IB 
Union Calendar No. 323 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5018 
[Report No. 109–567] 
To reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 28, 2006 
Mr. POMBO (for himself, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, and Mr. YOUNG of 
Alaska) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Resources 
JULY 17, 2006 
Additional sponsors: Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. JINDAL, 
Mr. TIERNEY, and Mr. MELANCON 
Deleted sponsor: Mr. MCGOVERN (added April 26, 2006; deleted May 4, 
2006) 
JULY 17, 2006 
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 March 28, 2006] 
A BILL 
To reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE: AMENDMENT REFERENCES. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—The Act may be cited as the 
‘‘American Fisheries Management and Marine Life En-
hancement Act’’. 
(b) AMENDMENT
OF MAGNUSON-STEVENS FISHERY 
CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT.—Except as other-
wise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amend-
ment or repeal is expressed as an amendment to, or repeal 
of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be consid-
ered to be made to a section or other provision of the Mag-
nuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
(16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq). 
SEC. 2. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO DEFINITIONS. 
(a) EXECUTION OF PRIOR AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) 
CONTINENTAL
SHELF
FISHERY
RE-
SOURCES.—Section 102(2) of the Sustainable Fish-
eries Act (Public Law 104–297; 110 Stat. 3561) is 
amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘COELENTERATA’’ and 
inserting ‘‘COELENTERATA’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘CNIDARIA’’ and inserting 
‘‘CNIDARIA’’; and 
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(C) by striking ‘‘CRUSTACEA’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘CRUSTACEA’’. 
(2) UNITED STATES HARVESTED FISH.—Section 
102(11) of the Sustainable Fisheries Act (Public Law 
104–297; 110 Stat. 3563) is amended by striking 
‘‘(42)’’ and inserting ‘‘(43)’’. 
(3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall take 
effect on the effective date of section 102 of Public 
Law 104–297. 
(b) CORRECTIONS RELATING TO SPECIAL AREAS.— 
Section 3 (16 U.S.C. 1802) is amended— 
(1) by striking paragraphs (35) and (36); 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (37) through the 
last paragraph (relating to the definition of ‘‘waters 
of a foreign nation’’) in order as paragraphs (35) 
through (44); 
(3) by inserting‘‘(a) GENERAL DEFINITIONS.—’’ 
before ‘‘As used in this Act’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) TERMS RELATING TO AGREEMENT WITH THE 
FORMER SOVIET UNION.—As used in this Act the term ‘spe-
cial areas’ means the areas referred to as eastern special 
areas in Article 3(1) of the Agreement between the United 
States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Repub-
lics on the Maritime Boundary, signed June 1, 1990. In 
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particular, the term refers to those areas east of the mari-
time boundary, as defined in that Agreement, that lie with-
in 200 nautical miles of the baselines from which the 
breadth of the territorial sea of Russia is measured but be-
yond 200 nautical miles of the baselines from which the 
breadth of the territorial sea of the United States is meas-
ured.’’. 
SEC. 3. SCIENCE-BASED IMPROVEMENTS TO MANAGEMENT. 
(a) HARVEST LEVEL CAPS.— 
(1) MECHANISM.—Section 303(a) (16 U.S.C. 
1853(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 
semicolon at the end of paragraph (13), by striking 
the period at the end of paragraph (14) and inserting 
a semicolon, and by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(15) provide a mechanism for specifying the 
total allowable catch or another annual catch limit 
under the plan (including for a multiyear plan) for 
each fishery for which an annual catch limit can be 
established, that— 
‘‘(A) is based on the best scientific informa-
tion available; and 
‘‘(B) in the case of a plan issued by a 
Council, does not exceed the acceptable biological 
catch level recommended by the scientific and 
statistical committee of the Council;’’. 
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(2) REQUIREMENT TO ADOPT.—Section 302(h) 
(16 U.S.C. 1852(h)) is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ 
after the semicolon at the end of paragraph (5), by 
striking the period at the end of paragraph (6) and 
inserting a semicolon, and by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(7) adopt a total allowable catch limit or other 
annual harvest effort control limit for each of the fish-
eries for which such a limit can be established, after 
considering the recommendation of the scientific and 
statistical committee of the Council having jurisdic-
tion over the fishery, which shall not exceed the rec-
ommendation for the acceptable biological catch as 
recommended by such scientific and statistical com-
mittee; and’’. 
(3) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
303(b)(11) (16 U.S.C. 1853(b)(11)) is amended by 
striking ‘‘allowable biological catch’’ and inserting 
‘‘acceptable biological catch’’. 
(b) BEST SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION AVAILABLE.—Sec-
tion 303 (16 U.S.C. 1853) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(d) BEST SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION AVAILABLE.— 
The Secretary shall develop guidelines for the Councils to 
use in determining what is the best scientific information 
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