II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3424 

To prohibit the sale of billfish. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 24, 2012 

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

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To prohibit the sale of billfish. 

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 ‘‘Billfish Conservation 

5 Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Billfish populations are severely depleted 

9 and in need of greater protection. 

10 (2) Billfish population declines are largely at11 tributable to overfishing by non-United States comVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:18 Jul 25, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3424.IS S3424

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1 mercial fishing fleets that harvest billfish as bycatch 

2 while targeting other species. 

3 (3) Commercial fisheries in the United States 

4 do not target billfish. 

5 (4) The current United States prohibition on 

6 the commercial harvest and sale of billfish is limited 

7 to Atlantic-caught fish. 

8 (5) There are no existing conservation measures 

9 that prohibit the importation of Pacific-caught bill10 fish. 

11 (6) Billfish account for less than 0.1 percent of 

12 the market value of United States seafood. 

13 (7) The United States seafood market is highly 

14 elastic and consumers have a large number of sus15 tainable seafood alternatives. 

16 (8) Catch and release recreational angling for 

17 billfish generates billions of dollars in economic ben18 efits to the United States economy each year. 

19 (9) Prohibiting the sale of Pacific-caught bill20 fish in the continental United States will assist in 

21 the recovery of billfish populations worldwide. 

22 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY. 

23 The Congress enacts this Act pursuant to clause 3 

24 of section 8 of article I of the Constitution. 


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1 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF BILLFISH. 

2 (a) PROHIBITION.—No person shall offer for sale, 

3 sell, or have custody, control, or possession of for purposes 

4 of offering for sale or selling billfish or products con5 taining billfish. 

6 (b) PENALTY.—For purposes of section 308(a) of the 

7 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage8 ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), a violation of this section 

9 shall be treated as an act prohibited by section 307 of 

10 that Act (16 U.S.C. 1857). 

11 (c) EXEMPTIONS FOR TRADITIONAL FISHERIES AND

12 MARKETS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) does not 

14 apply to billfish— 

15 (A) caught by United States vessels and 

16 landed in the State of Hawaii or the Pacific In17 sular Area; or 

18 (B) landed by foreign vessels in the Pacific 

19 Insular Areas if the foreign caught billfish is 

20 exported to markets outside the United States 

21 or retained within the Pacific Insular Area for 

22 local consumption. 

23 (2) PACIFIC INSULAR AREA DEFINED.—In this 

24 subsection, the term ‘‘Pacific Insular Area’’ has the 

25 meaning given that term in section 3 of the MagnuVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:36 Jul 25, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3424.IS S3424

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1 son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 

2 Act (16 U.S.C. 1802). 

3 (d) BILLFISH DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

4 ‘‘billfish’’— 

5 (1) means any fish of the species— 

6 (A) Makaira nigricans (blue marlin); 

7 (B) Kajikia audax (striped marlin); 

8 (C) Istiompax indica (black marlin); 

9 (D) Istiophorus platypterus (sailfish); 

10 (E) Tetrapturus angustirostris (shortbill 

11 spearfish); 

12 (F) Kajikia albida (white marlin); 

13 (G) Tetrapturus georgii (roundscale spear14 fish); 

15 (H) Tetrapturus belone (Mediterranean 

16 spearfish); and 

17 (I) Tetrapturus pfluegeri (longbill spear18 fish); and 

19 (2) does not include the species Xiphias gladius 

20 (swordfish). 

Æ 


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