I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2500

To establish a Council on Interjurisdictional Rivers Fisheries and to direct

the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a pilot test of the Mississippi

Interstate Cooperative Resource Agreement.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 23, 1993

Mr. GUNDERSON (for himself, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. SABO, Mr. JOHNSON of

South Dakota, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. TAUZIN, and Mr. BARLOW) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries

A BILL

To establish a Council on Interjurisdictional Rivers Fisheries

and to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct

a pilot test of the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative

Resource Agreement.

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 ‘‘Cooperative

5 Interjurisdictional Rivers Fisheries Resources Act of

6 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds that—

3 (1) several rivers flow between, or are common

4 to, 2 or more State boundaries;

5 (2) in many cases, there is not a single entity

6 which has complete jurisdictional responsibility for

7 the fisheries resources in these rivers;

8 (3) a strong partnership between Federal and

9 State governmental authorities is vital in coordinat10 ing and facilitating cooperative research and in re11 solving problems associated with large river

12 ecosystems because, among other reasons, many

13 fishery management problems are caused by feder14 ally regulated activities (including activities resulting

15 in point and nonpoint pollution) and federally con16 structed projects (including dams and navigation fa17 cilities);

18 (4) in some rivers, the once rich assemblages of

19 fish fauna and diverse habitats have been lost and

20 formerly abundant native fish now exist only as en21 dangered or depleted populations;

22 (5) without positive management actions, native

23 species in some rivers will continue to decline, foster24 ing even greater conflicts among water users;

25 (6) construction of waterway developments (in26 cluding navigation, flood control, water level fluctua-
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1 tion, power generation, irrigation, and general water

2 depletion projects) is accelerating and increasingly

3 degrading large river ecosystems nationwide;

4 (7) the United States public will face reduced

5 opportunities for recreational, commercial, subsist6 ence, and aesthetic uses of river systems without de7 monstrable change in management strategies in the

8 near future;

9 (8) several programs have been proposed or are

10 underway to resolve conflicts in these management

11 strategies;

12 (9) in one of these programs, Federal, State,

13 and local fisheries managers in the Mississippi River

14 drainage basin have entered into the Mississippi

15 Interstate Cooperative Resource Agreement under

16 which the managers will share resources, facilities,

17 and funding for preparation and development of

18 long-range strategic plans for management of the

19 drainage basin’s interjurisdictional fisheries;

20 (10) the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Re21 source Agreement merits detailed evaluation as a

22 model for the development of long-range strategic

23 plans for the management of interjurisdictional riv24 ers fisheries resources; and
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1 (11) to ensure that these programs are appro2 priately coordinated and to conserve the fisheries re3 sources in interjurisdictional rivers, there is a need

4 for strategies to improve coordination, cooperation,

5 research, and information sharing.

6 SEC. 3. COUNCIL ON INTERJURISDICTIONAL RIVERS FISH7 ERIES.

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a council

9 to be known as the ‘‘Council on Interjurisdictional Rivers

10 Fisheries’’ (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Council’’).

11 (b) DUTIES.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Council shall develop

13 recommendations for cooperative action strategies on

14 the management of interjurisdictional rivers fish15 eries.

16 (2) CONTENTS OF STRATEGIES.—The rec17 ommended strategies to be developed by the Council

18 under this subsection shall at a minimum contain

19 the following:

20 (A) A listing of the 10 highest priority

21 interjurisdictional rivers in need of cooperative

22 fisheries management.

23 (B) Comprehensive fishery strategic plans

24 for the 5 highest priority interjurisdictional riv25 ers identified pursuant to subparagraph (A), in-
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1 cluding goals, objectives, implementation sched2 ules, and estimates of costs necessary to fully

3 develop and implement the strategic plans.

4 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing a listing

5 of the highest priority interjurisdictional rivers in

6 developing and comprehensive fishery strategic

7 plans, the Council shall consider the following:

8 (A) The nature and severity of problems of

9 the interjurisdictional rivers creating the need

10 for enhanced cooperation.

11 (B) The adequacy of existing management

12 programs for the interjurisdictional rivers to

13 address these problems.

