I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1690
To protect diverse and structurally complex areas of the seafloor in the 
United States exclusive economic zone by establishing a maximum diame-
ter size limit on rockhopper, roller, and all other groundgear used on 
bottom trawls, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 9, 2003
Mr. HEFLEY (for himself, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. 
GREENWOOD, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. HONDA, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. 
FALEOMAVAEGA, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. CASTLE, 
and Mr. HOLT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To protect diverse and structurally complex areas of the 
seafloor in the United States exclusive economic zone 
by establishing a maximum diameter size limit on 
rockhopper, roller, and all other groundgear used on 
bottom trawls, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ocean Habitat Protec-
tion Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Complex seafloor habitats created by geo-
logic structures and structure-forming organisms are 
essential to the maintenance of marine biodiversity 
and to numerous fish species, including commercially 
and recreationally targeted species, which rely on 
them for spawning, food, and shelter from predation. 
(2) The diverse fish and other marine species 
that are associated with three-dimensional, struc-
turally complex seafloor habitats within the exclusive 
economic zone of the United States—
(A) constitute valuable and renewable nat-
ural resources; 
(B) are an essential component of marine 
biodiversity; 
(C) contribute to the food supply, economy, 
and health of the United States; 
(D) support the economies of coastal com-
munities; and 
(E) provide recreational opportunities. 
(3) Living organisms, such as deep-sea corals 
and sponges, which create complex habitat, have not 
been adequately studied for their potential benefit to 
society or for their ecological importance to fish spe-
cies and other forms of marine life.
(4) Scientists now recognize deep-sea corals to 
be as diverse as, and more widely distributed than, 
shallow, reef-forming tropical corals. 
(5) Deep-sea corals typically exhibit slow 
growth, extreme longevity, and highly patchy dis-
tribution, predominating along continental margins, 
sea mounts, and ridges. 
(6) Deep-sea coral habitats are subject to grow-
ing human pressures, particularly as a result of the 
rapid spread of deep-sea trawl fisheries into new re-
gions and new grounds, aided by the explosive devel-
opment of navigational, fish-finding, and other tech-
nologies. 
(7) The exceptional diversity, uniqueness, and 
vulnerability of deep-sea corals necessitates that 
their mapping and conservation be given a high pri-
ority. 
(8) Bottom trawling reduces habitat complexity 
and biological diversity by leveling geologic bedforms 
and by killing, removing, crushing, burying, and ex-
posing benthic organisms, including deep-sea corals 
and sponges, to predators and scavengers, thereby 
significantly reducing their value for economically 
and ecologically important fishes and other marine 
life. The resultant reduction in biodiversity is detri-
mental to many commercially and recreationally im-
portant species and to the industries and people that 
depend on them. 
(9) In the past, the practice of bottom trawling 
was conducted mainly on soft bottom areas, and was 
rarely used in three-dimensional, structurally com-
plex habitats. 
(10) Technological modifications to bottom 
trawls, including the creation of large rockhopper 
and roller gear and chafing gear, facilitate the use 
of bottom trawls in rocky and other complex marine 
habitats that were once refuges for fishes and other 
marine life. 
(11) The expansion in the use of bottom trawls 
from soft bottom areas to three-dimensional, struc-
turally complex habitats over the past 25 years has 
had and continues to have significant, adverse ef-
fects on the diversity and habitat complexity of these 
areas, particularly on deep-sea corals and sponges 
which, due to their fragility, slow growth, and lon-
gevity, may take decades to centuries to recover 
from a single pass of a trawl. With repeated trawl-
ing in the same area, the damage may be irrevers-
ible.
(12) Numerous scientific studies show that bot-
tom trawling is especially damaging to three-dimen-
sional, structurally complex habitats such as corals, 
boulder fields, sponge beds, and gravel bottoms. Ac-
cording to a National Research Council report, 
‘‘there is enough information currently available to 
support efforts to improve the management of the 
effects of these fishing gears on seafloor habitats.’’. 
(National Research Council Report 2002, page 66). 
(13) Prohibiting the use of large rockhopper, 
roller, and other groundgear is a practical, pre-
cautionary, and enforceable measure to protect 
structurally complex, benthic marine habitats from 
the damaging effects of bottom trawling. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF LARGE FOOTROPE DE-
VICES ON BOTTOM TRAWL GEAR. 
(a) POLICY AND PURPOSE.—
(1) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United 
States that essential fish habitat, including com-
plexly structured bottom habitats, be protected from 
damage in order to protect the species that benefit 
from the habitat. 
(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is 
to restrict access of bottom trawls to complexly 
structured seafloor habitats, composed of geologic
and biogenic structures, that are found scattered 
throughout the Federal exclusive economic zone.
(b) PROHIBITION.—Section 307 of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 
U.S.C. 1857) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 
‘‘It is unlawful—’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) BOTTOM TRAWL FISHING.—
‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—It is unlawful for any per-
son to use a bottom trawl with rollers, bobbins, tires, 
rockhoppers, or any other devices that are affixed to 
the footrope (also known as the sweep) and that are 
in excess of 8 inches in diameter, for fishing that is 
subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, in-
cluding fishing by a vessel of the United States be-
yond the equivalent of the exclusive economic zone 
of all countries. 
