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termination in the Federal Register for comment for a pe-
riod not to exceed 60 days. The Secretary shall publish a
final determination not later than 140 days from the date
of the enactment of this section.
(b) Not later than July 1, 1996, the Secretary of Com-
merce shall implement the recommendations of Inter-
national Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic
Tunas regarding yellowfin tuna made pursuant to article
VIII of the International Convention for the Conservation
of Atlantic Tunas and acted upon favorably by the Sec-
retary of State under section 5(a) of the Atlantic Tunas
Convention Act of 1975 (16 U.S.C. 971c(a)).
SEC. 310. STUDY OF BLUEFIN TUNA REGULATIONS.
Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit to the
Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation of the
Senate and to the Committee on Resources of the House of
Representatives a report on the historic rationale, effective-
ness, and biological and economic efficiency of existing
bluefin tuna regulations for United States Atlantic fish-
eries. Specifically, the biological rationale for each regional
and category allocation, including directed and incidental
categories, should be described in light of the average size,
age, and maturity of bluefin tuna caught in each fishery
and the effect of this harvest on stock rebuilding and sus-
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tainable yield. The report should examine the history and
evaluate the level of wasteful discarding, and evaluate the
effectiveness of non-quota regulations at constraining har-
vests within regions. Further, comments should be provided
on levels of participation in specific fisheries in terms of
vessels and trips, enforcement implications, and the impor-
tance of monitoring information provided by these alloca-
tions on the precision of the stock assessment estimates.
SEC. 311. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS WITH RESPECT TO
ICCAT NEGOTIATIONS.
(a) SHARING OF CONSERVATION BURDEN.—It is the
sense of the Congress that in future negotiations of the Inter-
national Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic
Tunas (hereafter in this section referred to as ‘‘ICCAT’’),
the Secretary of Commerce shall ensure that the conserva-
tion actions recommended by international commissions
and implemented by the Secretary for United States com-
mercial and recreational fishermen provide fair and equi-
table sharing of the conservation burden among all con-
tracting harvesters in negotiations with those commissions.
(b) ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS.—It is further the
sense of the Congress that, during 1995 ICCAT negotiations
on swordfish and other Highly Migratory Species managed
by ICCAT, the Congress encourages the United States Com-
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missioners to add enforcement provisions similar to those
applicable to bluefin tuna.
(c) ENHANCED MONITORING.—It is further the sense
of the Congress that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and the United States Customs Service
should enhance monitoring activities to ascertain what spe-
cific stocks are being imported into the United States and
the country of origin.
(d) MULTILATERAL ENFORCEMENT PROCESS.—It is
further the sense of the Congress that the United States
Commissioners should pursue as a priority the establish-
ment and implementation prior to December 31, 1996, an
effective multilateral process that will enable ICCAT na-
tions to enforce the conservation recommendations of the
Commission.
TITLE IV—FISHERMEN’S PROTECTIVE ACT
SEC. 401. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) customary international law and the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea guarantee
the right of passage, including innocent passage, to
vessels through the waters commonly referred to as the
‘‘Inside Passage’’ off the Pacific Coast of Canada;
(2) in 1994 Canada required all commercial
fishing vessels of the United States to pay 1,500 Ca-
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nadian dollars to obtain a ‘‘license which authorizes
transit’’ through the Inside Passage;
(3) this action was inconsistent with inter-
national law, including the United Nations Conven-
tion on the Law of the Sea, and, in particular, Arti-
cle 26 of that Convention, which specifically prohibits
such fees, and threatened the safety of United States
commercial fishermen who sought to avoid the fee by
traveling in less protected waters;
(4) the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 pro-
vides for the reimbursement of vessel owners who are
forced to pay a license fee to secure the release of a
vessel which has been seized, but does not permit re-
imbursement of a fee paid by the owner in advance
in order to prevent a seizure;
(5) Canada required that the license fee be paid
in person in 2 ports on the Pacific Coast of Canada,
or in advance by mail;
(6) significant expense and delay was incurred
by commercial fishing vessels of the United States
that had to travel from the point of seizure back to
one of those ports in order to pay the license fee re-
quired by Canada, and the costs of that travel and
delay cannot be reimbursed under the Fishermen’s
Protective Act;
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(7) the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 should