14 (C) The status and trends of fisheries re15 sources in the interjurisdictional rivers.

16 (D) The biological, physical, geologic, and

17 hydrographic characteristics of the

18 interjurisdictional rivers and the economic de19 mands (including water uses) on these rivers.

20 (4) REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF STRATEGIC

21 PLANS BY STATES.—The Council may not issue a

22 cooperative action strategy under this section in

23 final form unless—

24 (A) the Council has submitted each com25 prehensive fishery strategic plan contained in
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1 the strategy to each State having jurisdiction

2 over an interjurisdictional river that is covered

3 by the plan; and

4 (B) the director of each State fish and

5 wildlife agency has been offered the opportunity

6 to choose whether the strategy will be applicable

7 to his State.

8 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—

9 (1) NUMBER AND APPOINTMENT.—The Council

10 shall be composed of 13 members as follows:

11 (A) The Secretary (or the Secretary’s des12 ignee) who shall serve as chairperson of the

13 Council.

14 (B) 7 individuals appointed by the Sec15 retary who are qualified to serve on the Council

16 by virtue of being the director of a State fish

17 and wildlife agency which represents 1 of the

18 following major interjurisdictional drainage sys19 tems of the United States: the upper Mis20 sissippi, lower Mississippi, Colorado, Missouri,

21 Ohio, Pacific Coastal, and Atlantic Coastal Sys22 tems.

23 (C) The Assistant Administrator for Fish24 eries of the National Marine Fisheries Service
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1 of the Department of Commerce (or the Assist2 ant Administrator’s designee).

3 (D) The Secretary of the Department of

4 Energy (or the Secretary’s designee).

5 (E) The Assistant Secretary of the Army

6 for Civil Works (or the Assistant Secretary’s

7 designee).

8 (F) The Chairman of the Tennessee Valley

9 Authority (or the Chairman’s designee).

10 (G) One member of the Federal Energy

11 Regulatory Commission to be appointed by the

12 Secretary (or the member’s designee).

13 (2) TERMS.—Members shall be appointed for a

14 term of 3 years.

15 (3) VACANCIES.—A vacancy on the Council

16 shall be filled in the manner in which the original

17 appointment was made. Any member appointed to

18 fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of the

19 term for which the member’s predecessor was ap20 pointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of

21 such term.

22 (4) PAY.—Members shall serve without pay.

23 (5) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—While away from

24 their homes or regular places of business in the per25 formance of services for the Council, members shall
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1 receive travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of

2 subsistence, in accordance with sections 5702 and

3 5703 of title 5, United States Code; except that

4 members shall be entitled to receive such expenses

5 only to the extent that amounts are made available

6 for such purpose in advance in appropriations Acts.

7 (d) TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS.—In resolving mat8 ters before the Council, attempts shall be made to reach

9 consensus by the members. In the event consensus cannot

10 be reached, all decisions of the Council will be made by

11 majority vote of all its members. Provisions shall be made

12 to include a statement of minority opinion in matters in

13 which a consensus cannot be reached.

14 (e) MEETINGS.—The Council shall meet at the call

15 of the Chairperson or upon the request of a majority of

16 the members.

17 (f) STAFF AND ADMINISTRATION.—

18 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT.—The Secretary

19 shall provide the Council with such administrative

20 support services as are necessary for the effective

21 functioning of the Council.

22 (2) ORGANIZATION.—The Council shall deter23 mine its organization and prescribe the practices and

24 procedures for carrying out its duties under sub25 section (b).
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1 (g) LIMITATION ON SPENDING AUTHORITY.—No

2 money authorized to be appropriated under this Act may

3 be used to reimburse any agency or governmental unit

4 (whose employees are Council members) for time spent by

5 any such employee performing duties of the Council.

6 (h) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT EXEMP7 TION.—Conduct of business of the Council is exempt from

8 the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

9 (i) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 36

10 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the

11 Secretary shall transmit to Congress a report containing

12 the strategies to be developed under this section, together

13 with all statements of minority opinion received by the

14 Secretary pursuant to subsection (d).

15 (j) TERMINATION.—The Council shall terminate 30

16 days after the date on which a report is submitted under

17 subsection (i).

