II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 432

To amend the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act to require the Secretary of Commerce to prepare conservation and management measures for the northeast multispecies (groundfish) fishery under

negotiated rulemaking procedures, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 16 (legislative day, JANUARY 30), 1995

Ms. SNOWE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act to require the Secretary of Commerce to prepare conservation and management measures for the

northeast multispecies (groundfish) fishery under negotiated rulemaking procedures, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. REQUIREMENT TO INITIATE PREPARATION OF

2 CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT MEAS3 URES.

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Unless the context implies other5 wise, for the purposes of this section, the following defini6 tions shall apply:

7 (1) CONSENSUS.—The term ‘‘consensus’’ has

8 the same meaning as in section 562(2) of title 5,

9 United States Code.

10 (2) NORTHEAST MULTISPECIES FISHERY.—The

11 term ‘‘northeast multispecies fishery’’ means the

12 New England groundfish fishery.

13 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

14 the Secretary of Commerce.

15 (b) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH CONSERVATION

16 AND MANAGEMENT MEASURES.—Subject to subsection

17 (c), not later than 60 days after the date of enactment

18 of this Act, in order to establish conservation and manage19 ment measures for the northeast multispecies fishery, the

20 Secretary shall, in accordance with this section and section

21 304(c) of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Man22 agement Act (16 U.S.C. 1854(c)), commence—

23 (1) the preparation of—

24 (A) a fishery management plan; or

25 (B) an amendment to an existing fishery

26 management plan that is in effect under the
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1 Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Manage2 ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) on the date

3 on which the amendment is prepared; and

4 (2) the issuance of proposed regulations to im5 plement the plan or amendment.

6 (c) PROCEDURES FOR THE PREPARATION OF PLAN

7 OR AMENDMENT.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para9 graph (3), in preparing a fishery management plan

10 or amendment under subsection (b) and in issuing

11 proposed regulations under such subsection, the Sec12 retary shall comply with the procedural requirements

13 for negotiated rulemaking under subchapter III of

14 chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code.

15 (2) PROCEDURES INCLUDED.—In carrying out

16 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall, not later than 60

17 days after the date of enactment of this Act—

18 (A) establish a negotiated rulemaking com19 mittee in accordance with subchapter III of

20 chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code; and

21 (B) publish a notice under section 564(a)

22 of title 5, United States Code.

23 (3) PROVISIONS THAT ARE INAPPLICABLE.—

24 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, with re25 spect to the preparation of a fishery management
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1 plan or amendment under subsection (b) and the is2 suance of proposed regulations under such sub3 section, the Secretary shall not be required to com4 ply with—

5 (A) subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section

6 304(c)(1);

7 (B) the second sentence of section 563(a)

8 of title 5, United States Code; or

9 (C) section 565(a)(2) of title 5, United

10 States Code.

11 (d) SUBMISSION TO NEW ENGLAND FISHERY MAN12 AGEMENT COUNCIL.—If a negotiated rulemaking commit13 tee established under subsection (c)(2)(A) reaches a con14 sensus on a fishery management plan or amendment pre15 pared under subsection (b) and proposed regulations is16 sued under such subsection, the Secretary may, pursuant

17 to the requirements of section 304(c)(2) of the Magnuson

18 Fishery Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 1854(c)(2)) (includ19 ing notice and publication requirements), submit the plan

20 or amendment, together with proposed regulations, to the

21 New England Fishery Management Council for consider22 ation and comment by the Council in the same manner

23 as is provided for the submission by the Secretary, and

24 consideration and comment by the Council, of a plan or

25 amendment prepared by, and proposed regulations issued
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1 by, the Secretary under section 304(c)(1) of such Act (16

2 U.S.C. 1854(c)(1)).

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