I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5453 
To improve the Fishery Resource Disaster Relief program of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 
Mr. HUFFMAN (for himself and Mr. WEBSTER of Florida) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To improve the Fishery Resource Disaster Relief program 
of the National Marine Fisheries Service, 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 ‘‘Fishery Resource Dis-
asters Improvement Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FISHERY RESOURCE DISASTER RELIEF. 
Section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1861a(a)) 
is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(a) FISHERY RESOURCE DISASTER RELIEF.— 
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‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) ALLOWABLE CAUSE.—The term ‘al-
lowable cause’ means a natural cause, discrete 
anthropogenic cause, or undetermined cause. 
‘‘(B) ANTHROPOGENIC CAUSE.—The term 
‘anthropogenic cause’ means an anthropogenic 
event, such as an oil spill or spillway opening— 
‘‘(i) that could not have been ad-
dressed or prevented by fishery manage-
ment measures; and 
‘‘(ii) that is otherwise beyond the con-
trol of fishery managers to mitigate 
through conservation and management 
measures, including regulatory restrictions 
imposed as a result of judicial action or to 
protect human health or marine animals, 
plants, or habitats. 
‘‘(C) FISHERY RESOURCE DISASTER.—The 
term ‘fishery resource disaster’ means a dis-
aster that is determined by the Secretary in ac-
cordance with this subsection and— 
‘‘(i) is an unexpected large decrease in 
fish stock biomass or other change that re-
sults in significant loss of access to the 
fishery resource, which may include loss of 
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fishing vessels and gear for a substantial 
period of time and results in significant 
revenue or subsistence loss due to an al-
lowable cause; and 
‘‘(ii) does not include— 
‘‘(I) reasonably predictable, fore-
seeable, and recurrent fishery cyclical 
variations in species distribution or 
stock abundance; or 
‘‘(II) reductions in fishing oppor-
tunities resulting from conservation 
and management measures taken pur-
suant to this Act. 
‘‘(D) INDIAN
TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian 
Tribe’ has the meaning given such term in sec-
tion 102 of the Federally Recognized Indian 
Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5130), and 
the term ‘Tribal’ means of or pertaining to such 
an Indian tribe. 
‘‘(E) NATURAL CAUSE.—The term ‘natural 
cause’— 
‘‘(i) means a weather, climatic, haz-
ard, or biology-related event, such as— 
‘‘(I) a hurricane; 
‘‘(II) a flood; 
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‘‘(III) a harmful algal bloom; 
‘‘(IV) a tsunami; 
‘‘(V) a hypoxic zone; 
‘‘(VI) a drought; 
‘‘(VII) El Nin˜o effects on water 
temperature; 
‘‘(VIII) a marine heat wave; or 
‘‘(IX) disease; and 
‘‘(ii) does not mean a normal or cycli-
cal variation in a species distribution or 
stock abundance. 
‘‘(F) 12-MONTH
REVENUE
LOSS.—The 
term ‘12-month revenue loss’ means the per-
centage reduction, as applicable, in commercial, 
charter, headboat, or processor revenue for the 
12 months during which the fishery resource 
disaster occurred, when compared to average 
annual revenue in the most recent 5 years when 
no fishery resource disaster occurred or equiva-
lent for stocks with cyclical life histories. 
‘‘(G) UNDETERMINED CAUSE.—The term 
‘undetermined cause’ means a cause in which 
the current state of knowledge does not allow 
the Secretary to identify the exact cause, and 
there is no current conclusive evidence sup-
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porting a possible cause of the fishery resource 
disaster. 
‘‘(2) GENERAL AUTHORITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
have the authority to determine the existence, 
extent, and beginning and end dates of a fish-
ery resource disaster under this subsection in 
accordance with this subsection. 
‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—After the 
Secretary determines that a fishery resource 
disaster has occurred, the Secretary is author-
ized to make sums available, from funds appro-
priated for such purposes, to be used by the af-
fected State, Tribal government, or interstate 
marine fisheries commission, or by the Sec-
retary in cooperation with the affected State, 
Tribal government, or interstate marine fish-
eries commission. 
‘‘(C) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—The requirements 
under this subsection shall take effect only with 
respect to requests for a fishery resource dis-
aster determination submitted after the date of 
enactment of the Fishery Resource Disasters 
Improvement Act. 
