II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1726

To authorize the States of Washington, Oregon, and California to regulate

the Dungeness crab fishery in the exclusive economic zone.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 6, 1998

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Mr. GORTON, Mr. SMITH of Oregon, and Mr.

WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To authorize the States of Washington, Oregon, and California to regulate the Dungeness crab fishery in the exclusive economic zone.

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 ‘‘Dungeness Crab Con5 servation and Management Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) the ocean Dungeness crab (Cancer magis9 ter) fishery adjacent to the States of Washington,
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1 Oregon, and California has been successfully con2 served and managed by those States since the 19th

3 century;

4 (2) in recognition of the need for coastwide con5 servation of Dungeness crab, the States of Washing6 ton, Oregon, and California have—

7 (A) enacted certain laws that promote con8 servation of the resource;

9 (B) signed a memorandum of understand10 ing declaring the intent of those States to take

11 mutually supportive actions to further the man12 agement of Dungeness crab; and

13 (C) through the Pacific States Marine

14 Fisheries Commission, formed the Tri-State

15 Dungeness Crab Committee to provide a public

16 forum for coordinating conservation and man17 agement actions;

18 (3) tribal treaty rights to crab under the sub19 proceeding numbered 89–3 in United States v.

20 Washington, D.C. No. CV–70–09213, are being im21 plemented by the State of Washington through an22 nual preseason negotiations with the affected Indian

23 tribes;

24 (4) the expiration of interim authority referred

25 to in paragraph (7) will jeopardize the ability of the
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1 State to effectively provide for State-tribal harvest

2 agreements that include restrictions on nontreaty

3 fishers in the exclusive economic zone;

4 (5) the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation

5 and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) re6 quires that Federal fishery management plans be es7 tablished for fisheries that require conservation and

8 management;

9 (6) under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Con10 servation and Management Act, several fisheries in

11 the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, including king crab

12 in the Gulf of Alaska, have remained under the ju13 risdiction of individual States or interstate organiza14 tions because conservation and management can be

15 better achieved without the implementation of a

16 Federal fishery management plan;

17 (7) section 112(d) of the Sustainable Fisheries

18 Act (Public Law 104–297; 110 Stat. 3596 though

19 3597) provided interim authority for the States of

20 Washington, Oregon, and California to exercise lim21 ited jurisdiction over the ocean Dungeness crab fish22 ery in the exclusive economic zone and required the

23 Pacific Fishery Management Council to report to

24 Congress on progress in developing a fishery man-
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1 agement plan for ocean Dungeness crab and any im2 pediments to that progress;

3 (8) the Pacific Fishery Management Council

4 diligently carried out the responsibilities referred to

5 in paragraph (7) by holding public hearings, re6 questing recommendations from a committee of that

7 Council and the Tri-State Dungeness Crab Commit8 tee;

9 (9) representatives from the Indian tribes in10 volved, the west coast Dungeness crab industry, and

11 the fishery management agencies of the States of

12 Washington, Oregon, and California were consulted

13 by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the

14 Council voted in public session on its final report;

15 and

16 (10) by a unanimous vote, the Pacific Fishery

17 Management Council found that amending section

18 112 of the Sustainable Fisheries Act and providing

19 for permanent authority to the States of Washing20 ton, Oregon, and California to manage, with certain

21 limitations, the ocean Dungeness crab fishery in that

22 portion of the exclusive economic zone adjacent to

23 each of the States, respectively, and continued par24 ticipation by fishermen and the Indian tribes subject
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1 to the tribal treaty rights referred to in paragraph

2 (3) would—

3 (A) best accomplish the conservation and

4 management of the ocean Dungeness crab fish5 ery; and

6 (B) best serve the public interest.

7 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

8 (1) to provide for the continued conservation

9 and management of ocean Dungeness crab in a

10 manner that recognizes the contributions of the

11 States of Washington, Oregon, and California and

12 the needs of the Indian tribes that are subject to the

13 tribal treaty rights to crab described in subsection

14 (a)(3); and

15 (2) to carry out the recommendations that the

16 Pacific Fishery Management Council made in ac17 cordance with requirements established by Congress.

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

19 In this Act:

20 (1) EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE.—The term

21 ‘‘exclusive economic zone’’ has the meaning given

22 that term in section 3(11) of the Magnuson-Stevens

23 Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16

24 U.S.C. 1802(11)).
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1 (2) FISHERY.—The term ‘‘fishery’’ has the

2 meaning given that term in section 3(13) of the

3 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management Act (16

4 U.S.C. 1802(13)).

5 (3) FISHING.—The term ‘‘fishing’’ has the

6 meaning given that term in section 3(15) of the

7 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Man8 agement Act (16 U.S.C. 1802(15)).

9 SEC. 4. AUTHORITY FOR MANAGEMENT OF DUNGENESS

10 CRAB.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the provisions of this

12 section, and notwithstanding section 306(a) of the Magnu13 son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act

14 (16 U.S.C. 1856(a)), each of the States of Washington,

15 Oregon, and California may adopt and enforce State laws

16 (including regulations) governing fishing and processing

17 in the exclusive economic zone adjacent to that State in

18 any Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) fishery for which

19 there is no fishery management plan in effect under the

20 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage21 ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.).

22 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE LAWS.—Any law

23 adopted by a State under this section for a Dungeness

24 crab fishery—
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1 (1) except as provided in paragraph (2), shall,

2 without regard to the State that issued the permit

3 under which a vessel is operating, apply equally to—

4 (A) vessels engaged in the fishery in the

5 exclusive economic zone; and

6 (B) vessels engaged in the fishery in the

7 waters of the State;

8 (2) shall not apply to any fishing by a vessel in

9 the exercise of tribal treaty rights; and

10 (3) shall include any provisions necessary to im11 plement tribal treaty rights in a manner consistent

12 with the decision of the United States District Court

13 for the Western District of Washington in United

14 States v. Washington, D.C. No. CV–70–09213.

15 (c) EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

17 any law of the State of Washington, Oregon, or Cali18 fornia that establishes or implements a limited entry

19 system for a Dungeness crab fishery may not be en20 forced against a vessel that—

21 (A) is otherwise legally fishing in the ex22 clusive economic zone adjacent to that State;

23 and

24 (B) is not registered under the laws of that

25 State.
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1 (2) EXCLUSION.—A State referred to in para2 graph (1) may regulate the landing of Dungeness

3 crab.

4 (d) REQUIREMENTS FOR HARVEST.—No vessel may

5 harvest or process Dungeness crab in the exclusive eco6 nomic zone adjacent to the State of Washington, Oregon,

7 or California, except—

8 (1) as authorized by a permit issued by any of

9 the States referred to in subsection (c)(1); or

10 (2) under any tribal treaty rights to Dungeness

11 crab in a manner consistent with the decision of the

12 United States District Court for the Western Dis13 trict of Washington in United States v. Washington,

14 D.C. No. CV–70–09213.

15 (e) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Except as ex16 pressly provided in this section, nothing in this section is

17 intended to reduce the authority of any State under the

18 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage19 ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) to regulate fishing, fish

20 processing, or landing of fish.

21 SEC. 5. ELIMINATION OF INTERIM AUTHORITY.

22 Section 112 of the Sustainable Fisheries Act (Public

23 Law 104–297; 110 Stat. 3596) is amended by striking

24 subsection (d).

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