I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6350 
To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
to provide additional flexibility for fishery managers, additional trans-
parency for fishermen, a referendum for catch shares, and additional 
sources for fishery survey funding, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 2, 2012 
Mr. RUNYAN (for himself, Mr. SOUTHERLAND, Mr. RIVERA, Mr. LOBIONDO, 
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, and Mr. GUINTA) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act to provide additional flexibility for fish-
ery managers, additional transparency for fishermen, a 
referendum for catch shares, and additional sources for 
fishery survey funding, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Transparent and Science-Based Fishery Management 
Act of 2012’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. References. 
Sec. 3. Definitions. 
Sec. 4. Annual catch limits. 
Sec. 5. Catch share referendum requirement. 
Sec. 6. Extension of time period for rebuilding certain overfished fisheries. 
Sec. 7. Authority to suspend annual catch limits. 
Sec. 8. Use of fishery enforcement penalties for fishery independent data collec-
tion. 
Sec. 9. Response on disaster assistance requests. 
Sec. 10. SSC and Council transparency. 
Sec. 11. State management. 
Sec. 12. Report to Congress on closures. 
SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a provision, the ref-
erence shall be considered to be made to a provision of 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage-
ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 3 (16 U.S.C. 1802) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘(51) The term ‘catch share’ means any fishery 
management program that allocates a specific per-
centage of the total allowable catch for a fishery, or 
a specific fishing area, to an individual, cooperative, 
community, sector, processor, regional fishery orga-
nization established in accordance with section 
303A(c)(4), or other entity. 
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‘‘(52) The term ‘ecosystem component species’ 
means a stock of fish that is a nontarget, inciden-
tally harvested stock of fish in a fishery, or a non-
target, incidentally harvested stock of fish, that a 
Council or the Secretary has determined— 
‘‘(A) is not subject to overfishing, ap-
proaching an overfished condition, or over-
fished; and 
‘‘(B) is not be likely to become subject to 
overfishing or overfished in the absence of con-
servation and management measures.’’. 
SEC. 4. ANNUAL CATCH LIMITS. 
(a) IMPLEMENTATION OF ANNUAL CATCH LIMIT RE-
QUIREMENT.—Section 302 (16 U.S.C. 1852) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(m) IMPLEMENTATION OF ANNUAL CATCH LIMIT 
REQUIREMENT.— 
‘‘(1) LIMITATION ON ANNUAL CATCH LIMIT RE-
QUIREMENT.—Notwithstanding subsection (h)(6), a 
Council is not required to develop an annual catch 
limit for— 
‘‘(A) an ecosystem component species, or 
‘‘(B) a species, fishery, or stock, for which 
a survey and stock assessment have not been 
performed within the preceding 5-year period. 
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‘‘(2) RELATIONSHIP
TO
INTERNATIONAL
EF-
FORTS.—Each annual catch limit shall take into ac-
count— 
‘‘(A) management measures under inter-
national agreements in which the United States 
participates; and 
‘‘(B) informal transboundary agreements 
under which management activities outside the 
exclusive economic zone by another country may 
hinder conservation efforts by United States 
fishermen for a species for which any of the re-
cruitment, distribution, life history, or fishing 
activities are transboundary.’’. 
(b) STOCK SURVEYS OR PEER-REVIEWED STOCK AS-
SESSMENTS.—Section 304 (16 U.S.C. 1854) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by redesignating the second subsection (i) 
(as added by section 406(a) of Public Law 109–479) 
as subsection (j); and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(k) STOCK SURVEYS OR PEER-REVIEWED STOCK 
ASSESSMENTS.—The Secretary shall, on an annual basis 
and for each region under section 302(a)— 
‘‘(1) determine which fisheries and stocks of 
fish have not been the subject of a stock survey or 
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peer-reviewed stock assessment within the previous 5 
years; 
‘‘(2) create— 
‘‘(A) a priority list, based on input from 
the Councils, for determining which fisheries or 
stocks of fish of the fisheries identified under 
paragraph (1) shall be surveyed in that year; 
and 
‘‘(B) a proposed budget for such surveys; 
and 
‘‘(3) identify opportunities for the use of State 
or private vessels for conducting such surveys.’’. 
