112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1171 

AN ACT 

To reauthorize and amend the Marine Debris Research, 

Prevention, and Reduction Act. 

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. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marine Debris Act 

3 Amendments of 2012’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 

5 Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 

6 this Act an amendment is expressed as an amendment to 

7 a section or other provision, the reference shall be consid8 ered to be made to a section or other provision of the Ma9 rine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act (33 

10 U.S.C. 1951 et seq.), as in effect immediately before the 

11 enactment of this Act. 

12 SEC. 3. SHORT TITLE AMENDMENT. 

13 Section 1 (33 U.S.C. 1951 note) is amended by strik14 ing ‘‘Research, Prevention, and Reduction’’. 

15 SEC. 4. PURPOSE. 

16 Section 2 (33 U.S.C. 1951) is amended to read as 

17 follows: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

19 ‘‘The purpose of this Act is to address the adverse 

20 impacts of marine debris on the United States economy, 

21 the marine environment, and navigation safety through 

22 identification, determination of sources, assessment, pre23 vention, reduction, and removal of marine debris.’’. 

24 SEC. 5. NOAA MARINE DEBRIS PROGRAM. 

25 (a) NAME OF PROGRAM.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 (33 U.S.C. 1952) 

2 is amended— 

3 (A) in the section heading by striking 

4 ‘‘PREVENTION AND REMOVAL’’; and 

5 (B) in subsection (a)— 

6 (i) by striking ‘‘Prevention and Re7 moval Program to reduce and prevent’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘Program to identify, deter9 mine sources of, assess, prevent, reduce, 

10 and remove’’; 

11 (ii) by inserting ‘‘the economy of the 

12 United States,’’ after ‘‘marine debris on’’; 

13 and 

14 (iii) by inserting a comma after ‘‘envi15 ronment’’. 

16 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (7) 

17 of section 7 (33 U.S.C. 1956) is amended by strik18 ing ‘‘Prevention and Removal’’. 

19 (b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—Section 3(b) (33 

20 U.S.C. 1952(b)) is amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—The Administrator, 

22 acting through the Program and subject to the availability 

23 of appropriations, shall— 

24 ‘‘(1) identify, determine sources of, assess, pre25 vent, reduce, and remove marine debris, with a focus 
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1 on marine debris posing a threat to living marine re2 sources and navigation safety; 

3 ‘‘(2) provide national and regional coordination 

4 to assist States, Indian tribes, and regional organi5 zations in identification, determination of sources, 

6 assessment, prevention, reduction, and removal of 

7 marine debris; 

8 ‘‘(3) undertake efforts to reduce adverse im9 pacts of lost and discarded fishing gear on living 

10 marine resources and navigation safety, including— 

11 ‘‘(A) research and development of alter12 natives to gear posing threats to the marine en13 vironment, and methods for marking gear used 

14 in specific fisheries to enhance the tracking, re15 covery, and identification of lost and discarded 

16 gear; and 

17 ‘‘(B) development of effective nonregula18 tory measures and incentives to cooperatively 

19 reduce the volume of lost and discarded fishing 

20 gear and to aid in its recovery; and 

21 ‘‘(4) undertake outreach and education of the 

22 public and other stakeholders on sources of marine 

23 debris, threats associated with marine debris, and 

24 approaches to identify, determine sources of, assess, 

25 prevent, reduce, and remove marine debris and its 
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1 adverse impacts on the United States economy, the 

2 marine environment, and navigational safety, includ3 ing outreach and education activities through public4 private initiatives.’’. 

5 (c) REPEAL.—Section 2204 of the Marine Plastic 

6 Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987 and the item 

7 relating to that section in the table of contents contained 

8 in section 2 of the United States-Japan Fishery Agree9 ment Approval Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C. 1915) are repealed. 

10 (d) GRANT CRITERIA AND GUIDELINES.—Section 

11 3(c) (33 U.S.C. 1952(c)) is amended— 

12 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 2(1)’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘section 2’’; 

14 (2) by repealing paragraph (5); and 

15 (3) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as 

16 paragraphs (5) and (6). 

17 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF OBSOLETE PROVISIONS. 

18 Section 4 (33 U.S.C. 1953) is amended— 

19 (1) by striking ‘‘(a) STRATEGY.—’’; and 

20 (2) by repealing subsections (b) and (c). 

21 SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO DEFINITIONS. 

22 (a) INTERAGENCY MARINE DEBRIS COORDINATING

23 COMMITTEE.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub25 section (b), section 2203 of the Marine Plastic Pol-
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1 lution Research and Control Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C. 

2 1914) is redesignated and moved to replace and ap3 pear as section 5 of the Marine Debris Research, 

4 Prevention, and Reduction Act (33 U.S.C. 1954). 

5 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating 

6 to section 2203 in the table of contents contained in 

7 section 2 of the United States-Japan Fishery Agree8 ment Approval Act of 1987 is repealed. 

9 (b) BIENNIAL PROGRESS REPORTS.—Section 5(c)(2) 

10 (33 U.S.C. 1954(c)(2)), as in effect immediately before 

11 the enactment of this Act— 

12 (1) is redesignated as subsection (e) of section 

13 5, as redesignated and moved by the amendment 

14 made by subsection (a) of this section; and 

15 (2) is amended— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘ANNUAL PROGRESS RE17 PORTS.—’’ and all that follows through ‘‘there18 after’’ and inserting ‘‘BIENNIAL PROGRESS RE19 PORTS.—Bienially’’; 

20 (B) by inserting ‘‘Natural’’ before ‘‘Re21 sources’’; 

22 (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

23 through (E) as paragraphs (1) through (5) of 

24 such subsection; and 
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1 (D) by moving such subsection 2 ems to 

2 the left. 

3 SEC. 8. CONFIDENTIALITY OF SUBMITTED INFORMATION. 

4 Section 6(2) (33 U.S.C. 1955(2)) is amended by 

5 striking ‘‘by the fishing industry’’. 

6 SEC. 9. MARINE DEBRIS DEFINITION. 

7 Section 7 (33 U.S.C. 1956) is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para9 graph (9), and moving such paragraph to appear 

10 after paragraph (8); and 

11 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(3) MARINE DEBRIS.—The term ‘marine de14 bris’ means any persistent solid material that is 

15 manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, 

16 and intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or 

17 abandoned into the marine environment or the Great 

18 Lakes.’’. 

19 SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 Section 9 (33 U.S.C. 1958) is amended— 

21 (1) by striking ‘‘are’’ and inserting ‘‘is’’; 

22 (2) by striking ‘‘2006 through 2010’’ and all 

23 that follows through ‘‘(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘through 

24 fiscal year 2015’’; 
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1 (3) in paragraph (1), by striking 

2 ‘‘$10,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$4,900,000’’; and 

3 (4) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and all that follows 

4 through the end of paragraph (2) and inserting a 

5 period. 

Passed the House of Representatives August 1, 

2012. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1171 

AN ACT 

To reauthorize and amend the Marine Debris 

Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act.