be amended to permit vessel owners to be reimbursed
for fees required by a foreign government to be paid
in advance in order to navigate in the waters of that
foreign country if the United States considers that fee
to be inconsistent with international law;
(8) the Secretary of State should seek to recover
from Canada any amounts paid by the United States
to reimburse vessel owners who paid the transit li-
cense fee;
(9) the United States should review its current
policy with respect to anchorage by commercial fish-
ing vessels of Canada in waters of the United States
off Alaska, including waters in and near the Dixon
Entrance, and should accord such vessels the same
treatment that commercial fishing vessels of the Unit-
ed States are accorded for anchorage in the waters of
Canada off British Columbia;
(10) the President should ensure that, consistent
with international law, the United States Coast
Guard has available adequate resources in the Pacific
Northwest and Alaska to provide for the safety of
United States citizens, the enforcement of United
States law, and to protect the rights of the United
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States and keep the peace among vessels operating in
disputed waters;
(11) the President should continue to review all
agreements between the United States and Canada to
identify other actions that may be taken to convince
Canada that any reinstatement of the transit license
fee would be against Canada’s long-term interests,
and should immediately implement any actions which
the President deems appropriate if Canada reinstates
the fee;
(12) the President should continue to convey to
Canada in the strongest terms that the United States
will not now, nor at any time in the future, tolerate
any action by Canada which would impede or other-
wise restrict the right of passage of vessels of the Unit-
ed States in a manner inconsistent with international
law; and
(13) the United States should continue its efforts
to seek expeditious agreement with Canada on appro-
priate fishery conservation and management meas-
ures that can be implemented through the Pacific
Salmon Treaty to address issues of mutual concern.
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SEC. 402. AMENDMENT TO THE FISHERMEN’S PROTECTIVE
ACT OF 1967.
(a) The Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 (22 U.S.C.
1971 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following
new section:
‘‘SEC. 11. (a) In any case on or after June 15, 1994,
in which a vessel of the United States exercising its right
of passage is charged a fee by the government of a foreign
country to engage in transit passage between points in the
United States (including a point in the exclusive economic
zone or in an area over which jurisdiction is in dispute),
and such fee is regarded by the United States as being in-
consistent with international law, the Secretary of State
shall, subject to the availability of appropriated funds, re-
imburse the vessel owner for the amount of any such fee
paid under protest.
‘‘(b) In seeking such reimbursement, the vessel owner
shall provide, together with such other information as the
Secretary of State may require—
‘‘(1) a copy of the receipt for payment;
‘‘(2) an affidavit attesting that the owner or the
owner’s agent paid the fee under protest; and
‘‘(3) a copy of the vessel’s certificate of docu-
mentation.
‘‘(c) Requests for reimbursement shall be made to the
Secretary of State within 120 days after the date of pay-
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ment of the fee, or within 90 days after the date of enact-
ment of this section, whichever is later.
‘‘(d) Such funds as may be necessary to meet the re-
quirements of this section may be made available from the
unobligated balance of previously appropriated funds re-
maining in the Fishermen’s Protective Fund established
under section 9. To the extent that requests for reimburse-
ment under this section exceed such funds, there are author-
ized to be appropriated such sums as may be needed for
reimbursements authorized under subsection (a), which
shall be deposited in the Fishermen’s Protective Fund estab-
lished under section 9.
‘‘(e) The Secretary of State shall take such action as
the Secretary deems appropriate to make and collect claims
against the foreign country imposing such fee for any
amounts reimbursed under this section.
‘‘(f) For purposes of this section, the term ‘owner’ in-
cludes any charterer of a vessel of the United States.’’.
(b) The Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 (22 U.S.C.
1971 et seq.) is further amended by adding at the end the
following:
‘‘SEC. 12. (a) If the Secretary of State finds that the
government of any nation imposes conditions on the oper-
ation or transit of United States fishing vessels which the
United States regards as being inconsistent with inter-
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national law or an international agreement, the Secretary
of State shall certify that fact to the President.
‘‘(b) Upon receipt of a certification under subsection
(a), the President shall direct the heads of Federal agencies
to impose similar conditions on the operation or transit
of fishing vessels registered under the laws of the nation
which has imposed conditions on United States fishing ves-
sels.
‘‘(c) For the purposes of this section, the term ‘fishing
vessel’ has the meaning given that term in section
2101(11a) of title 46, United States Code.
