II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2243

To amend the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 to permit reimbursement

of fishermen for fees required by a foreign government to be paid

in advance in order to navigate in the waters of that foreign country

whenever the United States considers that fee to be inconsistent with

international law, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 24 (legislative day, JUNE 7), 1994

Mr. STEVENS (for himself, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. GORTON, Mr. MURKOWSKI, and

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

ordered held at the desk until the close of business on June 27, 1994.

A BILL

To amend the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 to permit

reimbursement of fishermen for fees required by a foreign government to be paid in advance in order to navigate in the waters of that foreign country whenever

the United States considers that fee to be inconsistent

with international law, 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. FINDINGS.

4 The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) customary international law and the United

2 Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea guaran3 tee the right of passage, including innocent passage,

4 to vessels through the waters commonly referred to

5 as the ‘‘Inside Passage’’ off the Pacific Coast of

6 Canada;

7 (2) Canada has recently announced that it will

8 require all commercial fishing vessels of the United

9 States to pay 1,500 Canadian dollars to obtain a ‘‘li10 cense which authorizes transit’’ through the Inside

11 Passage off the Pacific Coast of Canada;

12 (3) this action is inconsistent with international

13 law, including the United Nations Convention on the

14 Law of the Sea, and in particular Article 26 of that

15 Convention, which specifically prohibits such fees,

16 and threatens the safety of United States commer17 cial fishermen who may seek to avoid the fee by

18 traveling in less protected waters;

19 (4) the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 pro20 vides for the reimbursement of vessel owners who

21 are forced to pay a license fee to secure the release

22 of a vessel which has been seized, but does not per23 mit reimbursement of a fee paid by the owner in ad24 vance in order to prevent a seizure;
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1 (5) Canada has announced that the license fee

2 may only be paid in two ports on the Pacific Coast

3 of Canada, and must be paid in person or in ad4 vance by mail;

5 (6) significant expense and delay would be in6 curred by a commercial fishing vessel of the United

7 States that had to travel from the point of seizure

8 back to one of those ports in order to pay the license

9 fee required by Canada, and the costs of that travel

10 and delay cannot be reimbursed under the Fisher11 men’s Protective Act as presently enacted;

12 (7) the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967

13 should be amended to permit vessel owners to be re14 imbursed for fees required by a foreign government

15 to be paid in advance in order to navigate in the wa16 ters of that foreign country, provided the United

17 States considers that fee to be inconsistent with

18 international law;

19 (8) the Secretary of State should seek to re20 cover from Canada any amounts paid by the United

21 States to reimburse vessel owners who paid the tran22 sit license fee;

23 (9) the United States should review its current

24 policy with respect to anchorage by commercial fish25 ing vessels of Canada in waters of the United States
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1 off Alaska, including waters in and near the Dixon

2 Entrance, and should accord such vessels the same

3 treatment that commercial fishing vessels of the

4 United States are accorded for anchorage in the wa5 ters of Canada off British Columbia;

6 (10) the President should ensure that, consist7 ent with international law, the United States Coast

8 Guard has available adequate resources in the Pa9 cific Northwest and Alaska to provide for the safety

10 of United States citizens, the enforcement of United

11 States law, and to protect the rights of the United

12 States and keep the peace among vessels operating

13 in disputed waters;

14 (11) the President should continue to review all

15 agreements between the United States and Canada

16 to identify other actions that may be taken to con17 vince Canada that continuation of the transit license

18 fee would be against Canada’s long-term interests,

19 and should immediately implement any actions

20 which the President deems appropriate until Canada

21 rescinds the fee;

22 (12) the President should immediately convey

23 to Canada in the strongest terms that the United

24 States will not now, nor at any time in the future,

25 tolerate any action by Canada which would impede
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1 or otherwise restrict the right of passage of vessels

2 of the United States vessels in a manner inconsist3 ent with international law; and

4 (13) the United States should redouble its ef5 forts to seek expeditious agreement with Canada on

6 appropriate fishery conservation and management

7 measures that can be implemented through the Pa8 cific Salmon Treaty to address issues of mutual con9 cern.

10 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE FISHERMEN’S PROTECTIVE

11 ACT.

12 The Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 (Public Law

13 90–482), as amended, is further amended by adding at

14 the end the following new section:

15 ‘‘SEC. 11. (a) In any case on or after June 15, 1994

16 in which a vessel of the United States exercising its right

17 of passage is charged a fee by the government of a foreign

18 country to navigate in waters of that foreign country, and

19 such fee is regarded by the United States as being incon20 sistent with international law, the Secretary of State shall

21 reimburse the vessel owner for the amount of any such

22 fee paid under protest.

23 ‘‘(b) In seeking such reimbursement, the vessel owner

24 shall provide, together with such other information as the

25 Secretary of State may require—
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1 ‘‘(1) a copy of the receipt for payment;

2 ‘‘(2) an affidavit attesting that the owner or the

3 owner’s agent paid the fee under protest; and

4 ‘‘(3) a copy of the vessel’s certificate of docu5 mentation.

6 ‘‘(c) Requests for reimbursement shall be made to the

7 Secretary of State within 120 days of the date of payment

8 of the fee, or within 90 days of the date of enactment

9 of this section, whichever is later.

10 ‘‘(d) Such funds as may be necessary to meet the re11 quirements of this section shall be made available from

12 the unexpended balances remaining in the Fishermen’s

13 Guaranty Fund established under section 7 and the Fish14 ermen’s Protective Fund established under section 9. To

15 the extent that requests for reimbursement under this sec16 tion exceed the unexpended funds available, payments

17 shall be made under this section only to the extent and

18 in such amounts as are provided in advance in appropria19 tions Acts.

20 ‘‘(e) The Secretary of State shall take such action

21 as the Secretary deems appropriate to make and collect

22 claims against the foreign country imposing such fee for

23 any amounts reimbursed under this section.

24 ‘‘(f) For purposes of this section, the term ‘owner’

25 includes any charterer of a vessel of the United States.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION.

2 (a) Section 7(c) of the Fishermen’s Protective Act of

3 1967 (22 U.S.C. 1977(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘The

4 amount fixed by the Secretary shall be predicated upon

at least 331 5 ⁄3 per centum of the contribution by the Gov6 ernment.’’.

7 (b) Section 7(e) of the Fishermen’s Protective Act of

8 1967 (22 U.S.C. 1977(e)) is amended by striking ‘‘Octo9 ber 1, 1993’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘October 1,

10 2000’’.

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