SEC. 5. CATCH SHARE REFERENDUM REQUIREMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 303A(c)(6)(D) (16 U.S.C. 
1853a(c)(6)(D)) is amended by redesignating clauses (iii) 
through (vi) as clauses (v) through (viii), and by striking 
clauses (i) and (ii) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(i) Except as provided in clause (v) 
for the Gulf of Mexico commercial red 
snapper fishery, the New England, Mid-At-
lantic, South Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico 
Councils may not submit a fishery manage-
ment plan or amendment that creates a 
catch share program for a fishery, and the 
Secretary may not approve or implement 
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such a plan or amendment submitted by 
such a Council or a Secretarial plan or 
amendment under section 304(c) that cre-
ates such a program, unless the final pro-
gram has been approved, in a referendum 
in accordance with this subparagraph, by a 
majority of the permit holders eligible to 
participate in the fishery. For multi-species 
permits in the Gulf of Mexico, any permit 
holder with landings from the fishery being 
considered for the catch share program 
within the 5-year period preceding the date 
of the referendum and still active in fishing 
in the fishery shall be eligible to partici-
pate in such a referendum. If a catch 
share program is not approved by the req-
uisite number of permit holders, it may be 
revised and submitted for approval in a 
subsequent referendum. 
‘‘(ii) The Secretary shall conduct a 
referendum under this subparagraph, in-
cluding notifying all permit holders eligible 
to participate in the referendum and mak-
ing available to them— 
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‘‘(I) a copy of the proposed pro-
gram; 
‘‘(II) an estimate of the costs of 
the program, including costs to par-
ticipants; 
‘‘(III) an estimate of the amount 
of fish or percentage of quota each 
permit holder would be allocated; and 
‘‘(IV) information concerning the 
schedule, procedures, and eligibility 
requirements for the referendum proc-
ess. 
‘‘(iii) For the purposes of this sub-
paragraph, the term ‘permit holder eligible 
to participate’ does not include the holder 
of a permit for a fishery under which fish-
ing has not occurred in 3 of the 5 years 
preceding a referendum for the fishery un-
less sickness, injury, or other unavoidable 
hardship prevented the permit holder from 
engaging in such fishing. 
‘‘(iv) The Secretary may not imple-
ment any catch share program for any 
fishery managed exclusively by the Sec-
retary unless first petitioned by a majority 
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of those eligible to participate in the fish-
ery.’’. 
(b) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION.—The amendment 
made by subsection (a) shall not apply to a catch share 
program that is submitted to, or proposed by, the Sec-
retary of Commerce before the date of enactment of this 
Act. 
(c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 3 months after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Com-
merce shall issue regulations implementing this section. 
SEC. 6. EXTENSION OF TIME PERIOD FOR REBUILDING 
CERTAIN OVERFISHED FISHERIES. 
Section 304(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation 
and 
Management 
Act 
(16 
U.S.C. 