18 (k) LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—

19 Nothing in this Act shall be construed—

20 (1) to diminish the authority or responsibility of

21 a State with respect to interjurisdictional resources

22 within an interjurisdictional river or which depend

23 on an interjurisdictional river;

24 (2) to authorize the Secretary to implement any

25 strategy developed under this Act which is beyond
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1 the Secretary’s authority on the date of the enact2 ment of this Act; or

3 (3) to supercede the authority and agreements

4 of existing commissions or compacts.

5 SEC. 4. MISSISSIPPI INTERSTATE COOPERATIVE RE6 SOURCE AGREEMENT.

7 (a) EVALUATION.—The Secretary, in cooperation

8 with the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource

9 Agreement Steering Committee, shall conduct a pilot test

10 of the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Agree11 ment.

12 (b) CONTENTS.—The pilot test to be conducted under

13 this section shall include the following:

14 (1) Identification and description of each of the

15 river ecosystems of the Mississippi River drainage

16 system and the associated fishery resources and fish

17 habitat of such river ecosystems.

18 (2) Identification and description of the known

19 impacts of and mitigation techniques for navigation,

20 flood control, power generation, irrigation, and mu21 nicipal water supplies projects on fishery resources

22 of the Mississippi River drainage basin, including

23 the impacts of dredging, channel maintenance, water

24 level management, sediment and contaminant trans-
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1 port, vessel traffic, water withdrawal, and changes in

2 salinity and various hydrologic conditions.

3 (3) Analysis of existing resource data with re4 gard to regional depletion of important fish stocks

5 (including paddlefish, lake sturgeon, and walleye)

6 and the potential for restoration of such fish stocks.

7 (4) Identification of major information gaps

8 and technological needs to improve the cooperative

9 management of interjurisdictional fisheries re10 sources.

11 (5) A comprehensive study of the status, and

12 the management, research, and restoration needs, of

13 the interjurisdictional fisheries of the Mississippi

14 River drainage system.

15 (6) Development of recommendations regarding

16 the scope, schedule, regional priorities, and roles of

17 participants in the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative

18 Resource Agreement for undertaking cooperative

19 management and research projects.

20 (7) Development of plans and testing projects

21 for the restoration and enhancement of depleted fish

22 stocks (including lake sturgeon, paddlefish, walleye,

23 and other high priority nonanadromous species) and

24 associated habitats of such fish stocks.
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1 (8) Evaluation of the feasibility and expected

2 success of the program under the Mississippi Inter3 state Cooperative Resource Agreement and the mer4 its of extending such program of cooperative man5 agement strategy to other river basins in the United

6 States.

7 (9) Estimates of funds required to implement

8 recommendations and plans developed under para9 graphs (6), (7), and (8).

10 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 36

11 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the

12 Secretary shall transmit to Congress a report containing

13 the evaluation of the pilot test to be conducted under this

14 section.

15 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

16 For the purpose of this Act, the following definitions

17 apply:

18 (1) INTERJURISDICTIONAL FISHERIES RE19 SOURCES.—The term ‘‘interjurisdictional fisheries

20 resources’’ means fisheries resources, and associated

21 river ecosystems, that depend on interjurisdictional

22 rivers and are under the management of 2 or more

23 governmental entities.

24 (2) INTERJURISDICTIONAL RIVER.—The term

25 ‘‘interjurisdictional river’’ means a river that flows
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1 between, or is common to, 2 or more State bound2 aries.

3 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

4 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the

5 Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife

6 Service.

7 (4) STATE FISH AND WILDLIFE AGENCY.—The

8 term ‘‘State Fish and Wildlife Agency’’ includes any

9 State department or agency, or a part thereof, that

10 is empowered under the laws of the State to exercise

11 the functions ordinarily exercised by a State fish and

12 wildlife agency.

13 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

14 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec15 retary for each of fiscal years 1994, 1995, and 1996—

16 (1) $1,000,000 per fiscal year to carry out sec17 tion 3; and

18 (2) $2,000,000 per fiscal year to carry out sec19 tion 4.

20 Such sums shall remain available until expended.

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