H. R. 5946
One Hundred Ninth Congress
of the
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and six 
An Act 
To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to 
authorize activities to promote improved monitoring and compliance for high 
seas fisheries, or fisheries governed by international fishery management agree-
ments, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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 ‘‘Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization 
Act of 2006’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act 
is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Amendment of Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act. 
Sec. 3. Changes in findings and definitions. 
Sec. 4. Highly migratory species. 
Sec. 5. Total allowable level of foreign fishing. 
Sec. 6. Western Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Fund. 
Sec. 7. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE I—CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT 
Sec. 101. Cumulative impacts. 
Sec. 102. Caribbean Council jurisdiction. 
Sec. 103. Regional fishery management councils. 
Sec. 104. Fishery management plan requirements. 
Sec. 105. Fishery management plan discretionary provisions. 
Sec. 106. Limited access privilege programs. 
Sec. 107. Environmental review process. 
Sec. 108. Emergency regulations. 
Sec. 109. Western Pacific and North Pacific community development. 
Sec. 110. Secretarial action on State groundfish fishing. 
Sec. 111. Joint enforcement agreements. 
Sec. 112. Transition to sustainable fisheries. 
Sec. 113. Regional coastal disaster assistance, transition, and recovery program. 
Sec. 114. Fishery finance program hurricane assistance. 
Sec. 115. Fisheries hurricane assistance program. 
Sec. 116. Bycatch reduction engineering program. 
Sec. 117. Community-based restoration program for fishery and coastal habitats. 
Sec. 118. Prohibited acts. 
Sec. 119. Shark feeding. 
Sec. 120. Clarification of flexibility. 
Sec. 121. Southeast Alaska fisheries communities capacity reduction.
Sec. 122. Conversion to catcher/processor shares. 
TITLE II—INFORMATION AND RESEARCH 
Sec. 201. Recreational fisheries information. 
Sec. 202. Collection of information. 
Sec. 203. Access to certain information. 
Sec. 204. Cooperative research and management program.
H. R. 5946—2
Sec. 205. Herring study. 
Sec. 206. Restoration study. 
Sec. 207. Western Pacific fishery demonstration projects. 
Sec. 208. Fisheries conservation and management fund. 
Sec. 209. Use of fishery finance program for sustainable purposes. 
Sec. 210. Regional ecosystem research. 
Sec. 211. Deep sea coral research and technology program. 
Sec. 212. Impact of turtle excluder devices on shrimping. 
Sec. 213. Hurricane effects on commercial and recreational fishery habitats. 
Sec. 214. North Pacific Fisheries Convention. 
Sec. 215. New England groundfish fishery. 
Sec. 216. Report on council management coordination. 
Sec. 217. Study of shortage in the number of individuals with post- baccalaureate 
degrees in subjects related to fishery science. 
Sec. 218. Gulf of Alaska Rockfish demonstration program. 
TITLE III—OTHER FISHERIES STATUTES 
Sec. 301. Amendments to Northern Pacific Halibut Act. 
Sec. 302. Reauthorization of other fisheries Acts. 
TITLE IV—INTERNATIONAL 
Sec. 401. International monitoring and compliance. 
Sec. 402. Finding with respect to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. 
Sec. 403. Action to end illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing and reduce by-
catch of protected marine species. 
Sec. 404. Monitoring of Pacific insular area fisheries. 
Sec. 405. Reauthorization of Atlantic Tunas Convention Act. 
Sec. 406. International overfishing and domestic equity. 
Sec. 407. United States catch history. 
Sec. 408. Secretarial representative for international fisheries. 
TITLE V—IMPLEMENTATION OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL PACIFIC 
FISHERIES CONVENTION 
Sec. 501. Short title. 
Sec. 502. Definitions. 
Sec. 503. Appointment of United States commissioners. 
Sec. 504. Authority and responsibility of the Secretary of State. 
Sec. 505. Rulemaking authority of the Secretary of Commerce. 
Sec. 506. Enforcement. 
Sec. 507. Prohibited acts. 
Sec. 508. Cooperation in carrying out convention. 
Sec. 509. Territorial participation. 
Sec. 510. Exclusive economic zone notification.
Sec. 511. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE VI—PACIFIC WHITING 
Sec. 601. Short title. 
Sec. 602. Definitions. 
Sec. 603. United States representation on joint management committee. 
Sec. 604. United States representation on the scientific review group. 
Sec. 605. United States representation on joint technical committee. 
Sec. 606. United States representation on advisory panel. 
Sec. 607. Responsibilities of the secretary. 
Sec. 608. Rulemaking. 
Sec. 609. Administrative matters. 
Sec. 610. Enforcement. 
Sec. 611. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS 
Sec. 701. Study of the acidification of the oceans and effect on fisheries. 
Sec. 702. Puget Sound regional shellfish settlement. 
TITLE VIII—TSUNAMI WARNING AND EDUCATION 
Sec. 801. Short title. 
Sec. 802. Definitions. 
Sec. 803. Purposes. 
Sec. 804. Tsunami forecasting and warning program. 
Sec. 805. National tsunami hazard mitigation program. 
Sec. 806. Tsunami research program. 
Sec. 807. Global tsunami warning and mitigation network.
H. R. 5946—3
Sec. 808. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE IX—POLAR BEARS 
Sec. 901. Short title. 
