I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2772 

To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

to permit eligible fishermen to approve certain limited access privilege 

programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 1, 2011 

Mr. RUNYAN (for himself, Mr. JONES, and Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act to permit eligible fishermen to approve 

certain limited access privilege programs, 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 ‘‘Saving Fishing Jobs 

5 Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. APPROVAL OF CERTAIN LIMITED ACCESS PRIVI2 LEGE PROGRAMS. 

3 (a) ELIGIBILITY TO SIGN PETITION.—Section 

4 303A(c)(6)(B) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Con5 servation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 

6 1853a(c)(6)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘For multispecies 

7 permits’’ and all that follows through ‘‘this subpara8 graph’’. 

9 (b) INITIATION BY ELIGIBLE FISHERMEN UNDER

10 CERTAIN COUNCILS.—Section 303A(c)(6)(D) of the Mag11 nuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

12 (16 U.S.C. 1853a(c)(6)(D)) is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(D) NEW ENGLAND, MID-ATLANTIC, 

14 SOUTH ATLANTIC, AND GULF INITIATION.— 

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a 

16 fishery under the authority of the New 

17 England, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, or 

18 Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Coun19 cil, a fishery management plan or an 

20 amendment to a fishery management plan 

21 that would establish a limited access privi22 lege program to harvest fish may not take 

23 effect unless— 

24 ‘‘(I) a petition requesting devel25 opment of such program is submitted 


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1 in accordance with clause (ii) and cer2 tified under clause (iii); 

3 ‘‘(II) the Council makes available 

4 to eligible fishermen an estimate of 

5 the amount of the fee that would be 

6 collected under section 304(d)(2) if 

7 such program were established; and 

8 ‘‘(III) not earlier than 90 days 

9 after the estimate required under sub10 clause (II) has been made available, 

11 the proposed plan or amendment is 

12 approved by a vote of two-thirds of el13 igible fishermen in the fishery for 

14 which the program would be estab15 lished. 

16 ‘‘(ii) PETITION.—A group of fisher17 men constituting more than 50 percent of 

18 eligible fishermen in a fishery may submit 

19 a petition to the Secretary requesting the 

20 development of a limited access privilege 

21 program for the fishery. Any such petition 

22 shall clearly state the fishery to which the 

23 limited access privilege program would 

24 apply. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) CERTIFICATION BY SEC2 RETARY.—Upon the receipt of any such 

3 petition, the Secretary shall review all of 

4 the signatures on the petition and, if the 

5 Secretary determines that the signatures 

6 on the petition are those of more than 50 

7 percent of eligible fishermen in the fishery 

8 for which the program would be estab9 lished, the Secretary shall certify the peti10 tion. 

11 ‘‘(iv) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE FISH12 ERMEN.—For purposes of this subpara13 graph, the term ‘eligible fishermen’ means 

14 holders of permits issued under a fishery 

15 management plan.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF CERTAIN LIMITED ACCESS PRIVI17 LEGE PROGRAMS. 

18 Section 303A of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Con19 servation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1853a) is 

20 amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(j) TERMINATION.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall termi23 nate a limited access privilege program established 

24 after the date of the enactment of the Saving Fish25 ing Jobs Act of 2011 for a fishery under the authorVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:39 Aug 03, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2772.IH H2772

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1 ity of the New England, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlan2 tic, or Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, 

3 on the first date on which the Secretary determines 

4 that the number of eligible fishermen in the fishery 

5 in a year is at least 15 percent less than the number 

6 of eligible fishermen in the fishery in the year pre7 ceding the year in which the program was estab8 lished. 

9 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE FISHERMEN.— 

10 In this subsection, the term ‘eligible fishermen’ has 

11 the meaning given the term in subsection 

12 (c)(6)(D)(iv).’’. 

13 SEC. 4. FEES RECOVERED FOR CERTAIN LIMITED ACCESS 

14 PRIVILEGE PROGRAMS. 

15 Section 304(d)(2) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

16 Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 

17 1854(d)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(D) In the case of a fee collected under sub20 paragraph (A) for a limited access privilege program 

21 established under section 303A(c)(6)(D) after the 

22 date of the enactment of the Saving Fishing Jobs 

23 Act of 2011— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the fee shall be in an amount suffi2 cient to recover all costs of such program, in3 cluding observer costs; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) the 3-percent limitation in subpara5 graph (B) shall not apply with respect to such 

6 fee.’’. 

Æ 


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