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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1756

To encourage the optimum utilization of fisheries resources, to reduce waste

in commercial fish harvesting and processing, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 20 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

Mr. MURKOWSKI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To encourage the optimum utilization of fisheries resources,

to reduce waste in commercial fish harvesting and processing, 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commercial Fisheries

5 Waste Reduction Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that:

8 (1) Current commercial fisheries practices in

9 the United States and world wide contribute to a

10 significant waste of edible food resources which are
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1 harvested, but discarded without processing for

2 human consumption or other uses.

3 (2) Fish currently harvested but discarded

4 without processing include in some fisheries large

5 numbers of juvenile fish which would have signifi6 cantly greater value both as an economic asset to the

7 fishery and to the maintenance of the species if they

8 were allowed to reach maturity before harvesting.

9 (3) Fish currently harvested but discarded

10 without processing include in some commercial fish11 eries significant numbers of adult fish or fish parts

12 which could be processed for human consumption,

13 but which are required to be discarded for various

14 fisheries management purposes, or which are consid15 ered unsuitable for a particular market of immediate

16 interest to the fishing vessel operator.

17 (4) Fish currently harvested but discarded

18 without processing include significant numbers of

19 fish of species for which there is presently no viable

20 market, but which, if they remained unharvested,

21 could form the basis for future fisheries as new mar22 kets and processing techniques are developed.

23 (5) There is cause for concern that current lev24 els of mortalities among non-target fish species may

25 have adverse environmental consequences.
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1 (6) High discard levels, if concentrated geo2 graphically, may cause damage to the productivity of

3 the resources using the ocean bottom and near-bot4 tom areas.

5 (7) The current level of scientific knowledge is

6 insufficient to determine if adverse impacts may re7 sult from the removal of nutrients presently re8 turned to the ocean through the discard of non-tar9 get fish species and of unutilized portions of tar10 geted species.

11 (8) It is in the national interest both environ12 mentally and economically to minimize mortalities

13 among non-target species taken incidentally to the

14 various directed fisheries.

15 (9) It is in the national interest to encourage

16 the utilization where practicable of all parts of fish

17 harvested in directed fisheries for the species.

18 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO MAGNUSON ACT.

19 The Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (16

20 U.S.C. 1801 et. seq.) is amended—

21 (1) in subsection 1801(b)(4) by inserting ‘‘in a

22 non-wasteful manner and’’ after ‘‘maintain,’’;

23 (2) in subsection 1801(b)(6) by inserting ‘‘in a

24 non-wasteful manner’’ after ‘‘such development’’;
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1 (3) in subsection 1802(21)(B) by inserting ‘‘,

2 including efforts to limit mortality in non-target spe3 cies for the purposes of resource conservation and

4 food production’’ after ‘‘ecological factor’’;

5 (4) in section 1802 by adding at the end the

6 following new paragraph:

7 ‘‘(33) The term ‘non-target species’ means fish

8 caught incidentally to fishing for a particular species

9 or group of species and which may or may not be

10 retained aboard the fishing vessel for subsequent

11 processing and/or sale.’’;

12 (5) in section 1851(a)(1) by adding ‘‘and en13 courage the minimization of mortalities among non14 target species’’ after ‘‘prevent overfishing’’;

15 (6) in section 1851(a)(5) by striking the word

16 ‘‘promote’’ and inserting in its place the word ‘‘con17 sider’’;

18 (7) in section 1851(a) by adding at the end the

19 following new paragraph:

20 ‘‘(8) Conservation and management measures

21 shall encourage the non-wasteful taking of fishery

22 resources, including the reduction of discards of fish

23 and fish parts, and the minimization of mortalities

24 among non-target species.’’;
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1 (8) in section 1853(a) by redesignating para2 graph (4) as paragraph (6) and renumbering the

3 subsequent paragraphs accordingly; and by inserting

4 the following new paragraphs:

5 ‘‘(4) assess and specify—

6 ‘‘(A) to the maximum extent practicable an

7 estimate by numbers of fish or weight thereof

8 of the extent of anticipated mortalities among

9 non-target species taken incidentally to the fish10 ery or fisheries for which the plan is prepared,

11 and

12 ‘‘(B) to the maximum extent practicable,

13 an estimate by numbers of fish or weight there14 of of anticipated discard levels of fish and fish

15 parts taken pursuant to the fishery, but not uti16 lized;

17 ‘‘(5) contain a description of measures intended

18 to reduce mortalities among non-target species taken

19 incidentally to the fishery or fisheries for which the

20 plan is prepared, and to encourage the use of target

21 species in a manner which minimizes the discard of

22 fish and fish parts;’’; and

23 (9) in section 1853 by adding at the end the

24 following new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(g) REQUIRED AMENDMENT OF MANAGEMENT

2 PLANS.—Each council shall—

3 ‘‘(1) within one year from the date of enact4 ment of this subsection, submit to the Secretary

5 such amendments for each management plan under

6 its jurisdiction as are needed to comply with sub7 sections (a)(4) and (5) of this section; and

8 ‘‘(2) thereafter submit annually to the Sec9 retary a report identifying any changes to the esti10 mates and descriptions required in subsection (a) (4)

11 and (5) and in paragraph (1) of this subsection, and

12 providing an explanation of the cause or causes of

13 such changes.’’.

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