‘‘(d) It is the sense of the Congress that any action
taken by any Federal agency under subsection (b) should
be commensurate with any conditions certified by the Sec-
retary of State under subsection (a).’’.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
Secretary of State shall reimburse the owner of any vessel
of the United States for costs incurred due to the seizure
of such vessel in 1994 by Canada on the basis of a claim
to jurisdiction over sedentary species which was not recog-
nized by the United States at the time of such seizure. Any
such reimbursement shall cover, in addition to amounts re-
imbursable under section 3 of the Fishermen’s Protective
Act of 1967 (22 U.S.C. 1973), legal fees and travel costs
incurred by the owner of any such vessel that were necessary
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to secure the prompt release of the vessel and crew. Total
reimbursements under this subsection may not exceed
$25,000 and may be made available from the unobligated
balances of previously appropriated funds remaining in the
Fishermen’s Protective Fund established under section 9 of
the Fishermen’s Protective Act (22 U.S.C. 1979).
SEC. 403. REAUTHORIZATION.
(a) Section 7(c) of the Fishermen’s Protective Act of
1967 (22 U.S.C. 1977(c)) is amended by striking the third
sentence.
(b) Section 7(e) of the Fishermen’s Protective Act of
1967 (22 U.S.C. 1977(e)) is amended by striking ‘‘October
1, 1993’’ and inserting ‘‘October 1, 2000’’.
SEC. 404. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.
(a)(1) Section 15(a) of Public Law 103–238 is amend-
ed by striking ‘‘April 1, 1994,’’ and inserting ‘‘May 1,
1994.’’.
(2) The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall be
effective on and after April 30, 1994.
(b) Section 803(13)(C) of Public Law 102–567 (16
U.S.C. 5002(13)(C)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(C) any vessel supporting a vessel de-
scribed in subparagraph (A) or (B).’’.
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TITLE V—FISHERIES ENFORCEMENT IN
CENTRAL SEA OF OKHOTSK
SEC. 501. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Sea of Okhotsk Fisheries
Enforcement Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 502. FISHING PROHIBITION.
(a) ADDITION OF CENTRAL SEA OF OKHOTSK.—Sec-
tion 302 of the Central Bering Sea Fisheries Enforcement
Act of 1992 (16 U.S.C. 1823 note) is amended by inserting
‘‘and the Central Sea of Okhotsk’’ after ‘‘Central Bering
Sea’’.
(b) DEFINITION.—Section 306 of such Act is amend-
ed—
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), (4),
(5), and (6) as paragraphs (3), (4), (5), (6), and (7),
respectively; and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the follow-
ing:
‘‘(2) CENTRAL
SEA
OF
OKHOTSK.—The term
‘Central Sea of Okhotsk’ means the central Sea of
Okhotsk area which is more than two hundred nau-
tical miles seaward of the baseline from which the
breadth of the territorial sea of the Russian Federa-
tion is measured.’’.
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TITLE VI—DRIFTNET MORATORIUM
SEC. 601. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘High Seas Driftnet
Fishing Moratorium Protection Act’’.
SEC. 602. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) Congress has enacted and the President has
signed into law numerous Acts to control or prohibit
large-scale driftnet fishing both within the jurisdic-
tion of the United States and beyond the exclusive
economic zone of any nation, including the Driftnet
Impact Monitoring, Assessment, and Control Act of
1987 (title IV, P.L. 100–220), the Driftnet Act
Amendments of 1990 (P.L. 101–627), and the High
Seas Driftnet Fisheries Enforcement Act (title I, P.L.
102–582);
(2) the United States is a party to the Conven-
tion for the Prohibition of Fishing with Long
Driftnets in the South Pacific, also known as the Wel-
lington Convention;
(3) the General Assembly of the United Nations
has adopted three resolutions and three decisions
which established and reaffirm a global moratorium
on large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas, begin-
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ning with Resolution 44/225 in 1989 and most re-
cently in Decision 48/445 in 1993;
(4) the General Assembly of the United Nations
adopted these resolutions and decisions at the request
of the United States and other concerned nations;
(5) the best scientific information demonstrates
the wastefulness and potentially destructive impacts
of large-scale driftnet fishing on living marine re-
sources and seabirds; and
(6) Resolution 46/215 of the United Nations
General Assembly calls on all nations, both individ-
ually and collectively, to prevent large-scale driftnet
fishing on the high seas.
