SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marine Debris Act 
Amendments of 2012’’. 
SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment is expressed as an amendment to 
a section or other provision, the reference shall be consid-
ered to be made to a section or other provision of the Ma-
rine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act (33 
U.S.C. 1951 et seq.), as in effect immediately before the 
enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. SHORT TITLE AMENDMENT. 
Section 1 (33 U.S.C. 1951 note) is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘Research, Prevention, and Reduction’’. 
SEC. 4. PURPOSE. 
Section 2 (33 U.S.C. 1951) is amended to read as 
follows: 
‘‘SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
‘‘The purpose of this Act is to address the adverse 
impacts of marine debris on the United States economy, 
the marine environment, and navigation safety through 
identification, determination of sources, assessment, pre-
vention, reduction, and removal of marine debris.’’. 
SEC. 5. NOAA MARINE DEBRIS PROGRAM. 
(a) NAME OF PROGRAM.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 (33 U.S.C. 1952) 
is amended— 
(A) in the section heading by striking 
‘‘PREVENTION AND REMOVAL’’; and 
(B) in subsection (a)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘Prevention and Re-
moval Program to reduce and prevent’’ 
and inserting ‘‘Program to identify, deter-
mine sources of, assess, prevent, reduce, 
and remove’’; 
(ii) by inserting ‘‘the economy of the 
United States,’’ after ‘‘marine debris on’’; 
and 
(iii) by inserting a comma after ‘‘envi-
ronment’’. 
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (7) 
of section 7 (33 U.S.C. 1956) is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘Prevention and Removal’’. 
(b) PROGRAM
COMPONENTS.—Section 3(b) (33 
U.S.C. 1952(b)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—The Administrator, 
acting through the Program and subject to the availability 
of appropriations, shall— 
‘‘(1) identify, determine sources of, assess, pre-
vent, reduce, and remove marine debris, with a focus
on marine debris posing a threat to living marine re-
sources and navigation safety; 
‘‘(2) provide national and regional coordination 
to assist States, Indian tribes, and regional organi-
zations in identification, determination of sources, 
assessment, prevention, reduction, and removal of 
marine debris; 
‘‘(3) undertake efforts to reduce adverse im-
pacts of lost and discarded fishing gear on living 
marine resources and navigation safety, including— 
‘‘(A) research and development of alter-
natives to gear posing threats to the marine en-
vironment, and methods for marking gear used 
in specific fisheries to enhance the tracking, re-
covery, and identification of lost and discarded 
gear; and 
‘‘(B) development of effective nonregula-
tory measures and incentives to cooperatively 
reduce the volume of lost and discarded fishing 
gear and to aid in its recovery; and 
‘‘(4) undertake outreach and education of the 
public and other stakeholders on sources of marine 
debris, threats associated with marine debris, and 
approaches to identify, determine sources of, assess, 
prevent, reduce, and remove marine debris and its
adverse impacts on the United States economy, the 
marine environment, and navigational safety, includ-
ing outreach and education activities through public- 
private initiatives.’’. 
(c) REPEAL.—Section 2204 of the Marine Plastic 
Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987 and the item 
relating to that section in the table of contents contained 
in section 2 of the United States-Japan Fishery Agree-
ment Approval Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C. 1915) are repealed. 
(d) GRANT CRITERIA
AND GUIDELINES.—Section 
3(c) (33 U.S.C. 1952(c)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 2(1)’’ 
and inserting ‘‘section 2’’; 
(2) by repealing paragraph (5); and 
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as 
paragraphs (5) and (6). 
SEC. 6. REPEAL OF OBSOLETE PROVISIONS. 
Section 4 (33 U.S.C. 1953) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘(a) STRATEGY.—’’; and 
(2) by repealing subsections (b) and (c). 
SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO DEFINITIONS. 
(a) INTERAGENCY MARINE DEBRIS COORDINATING 
COMMITTEE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub-
section (b), section 2203 of the Marine Plastic Pol-
lution Research and Control Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C. 
1914) is redesignated and moved to replace and ap-
pear as section 5 of the Marine Debris Research, 
Prevention, and Reduction Act (33 U.S.C. 1954). 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating 
to section 2203 in the table of contents contained in 
section 2 of the United States-Japan Fishery Agree-
ment Approval Act of 1987 is repealed. 
(b) BIENNIAL PROGRESS REPORTS.—Section 5(c)(2) 
(33 U.S.C. 1954(c)(2)), as in effect immediately before 
the enactment of this Act— 
(1) is redesignated as subsection (e) of section 
5, as redesignated and moved by the amendment 
made by subsection (a) of this section; and 
(2) is amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘ANNUAL PROGRESS RE-
PORTS.—’’ and all that follows through ‘‘there-
after’’ and inserting ‘‘BIENNIAL PROGRESS RE-
PORTS.—Bienially’’; 
(B) by inserting ‘‘Natural’’ before ‘‘Re-
sources’’; 
(C) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 
through (E) as paragraphs (1) through (5) of 
such subsection; and
(D) by moving such subsection 2 ems to 
the left. 
SEC. 8. CONFIDENTIALITY OF SUBMITTED INFORMATION. 
Section 6(2) (33 U.S.C. 1955(2)) is amended by 
striking ‘‘by the fishing industry’’. 
SEC. 9. MARINE DEBRIS DEFINITION. 
Section 7 (33 U.S.C. 1956) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para-
graph (9), and moving such paragraph to appear 
after paragraph (8); and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) MARINE DEBRIS.—The term ‘marine de-
bris’ means any persistent solid material that is 
manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, 
and intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or 
abandoned into the marine environment or the Great 
Lakes.’’. 
SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
Section 9 (33 U.S.C. 1958) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘are’’ and inserting ‘‘is’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘2006 through 2010’’ and all 
that follows through ‘‘(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘through 
fiscal year 2015’’;
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1171 
AN ACT 
To reauthorize and amend the Marine Debris 
Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act.