‘‘(2) EXEMPTION
OF
FISHING
IN
CERTAIN 
AREAS.—Paragraph (1) shall not apply to fishing in 
an area that is exempted by the Secretary under 
paragraph (3). 
‘‘(3) EXEMPTED
FISHING
AREAS.—(A) The 
Secretary may exempt fishing in an area of the ex-
‘‘(B) the Secretary—
‘‘(i) determines that the evidence and 
plan are satisfactory; and 
‘‘(ii) issues regulations that implement 
the vessel monitoring plan.’’. 
(3) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—Section 307(b)(1) of 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act, as amended by this subsection, 
shall take effect upon the expiration of the 1-year 
period beginning on the date of the enactment of 
this Act, and shall apply to fishing after that period. 
(4) 
REBUTTABLE
PRESUMPTION.—Section 
310(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conserva-
tion and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1860(e)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(4) For purposes of this Act, it shall be a re-
buttable presumption that any vessel that is shore-
ward of the outer boundary of the exclusive eco-
nomic zone, or beyond the equivalent zone of all 
countries, and that has on board gear comprised of 
a trawl net with rollers, bobbins, tires, rockhoppers, 
or any other devices attached to the footrope of the 
trawl net that are in excess of 8 inches in diameter, 
is engaged in fishing using such gear, unless—
‘‘(A) the captain, master, or individual in 
charge of the vessel has declared to the Sec-
retary in the manner prescribed by the Sec-
retary in regulations, prior to the trip, his or 
her intention to use the gear in an area of mud 
or sand bottom covered by an exemption under 
section 307(b)(3); and 
‘‘(B) the vessel has on board a functioning 
vessel monitoring system required by regula-
tions issued by the Secretary under section 
307(b)(3)(B)(ii).’’. 
SEC. 4. ASSISTANCE. 
(a) GEAR TRANSITION ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 
of Commerce may provide to a person that is the owner 
of a qualified fishing vessel under subsection (d), on a one-
time basis, financial assistance in an amount not to exceed 
$4,000 per qualified fishing vessel owned by the person, 
to pay for any of the following: 
(1) The depreciated cost of rockhoppers, rollers, 
tires, bobbins, or other similar devices in excess of 
8 inches in diameter that are part of the fishing 
gear of the vessel on the date of the enactment of 
this Act and that are disposed of in a manner that 
is approved by the Secretary.
(2) The cost of converting trawl nets that are 
part of the fishing gear of the vessel on the date of 
the enactment of this Act to footrope gear that is 8 
inches or less in diameter. 
(b) PAYMENT FOR PROMPT CONVERSION.—The Sec-
retary of Commerce may provide to a person that is the 
owner of a qualified fishing vessel under subsection (d) 
a one-time payment of $10,000, if the person, by not later 
than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act—
(1) ceases to engage in trawling; and 
(2) commits to not engage in fishing other than 
fishing exclusively with fixed gear comprised solely 
of any combination of fishpots, fishtraps, or hook-
and-line gear. 
(c) ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE.—
(1) VESSEL OWNERS AND CREWS.—The Sec-
retary of Commerce shall, based on such factors as 
the Secretary considers to be relevant, provide eco-
nomic assistance to—
(A) the owner of a qualified fishing vessel 
who—
(i) applies within 6 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, in the 
manner prescribed by the Secretary in reg-
ulations, to cease fishing in bottom trawl 
fisheries; and 
(ii) does not continue fishing in other 
fisheries; and 
(B) any individual who is a member of the 
crew of a qualified fishing vessel the owner of 
which applies within 6 months after the date of 
the enactment of this Act to cease fishing in 
bottom trawl fisheries. 
(2) INCLUDED ASSISTANCE.—Economic assist-
ance under this subsection may include—
(A) income assistance—
(i) for a period of not to exceed 2-
years; and 
(ii) in an amount not to exceed the 
amount of income earned by the vessel 
owner or crew member, as applicable, in 
the taxable year preceding the date of the 
application for assistance that is attrib-
utable to the fishing vessel or employment 
on the qualified fishing vessel, as reported 
to the Internal Revenue Service; and
(B) funds for training for nonfishery em-
ployment that the Secretary determines reason-
able, for a period of not to exceed 2 years.
(3) REPORT.—The Secretary of Commerce 
shall, by not later than 12 months after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, submit a report to the 
Congress estimating the costs of implementing this 
subsection. 
(d) QUALIFIED FISHING VESSELS.—A vessel shall be 
a qualified fishing vessel for purposes of this section if 
it is a vessel of the United States authorized to be used 
for trawl fishing by a permit under the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 
1801 et seq.) that is in effect on date of enactment of 
this Act. 
(e) PROHIBITION
ON ISSUANCE
OF TRAWL PER-
MIT.—The Secretary of Commerce shall not issue any per-
mit that authorizes trawl fishing by an individual who re-
ceives economic assistance under this section. 
SEC. 5. SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION ON SEAFLOOR HABITAT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Com-
merce, in consultation with the United States Geological 
Survey, shall—
(1) undertake a program to collect, and make 
available to Regional Fishery Management Councils, 
information and maps on the existence, location, 
composition, condition, and protected status of the