ap10 pears and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(1)’’; 

11 (3) in subsection (c)— 

12 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sub13 section (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(1)’’; 

14 and 

15 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(6) APPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN COUNTRIES.— 

17 This subsection does not apply to a nation identified 

18 under subsection (a)(3).’’; 

19 (4) in subsection (d)— 

20 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or 

21 (g)’’after ‘‘under subsection (c)’’; and 

22 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘or (g)’’ 

23 after ‘‘under subsection (c)’’; and 

24 (5) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(g) SHARK CONSERVATION AND TRADE FAIRNESS

2 CERTIFICATION.— 

3 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON IMPORTATION.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

5 subparagraph (B), shark products shall not be 

6 imported into the United States unless the 

7 shark products are of a species of shark that 

8 were landed in a nation to which the Secretary 

9 has granted a certification or partial certifi10 cation for such species under paragraph (2). 

11 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.—Subparagraph (A) 

12 shall not apply to shark products that are— 

13 ‘‘(i) traded, owned, held, or otherwise 

14 possessed by an employee or agent of a 

15 governmental agency for law enforcement 

16 purposes; 

17 ‘‘(ii) used for noncommercial subsist18 ence purposes in accordance with Federal, 

19 State, Tribal, or territorial law; 

20 ‘‘(iii) used solely for display, edu21 cation, conservation, or research purposes, 

22 by an accredited zoo, aquarium, museum, 

23 college, or university; or 


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1 ‘‘(iv) used by any other person under 

2 a State or Federal permit to conduct non3 commercial scientific research. 

4 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATIONS.—Pursuant to the regu5 lations promulgated under paragraphs (3) and (5), 

6 the Secretary— 

7 ‘‘(A) shall grant a certification to any na8 tion that has adopted and effectively enforces 

9 regulatory programs to provide for the con10 servation and management of sharks, and 

11 measures to prohibit shark finning, that are 

12 comparable to those of the United States; and 

13 ‘‘(B) may grant a partial certification for 

14 one or more specific species of shark to a na15 tion if the Secretary determines that such na16 tion— 

17 ‘‘(i) has adopted and effectively en18 forces regulatory programs that are com19 parable to the regulatory programs of the 

20 United States to provide for the conserva21 tion and management of such species im22 ported into the United States or used to 

23 produce the shark products imported into 

24 the United States; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) has in effect an effective ban on 

2 shark finning, that is comparable to that 

3 of the United States. 

4 ‘‘(3) EXPIRATION; RENEWAL.—A certification 

5 or partial certification issued under this sub6 section— 

7 ‘‘(A) shall be effective for no more than 

8 three years after the date of issuance; and 

9 ‘‘(B) may be renewed in accordance with 

10 the provisions of this subsection relating to the 

11 initial issuance of the certification. 

12 ‘‘(4) CERTAIN DETERMINATIONS.—The Sec13 retary shall make a determination with respect to 

14 whether to renew under paragraph (3) or revoke 

15 pursuant to paragraph (5)(A)(ii) a certification or 

16 partial certification issued under this subsection, by 

17 not later than 180 days after the submission of the 

18 application for renewal or the petition for revocation, 

19 respectively. 

20 ‘‘(5) REGULATIONS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

22 after the date of the enactment of the Sustain23 able Shark Fisheries and Trade Act of 2019, 

24 the Secretary shall prescribe regulations under 

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1 erning the submission, evaluation, revocation, 

2 and renewal of applications for certifications 

3 and partial certifications under paragraph (2). 

4 ‘‘(B) CONTENT OF REGULATIONS.—Such 

5 regulations shall— 

6 ‘‘(i) prescribe the content and format 

7 of applications and standards for informa8 tion to be provided in such applications; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(ii) establish a process for petitioning 

11 the Secretary for revocation of the certifi12 cation or partial certification of any nation, 

13 including standards for the information re14 quired to be provided to demonstrate that 

15 the nation no longer meets the criteria es16 tablished under this paragraph for the cer17 tification. 

