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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2706 Reported in House (RH)]

                                                 Union Calendar No. 474
112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2706

                          [Report No. 112-656]

                   To prohibit the sale of billfish.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 2011

 Mr. Miller of Florida (for himself, Mr. Ross of Arkansas, Mr. Shuler, 
 Mr. Latta, Mr. Duncan of South Carolina, Mr. Wittman, Mr. Boren, Mr. 
   Michaud, and Mr. Bonner) introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

                           September 10, 2012

   Additional sponsors: Mr. Alexander, Mr. Coble, Mr. Buchanan, Mr. 
    Rooney, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. 
 Heinrich, Mr. Harris, Mr. Pierluisi, Mr. Flores, Mr. Young of Alaska, 
 Mr. Southerland, Mr. Landry, Mr. Palazzo, Mr. Rivera, and Mr. Kissell

                           September 10, 2012

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
 [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 
                               29, 2011]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
                   To prohibit the sale of billfish.

 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Billfish Conservation Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States carefully regulates its domestic 
        fisheries for billfish and participates in international 
        fishery management bodies in the Atlantic and Pacific.
            (2) Global billfish populations have declined 
        significantly, however, because of overfishing primarily 
        through retention of bycatch by non-United States commercial 
        fishing fleets.
            (3) Ending the importation of foreign-caught billfish for 
        sale in the United States aligns with U.S. management measures 
        of billfish and protects the significant economic benefits to 
        the U.S. economy of recreational fishing and marine commerce 
        and the traditional cultural fisheries.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.

    The Congress enacts this Act pursuant to clause 3 of section 8 of 
article I of the Constitution.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF BILLFISH.

    (a) Prohibition.--No person shall offer for sale, sell, or have 
custody, control, or possession of for purposes of offering for sale or 
selling billfish or products containing billfish.
    (b) Penalty.--For purposes of section 308(a) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), a 
violation of this section shall be treated as an act prohibited by 
section 307 of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1857).
    (c) Exemptions for Traditional Fisheries and Markets.--
            (1) Subsection (a) does not apply to billfish caught by 
        U.S. vessels and landed in the State of Hawaii or Pacific 
        Insular Areas as defined in section 3(35) of the Magnuson-
        Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 
        1802(35)).
            (2) Subsection (a) does not apply to billfish landed by 
        foreign vessels in the Pacific Insular Areas when the foreign 
        caught billfish is exported to non-U.S. markets or retained 
        within the Pacific Insular Areas for local consumption.
    (d) Billfish Defined.--In this section the term ``billfish''--
            (1) means any fish of the species--
                    (A) Makaira nigricans (blue marlin);
                    (B) Kajikia audax (striped marlin);
                    (C) Istiompax indica (black marlin);
                    (D) Istiophorus platypterus (sailfish);
                    (E) Tetrapturus angustirostris (shortbill 
                spearfish);
                    (F) Kajikia albida (white marlin);
                    (G) Tetrapturus georgii (roundscale spearfish);
                    (H) Tetrapturus belone (Mediterranean spearfish); 
                and
                    (I) Tetrapturus pfluegeri (longbill spearfish); and
            (2) does not include the species Xiphias gladius 
        (swordfish).
                                                 Union Calendar No. 474

112th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 2706

                          [Report No. 112-656]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

                   To prohibit the sale of billfish.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           September 10, 2012

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
```