SEC. 603. PROHIBITION.
The United States, or any agency or official acting
on behalf of the United States, may not enter into any
international agreement with respect to the conservation
and management of living marine resources or the use of
the high seas by fishing vessels that would prevent full im-
plementation of the global moratorium on large-scale
driftnet fishing on the high seas, as such moratorium is ex-
pressed in Resolution 46/215 of the United Nations General
Assembly.
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TITLE VII—YUKON RIVER SALMON ACT
SEC. 701. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Yukon River Salmon
Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 702. PURPOSES.
It is the purpose of this title—
(1) to implement the interim agreement for the
conservation of salmon stocks originating from the
Yukon River in Canada agreed to through an ex-
change of notes between the Government of the United
States and the Government of Canada on February 3,
1995;
(2) to provide for representation by the United
States on the Yukon River Panel established under
such agreement; and
(3) to authorize to be appropriated sums nec-
essary to carry out the responsibilities of the United
States under such agreement.
SEC. 703. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this title—
(1) The term ‘‘Agreement’’ means the interim
agreement for the conservation of salmon stocks origi-
nating from the Yukon River in Canada agreed to
through an exchange of notes between the Government
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of the United States and the Government of Canada
on February 3, 1995.
(2) The term ‘‘Panel’’ means the Yukon River
Panel established by the Agreement.
(3) The term ‘‘Yukon River Joint Technical
Committee’’ means the technical committee established
by paragraph C.2 of the Memorandum of Understand-
ing concerning the Pacific Salmon Treaty between the
Government of the United States and the Government
of Canada recorded January 28, 1985.
SEC. 704. PANEL.
(a) REPRESENTATION.—The United States shall be
represented on the Panel by six individuals, of whom—
(1) one shall be an official of the United States
Government with expertise in salmon conservation
and management;
(2) one shall be an official of the State of Alaska
with expertise in salmon conservation and manage-
ment; and
(3) four shall be knowledgeable and experienced
with regard to the salmon fisheries on the Yukon
River.
(b) APPOINTMENTS.—Panel members shall be ap-
pointed as follows:
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(1) The Panel member described in subsection
(a)(1) shall be appointed by the Secretary of State.
(2) The Panel member described in subsection
(a)(2) shall be appointed by the Governor of Alaska.
(3) The Panel members described in subsection
(a)(3) shall be appointed by the Secretary of State
from a list of at least 3 individuals nominated for
each position by the Governor of Alaska. The Gov-
ernor of Alaska may consider suggestions for nomina-
tions provided by organizations with expertise in
Yukon River salmon fisheries. The Governor of Alaska
may make appropriate nominations to allow for, and
the Secretary of State shall appoint, at least one
member under subsection (a)(3) who is qualified to
represent the interests of Lower Yukon River fishing
districts, and at least one member who is qualified to
represent the interests of Upper Yukon River fishing
districts. At least one of the Panel members under
subsection (a)(3) shall be an Alaska Native.
(c) ALTERNATES.—The Secretary of State may des-
ignate an alternate Panel member for each Panel member
the Secretary appoints under subsections (b) (1) and (3),
who meets the same qualifications, to serve in the absence
of the Panel member. The Governor of the State of Alaska
may designate an alternative Panel member for the Panel
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member appointed under subsection (b)(2), who meets the
same qualifications, to serve in the absence of that Panel
member.
(d) TERM LENGTH.—Panel members and alternate
Panel members shall serve four-year terms. Any individual
appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration
of any term shall be appointed for the remainder of that
term.
(e) REAPPOINTMENT.—Panel members and alternate
Panel members shall be eligible for reappointment.
(f) DECISIONS.—Decisions by the United States sec-
tion of the Panel shall be made by the consensus of the Panel
members appointed under paragraphs (2) and (3) of sub-
section (a).
(g) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out their functions
under the Agreement, Panel members may consult with such
other interested parties as they consider appropriate.
SEC. 705. ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
(a) APPOINTMENTS.—The Governor of Alaska may ap-
point an Advisory Committee of not less than eight, but
not more than twelve, individuals who are knowledgeable
and experienced with regard to the salmon fisheries on the
Yukon River. At least 2 of the Advisory Committee members
shall be Alaska Natives. Members of the Advisory Committee
may attend all meetings of the United States section of the