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‘‘(3) INITIATION OF A FISHERY RESOURCE DIS-
ASTER REVIEW.— 
‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE
REQUESTERS.—Not later 
than 1 year after the date of the conclusion of 
the fishing season, a request for a fishery re-
source disaster determination may be submitted 
to the Secretary, if the Secretary has not inde-
pendently determined that a fishery resource 
disaster has occurred, by— 
‘‘(i) the Governor of an affected State; 
‘‘(ii) an official Tribal resolution; or 
‘‘(iii) any other comparable elected or 
politically appointed representative as de-
termined by the Secretary. 
‘‘(B) REQUIRED
INFORMATION.—A com-
plete request for a fishery resource disaster de-
termination under subparagraph (A) shall in-
clude— 
‘‘(i) identification of all presumed af-
fected fish stocks; 
‘‘(ii) identification of the fishery as 
Federal, non-Federal, or both; 
‘‘(iii) the geographical boundaries of 
the fishery; 
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‘‘(iv) 
preliminary 
information 
on 
causes of the fishery resource disaster, if 
known; and 
‘‘(v) information needed to support a 
finding of a fishery resource disaster, in-
cluding— 
‘‘(I) information demonstrating 
the occurrence of an unexpected large 
decrease in fish stock biomass or 
other change that results in signifi-
cant loss of access to the fishery re-
source, which could include the loss of 
fishing vessels and gear, for a sub-
stantial period of time; 
‘‘(II) 12-month revenue loss or 
subsistence loss for the affected fish-
ery, or if a fishery resource disaster 
has occurred at any time in the pre-
vious 5-year period, the most recent 5 
years when no fishery resource dis-
aster occurred; 
‘‘(III) if applicable, information 
on lost resource tax revenues assessed 
by local communities, such as a raw 
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fish tax and local sourcing require-
ments; and 
‘‘(IV) if applicable and available, 
information on 12-month revenue loss 
for charter, headboat, or processors 
related to the information provided 
under subclause (I), subject to section 
402(b). 
‘‘(C) ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may 
provide data and analysis assistance to an eligi-
ble requester described in paragraph (1), if— 
‘‘(i) the assistance is so requested; 
‘‘(ii) the Secretary is in possession of 
the required information described in sub-
paragraph (B); and 
‘‘(iii) the data is not available to the 
requester, in carrying out the complete re-
quest under subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(D) INITIATION
OF
REVIEW.—The Sec-
retary shall have the discretion to initiate a 
fishery resource disaster review without a re-
quest. 
‘‘(4) REVIEW PROCESS.— 
‘‘(A) INTERIM RESPONSE.—Not later than 
20 days after receipt of a request under para-
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graph (3), the Secretary shall provide an in-
terim response to the individual that— 
‘‘(i) acknowledges receipt of the re-
quest; 
‘‘(ii) provides a regional contact with-
in the National Oceanographic and Atmos-
pheric Administration; 
‘‘(iii) outlines the process and timeline 
by which a request shall be considered; and 
‘‘(iv) requests additional information 
concerning the fishery resource disaster, if 
the original request is considered incom-
plete. 
‘‘(B) EVALUATION OF REQUESTS.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary 
shall complete a review, within the time 
frame described in clause (ii), using the 
best scientific information available, in 
consultation with the affected fishing com-
munities, States, or Tribes, of— 
‘‘(I) the information provided by 
the requester and any additional in-
formation relevant to the fishery, 
which may include— 
‘‘(aa) fishery characteristics; 
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‘‘(bb) stock assessments; 
‘‘(cc) the most recent fishery 
independent surveys and other 
fishery resource assessments and 
surveys conducted by Federal, 
State, or Tribal officials; 
‘‘(dd) estimates of mortality; 
and 
‘‘(ee) overall effects; and 
‘‘(II) the available economic in-
formation, which may include an anal-
ysis of— 
‘‘(aa) landings data; 
‘‘(bb) revenue; 
‘‘(cc) the number of partici-
pants involved; 
‘‘(dd) the number and type 
of jobs and persons impacted, 
which may include— 
‘‘(AA) fishers; 
‘‘(BB) charter fishing 
operators; 
‘‘(CC) 
subsistence 
users; 
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