18 ‘‘(C) CRITERIA FOR CERTIFICATION OR

19 PARTIAL CERTIFICATION.—The regulations pro20 mulgated under subparagraph (A) shall estab21 lish criteria for determining whether a nation 

22 has and effectively enforces regulatory pro23 grams for the conservation and management of 

24 sharks, and measures to prohibit shark finning, 

25 that are comparable to those of the United 


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1 States, including, at a minimum, a requirement 

2 that such programs— 

3 ‘‘(i) be consistent with the national 

4 standards for fishery conservation and 

5 management set forth in section 301(a) of 

6 the Magnuson-Stevens Conservation and 

7 Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1851(a)); 

8 ‘‘(ii) provide for regularly updated 

9 management plans, scientifically estab10 lished catch limits, and bycatch assess11 ments and minimization; 

12 ‘‘(iii) include a program to prevent 

13 overfishing and to rebuild overfished 

14 stocks; 

15 ‘‘(iv) require reporting and data col16 lection; 

17 ‘‘(v) be consistent with the Inter18 national Plan of Action for Conservation 

19 and Management of Sharks of the United 

20 Nations Food and Agriculture Organiza21 tion; and 

22 ‘‘(vi) include a mechanism to ensure 

23 that, if the nation allows landings of 

24 sharks by foreign vessels that are not sub25 ject to such programs of such nation, only 


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1 shark products that comply with such pro2 grams are exported to the United States. 

3 ‘‘(6) PUBLICATION; PUBLIC COMMENT.—The 

4 Secretary shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) publish in the Federal Register notice 

6 of applications, petitions, and decisions with re7 spect to certifications, renewal of certifications, 

8 or revocation of certifications under this sub9 section; and 

10 ‘‘(B) provide an opportunity for public 

11 comment with respect to such applications, peti12 tions, and decisions. 

13 ‘‘(7) FINAL AGENCY ACTION.—A decision of the 

14 Secretary with respect to the issuance, renewal, or 

15 revocation of a certification or partial certification 

16 under this subsection, and a failure to make a deter17 mination required under paragraph (4), shall be con18 sidered a final agency action for the purposes of 

19 chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code. 

20 ‘‘(8) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (1) shall 

21 take effect on the earlier of— 

22 ‘‘(A) the date on which regulations are 

23 issued under paragraph (5); or 


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1 ‘‘(B) the date that is 3 years after the date 

2 of the date of the enactment of the Sustainable 

3 Shark Fisheries and Trade Act of 2019. 

4 ‘‘(9) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

5 ‘‘(A) SHARK.—The term ‘shark’ means 

6 any species of the subclass Elasmobranchii. 

7 ‘‘(B) SHARK PRODUCT.—The term ‘shark 

8 product’ means a live shark; a whole shark; the 

9 meat, skin, oil, fin (including a wing or tail), 

10 gill raker, cartilage, jaw, tooth, or liver of a 

11 shark; or any product containing meat, skin, 

12 oil, a fin (including a wing or tail), gill raker, 

13 cartilage, jaw, tooth, or liver derived from a 

14 shark. 

15 ‘‘(C) SHARK FINNING.—The term ‘shark 

16 finning’ means the removal of a shark’s fins, in17 cluding the tail, and discarding the remaining 

18 carcass of the shark at sea.’’. 

19 SEC. 4. ACTIONS TO STRENGTHEN INTERNATIONAL FISH20 ERY MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS. 

21 Section 608(a) of the High Seas Driftnet Fishing 

22 Moratorium Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1826i(a)) is 

23 amended— 

24 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking subparagraph 

25 (F), and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(F) to adopt shark conservation and man2 agement measures and measures to prevent 

3 shark finning, which are consistent with the 

4 International Plan of Action for Conservation 

5 and Management of Sharks of the Food and 

6 Agriculture Organization of the United Na7 tions;’’; and 

8 (2) by striking paragraph (3), and inserting the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(3) seeking to enter into international agree11 ment that require measures for the conservation and 

12 management of sharks and measures to prevent 

13 shark finning, which are consistent with the Inter14 national Plan of Action for Conservation and Man15 agement of Sharks of the Food and Agriculture Or16 ganization of the United Nations; and’’. 

17 SEC. 5. INCLUSION OF RAYS AND SKATES IN SEAFOOD 

18 TRACEABILITY PROGRAM. 

19 Not later than one year after the date of the enact20 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall revise 

21 section 300.324 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, 

22 to include rays and skates in the species and species 

23 groups specified in subsection (a)(2) of that section. 


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1 SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

2 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt any 

3 Federal or State law establishing additional or more strin4 gent requirements than the requirements of subsection (g) 

5 of section 610 of the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Morato6 rium Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1826k), as added by sec7 tion 3. 

Æ 


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