1854(e)(4)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (4)(A)— 
(A) in clause (i) by striking ‘‘possible’’ and 
inserting ‘‘practicable’’; and 
(B) by amending clause (ii) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(ii) not exceed 10 years, except in 
cases where— 
‘‘(I) another time period is ap-
propriate because of the biology of the 
stock of fish, other environmental con-
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ditions, management measures under 
an international agreement in which 
the United States participates, or an 
informal 
transboundary 
agreement 
under which management activities 
outside the exclusive economic zone by 
another country may hinder conserva-
tion efforts by United States fisher-
men for a species for which any of the 
recruitment, distribution, life history, 
or fishing activities are transbound-
ary; 
‘‘(II) the Secretary determines 
that such 10-year period should be ex-
tended because the cause of the fish-
ery decline is outside the jurisdiction 
of the Council or the rebuilding pro-
gram cannot be effective only by lim-
iting fishing activities; 
‘‘(III) the Secretary determines 
that such 10-year period should be ex-
tended to provide for the sustained 
participation of fishing communities 
or to minimize the economic impacts 
on such communities, if there is evi-
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dence that the stock of fish is on a 
positive rebuilding trend; 
‘‘(IV) the Secretary determines 
that such 10-year period should be ex-
tended for one or more stocks of fish 
of a multi-species fishery, provided 
that there is evidence that those 
stocks are on a positive rebuilding 
trend; 
‘‘(V) the Secretary determines 
that such 10-year period should be ex-
tended 
because 
of 
a 
substantial 
change to the biomass rebuilding tar-
get for the stock of fish concerned 
after the rebuilding plan has taken ef-
fect; or 
‘‘(VI) the Secretary determines 
that such 10-year period should be ex-
tended because the biomass rebuilding 
target exceeds the highest abundance 
of the stock of fish in the 25-year pe-
riod preceding and there is evidence 
that the stock is on a positive rebuild-
ing trend;’’; or 
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(2) in paragraph (7), in the matter preceding 
subparagraph (A), by inserting after the first sen-
tence the following: ‘‘In evaluating progress to end 
overfishing and to rebuild overfished stocks of fish, 
the Secretary shall review factors, other than com-
mercial fishing and recreational fishing, that may 
contribute to a stock’s overfished status, such as 
commercial, residential, and industrial development 
of, or agricultural activity in, coastal areas and their 
impact on the marine environment, predator-prey re-
lationships of target and related species, and other 
environmental and ecological changes to the marine 
conditions.’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(8) If the Secretary determines that extended 
rebuilding time is warranted under subclause (III), 
(IV), (V), or (VI) of paragraph (4)(A)(ii), the max-
imum time allowed for rebuilding the stock of fish 
concerned may not exceed the sum of the following 
time periods: 
‘‘(A) The initial 10-year rebuilding period. 
‘‘(B) The expected time to rebuild the 
stock absent any fishing mortality and under 
prevailing environmental conditions. 
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‘‘(C) The mean generation time of the 
stock. 
‘‘(9) In this subsection the term ‘on a positive 
rebuilding trend’ means that the biomass of the 
stock of fish has shown a substantial increase in 
abundance since the implementation of the rebuild-
ing plan.’’. 
SEC. 7. AUTHORITY TO SUSPEND ANNUAL CATCH LIMITS. 
Section 304 (16 U.S.C. 1854) is further amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(l) AUTHORITY TO SUSPEND ANNUAL CATCH LIM-
ITS.—The Secretary may suspend the application of an-
nual catch limits to a fishery for any period for which the 
Secretary determines that— 
‘‘(1) the fishery is not overfished or approach-
ing a condition of being overfished; 
‘‘(2) any stock of fish in the fishery previously 
affected by overfishing is rebuilt; and 
‘‘(3) the scientific advice relating to such an-
nual catch limits provided by the scientific and sta-
tistical committee of the Council with jurisdiction 
over the fishery is based on a level of uncertainty 
that is insufficient to ensure that the fishery man-
agement plan for the fishery is consistent with the 
national standard set forth in section 301(a)(8).’’. 
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SEC. 8. USE OF FISHERY ENFORCEMENT PENALTIES FOR 
FISHERY INDEPENDENT DATA COLLECTION. 
Section 404 (16 U.S.C. 1881c) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘(e) USE OF THE ASSET FORFEITURE FUND FOR 
FISHERY INDEPENDENT DATA COLLECTION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, subject to 
appropriations, may obligate for data collection pur-
poses in accordance with prioritizations under para-
graph (3) a portion of amounts received by the 
United States as fisheries enforcement penalties. 
‘‘(2) INCLUDED PURPOSES.—The purposes re-
ferred to in paragraph (1) include— 
‘‘(A) the use of State personnel and re-
sources, including fishery survey vessels owned 
and maintained by States to survey or assess 
data-poor fisheries for which fishery manage-
ment plans are in effect under this Act; and 
‘‘(B) cooperative research activities to im-
prove or enhance the fishery independent data 
used in fishery stock assessments. 