Sec. 902. Amendment of Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT OF MAGNUSON-STEVENS FISHERY CONSERVA-
TION AND MANAGEMENT ACT. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this Act 
an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment 
to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall 
be considered to be made to a section or other provision of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 
U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). 
SEC. 3. CHANGES IN FINDINGS AND DEFINITIONS. 
(a) ECOSYSTEMS.—Section 2(a) (16 U.S.C. 1801(a)) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(11) A number of the Fishery Management Councils have 
demonstrated significant progress in integrating ecosystem 
considerations in fisheries management using the existing 
authorities provided under this Act.’’. 
(b) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 (16 U.S.C. 1802) is amended—
(1) by inserting after paragraph (13) the following: 
‘‘(13A) The term ‘regional fishery association’ means an 
association formed for the mutual benefit of members—
‘‘(A) to meet social and economic needs in a region 
or subregion; and 
‘‘(B) comprised of persons engaging in the harvest or 
processing of fishery resources in that specific region or 
subregion or who otherwise own or operate businesses 
substantially dependent upon a fishery.’’; 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (20) the following: 
‘‘(20A) The term ‘import’—
‘‘(A) means to land on, bring into, or introduce into, 
or attempt to land on, bring into, or introduce into, any 
place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, 
whether or not such landing, bringing, or introduction con-
stitutes an importation within the meaning of the customs 
laws of the United States; but 
‘‘(B) does not include any activity described in subpara-
graph (A) with respect to fish caught in the exclusive 
economic zone or by a vessel of the United States.’’; 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (23) the following: 
‘‘(23A) The term ‘limited access privilege’—
‘‘(A) means a Federal permit, issued as part of a limited 
access system under section 303A to harvest a quantity 
of fish expressed by a unit or units representing a portion 
of the total allowable catch of the fishery that may be 
received or held for exclusive use by a person; and 
‘‘(B) includes an individual fishing quota; but 
‘‘(C) does not include community development quotas 
as described in section 305(i). 
‘‘(23B) The term ‘limited access system’ means a system 
that limits participation in a fishery to those satisfying certain 
eligibility criteria or requirements contained in a fishery 
management plan or associated regulation.’’; and 
(4) by inserting after paragraph (27) the following:
H. R. 5946—4
‘‘(27A) The term ‘observer information’ means any informa-
tion collected, observed, retrieved, or created by an observer 
or electronic monitoring system pursuant to authorization by 
the Secretary, or collected as part of a cooperative research 
initiative, including fish harvest or processing observations, 
fish sampling or weighing data, vessel logbook data, vessel 
or processor-specific information (including any safety, location, 
or operating condition observations), and video, audio, photo-
graphic, or written documents.’’. 
(c) REDESIGNATION.—Paragraphs (1) through (45) of section 
3 (16 U.S.C. 1802), as amended by subsection (a), are redesignated 
as paragraphs (1) thorough (50), respectively. 
(d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(1) The following provisions of the Act are amended by 
striking ‘‘an individual fishing quota’’ and inserting ‘‘a limited 
access privilege’’: 
(A) Section 402(b)(1)(D) (16 U.S.C. 1881a(b)(1)(D)). 
(B) 
Section 
407(a)(1)(D) 
and 
(c)(1) 
(16 
U.S.C. 
1883(a)(1)(D) and (c)(1)). 
(2) The following provisions of the Act are amended by 
striking ‘‘individual fishing quota’’ and inserting ‘‘limited access 
privilege’’: 
(A) Section 304(c)(3) (16 U.S.C. 1854(c)(3)). 
(B) Section 304(d)(2)(A)(i) (16 U.S.C. 1854(d)(2)(A)(i)). 
(3) Section 305(h)(1) (16 U.S.C. 1855(h)(1)) is amended 
by striking ‘‘individual fishing quotas,’’ and inserting ‘‘limited 
access privileges,’’. 
SEC. 4. HIGHLY MIGRATORY SPECIES. 
Section 102 (16 U.S.C. 1812) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before ‘‘The’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) TRADITIONAL PARTICIPATION.—In managing any fisheries 
under an international fisheries agreement to which the United 
States is a party, the appropriate Council or Secretary shall take 
into account the traditional participation in the fishery, relative 
to other nations, by fishermen of the United States on fishing 
vessels of the United States. 
‘‘(c) PROMOTION OF STOCK MANAGEMENT.—If a relevant inter-
national fisheries organization does not have a process for devel-
oping a formal plan to rebuild a depleted stock, an overfished 
stock, or a stock that is approaching a condition of being overfished, 
the provisions of this Act in this regard shall be communicated 
to and promoted by the United States in the international or 
regional fisheries organization.’’. 
SEC. 5. TOTAL ALLOWABLE LEVEL OF FOREIGN FISHING. 
Section 201(d) (16 U.S.C. 1821(d)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘shall be’’ and inserting ‘‘is’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘will not’’ and inserting ‘‘cannot, or will 
not,’’; and 
(3) by inserting after ‘‘Act.’’ the following: ‘‘Allocations of 
the total allowable level of foreign fishing are discretionary, 
except that the total allowable level shall be zero for fisheries 
determined by the Secretary to have adequate or excess 
domestic harvest capacity.’’.