‘‘(3) DATA-POOR FISHERIES PRIORITY LISTS.— 
Each Council shall— 
‘‘(A) identify those fisheries in its region 
considered to be data-poor fisheries; 
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‘‘(B) prioritize those fisheries based on the 
need of each fishery for up-to-date information; 
and 
‘‘(C) provide those priorities to the Sec-
retary. 
‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) DATA-POOR
FISHERIES.—The term 
‘data-poor fishery’ means a fishery— 
‘‘(i) that has not been surveyed in the 
preceding 5-year period; 
‘‘(ii) for which a fishery stock assess-
ment has not been performed within the 
preceding 5-year period; or 
‘‘(iii) for which limited information on 
the status of the fishery is available for 
management purposes. 
‘‘(B) 
FISHERIES
ENFORCEMENT
PEN-
ALTIES.—The term ‘fisheries enforcement pen-
alties’ means any fine or penalty imposed, or 
proceeds of any property seized, for a violation 
of this Act or of any other marine resource law 
enforced by the Secretary, including the Lacey 
Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3371 et 
seq.). 
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‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.— 
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-
retary for each fiscal year to carry out this sub-
section up to 80 percent of the fisheries enforcement 
penalties collected during the preceding fiscal year.’’. 
SEC. 9. RESPONSE ON DISASTER ASSISTANCE REQUESTS. 
Section 312(a)(1) (16 U.S.C. 1861a(1)) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(1)’’; 
(2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through 
(C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respectively; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(B) When acting under this paragraph at the re-
quest of the Governor of an affected State or a fishing 
community, the Secretary shall make the determination 
not later than 60 days after the date on which the Sec-
retary receives the request.’’. 
SEC. 10. SSC AND COUNCIL TRANSPARENCY. 
Section 302(i)(2) (16 U.S.C. 1852(i)(2)) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(G) Each Council shall make available, to 
the extent practicable, on the Internet website 
of the Council— 
‘‘(i) a live broadcast of each meeting 
of the Council, and of the Council Coordi-
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nation Committee established under sub-
section (l), that is not closed in accordance 
with paragraph (3); and 
‘‘(ii) audio, video (if the meeting was 
in person or by video conference), and a 
complete transcript of each meeting of the 
Council and the Scientific and Statistical 
Committee of the Council— 
‘‘(I) by not later than 30 days 
after the conclusion of the meeting; 
and 
‘‘(II) for 3 years after the conclu-
sion of the meeting.’’. 
SEC. 11. STATE MANAGEMENT. 
Section 306(a)(3)(C) (16 U.S.C. 1856(C)) is amend-
ed to read as follows: 
‘‘(C) The fishing vessel is not registered 
under the law of the State of Alaska and is op-
erating in a fishery in the exclusive economic 
zone off Alaska for which there is no fishery 
management plan in place, and the Secretary 
and the North Pacific Council find that there is 
a legitimate interest of the State of Alaska in 
the conservation and management of such fish-
ery. The authority provided under this subpara-
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graph shall terminate when a fishery manage-
ment plan under this Act is approved and im-
plemented for such fishery.’’. 
SEC. 12. REPORT TO CONGRESS ON CLOSURES. 
The Secretary of Commerce shall— 
(1) review each fishery closure under Federal 
law for which notice was published in the Federal 
Register that was not a normal and expected occur-
rence under the fishery management plan for the 
fishery concerned and was therefore considered dis-
ruptive to sport, charter, or commercial fishing oper-
ations, and that was in effect for more than 120 
days within the 5-year period preceding the date of 
enactment of this Act; and 
(2) report to Congress regarding each such clo-
sure, including the reason for the closure, the dura-
tion of the closure, the estimated loss of income by 
those directly affected by the closure, the impact of 
the closure on coastal communities, and when the 
most recent fishery survey and stock assessment for 
each stock of fish to which the closure applied were 
completed. 
Æ 
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