I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5018 
To reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 28, 2006 
Mr. POMBO (for himself, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, and Mr. YOUNG of 
Alaska) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Resources 
A BILL 
To reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act, 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: AMENDMENT REFERENCES. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—The Act may be cited as the 
‘‘American Fisheries Management and Marine Life En-
hancement Act’’. 
(b) AMENDMENT OF MAGNUSON-STEVENS FISHERY 
CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT.—Except as oth-
erwise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amend-
ment or repeal is expressed as an amendment to, or repeal 
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of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be con-
sidered to be made to a section or other provision of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage-
ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq). 
SEC. 2. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO DEFINITIONS. 
(a) EXECUTION OF PRIOR AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) 
CONTINENTAL
SHELF
FISHERY
RE-
SOURCES.—Section 102(2) of the Sustainable Fish-
eries Act (Public Law 104–297; 110 Stat. 3561) is 
amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘COELENTERATA’’ and 
inserting ‘‘COELENTERATA’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘CNIDARIA’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘CNIDARIA’’; and 
(C) by striking ‘‘CRUSTACEA’’ and in-
serting ‘‘CRUSTACEA’’. 
(2) UNITED
STATES
HARVESTED
FISH.—Sec-
tion 102(11) of the Sustainable Fisheries Act (Pub-
lic Law 104–297; 110 Stat. 3563) is amended by 
striking ‘‘(42)’’ and inserting ‘‘(43)’’. 
(3) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—This subsection shall 
take effect on the effective date of section 102 of 
Public Law 104–297. 
(b) CORRECTIONS RELATING TO SPECIAL AREAS.— 
Section 3 (16 U.S.C. 1802) is amended— 
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(1) by striking paragraphs (35) and (36); 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (37) through 
the last paragraph (relating to the definition of ‘‘wa-
ters of a foreign nation’’) in order as paragraphs 
(35) through (44); 
(3) by inserting ‘‘(a) GENERAL
DEFINI- 
tions.—’’ before ‘‘As used in this Act’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) TERMS RELATING TO AGREEMENT WITH THE 
FORMER SOVIET UNION.—As used in this Act the term 
‘special areas’ means the areas referred to as eastern spe-
cial areas in Article 3(1) of the Agreement between the 
United States of America and the Union of Soviet Social-
ist Republics on the Maritime Boundary, signed June 1, 
1990. In particular, the term refers to those areas east 
of the maritime boundary, as defined in that Agreement, 
that lie within 200 nautical miles of the baselines from 
which the breadth of the territorial sea of Russia is meas-
ured but beyond 200 nautical miles of the baselines from 
which the breadth of the territorial sea of the United 
States is measured.’’. 
SEC. 3. SCIENCE-BASED IMPROVEMENTS TO MANAGEMENT. 
(a) HARVEST LEVEL CAPS.— 
(1) MECHANISM.—Section 303(a) (16 U.S.C. 
1853(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 
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semicolon at the end of paragraph (13), by striking 
the period at the end of paragraph (14) and insert-
ing a semicolon, and by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(15) provide a mechanism for specifying the 
total allowable catch or another annual catch limit 
under the plan (including for a multiyear plan) for 
each fishery for which an annual catch limit can be 
established, that— 
‘‘(A) is based on the best scientific infor-
mation available; and 
‘‘(B) in the case of a plan issued by a 
Council, does not exceed the acceptable biologi-
cal catch level recommended by the scientific 
and statistical committee of the Council;’’. 
(2) REQUIREMENT TO ADOPT.—Section 302(h) 
(16 U.S.C. 1852(h)) is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ 
after the semicolon at the end of paragraph (5), by 
striking the period at the end of paragraph (6) and 
inserting a semicolon, and by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(7) adopt a total allowable catch limit or other 
annual harvest effort control limit for each of the 
fisheries for which such a limit can be established, 
after considering the recommendation of the sci-
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entific and statistical committee of the Council hav-
ing jurisdiction over the fishery, which shall not ex-
ceed the recommendation for the acceptable biologi-
cal catch as recommended by such scientific and sta-
tistical committee; and’’. 
(3) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
304(b)(11) (16 U.S.C. 1853(b)(11)) is amended by 
striking ‘‘allowable biological catch’’ and inserting 
‘‘acceptable biological catch’’. 
(b) BEST SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION AVAILABLE.— 
Section 303 (16 U.S.C. 1853) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(d) BEST SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION AVAILABLE.— 
The Secretary shall develop guidelines for the Councils to 
use in determining what is the best scientific information 
available. The Secretary shall base these guidelines on the 
recommendations for guidelines developed by the Ocean 
Studies Board of the National Research Council in its re-
port titled ‘Improving the Use of the Best Scientific Infor-
mation Available, Standard in Fisheries Management’.’’. 
(c) SCIENTIFIC AND STATISTICAL COMMITTEES.— 
Amend section 302(g)(1) (16 U.S.C. 1852(g)(1)) is 
amended by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘Each Council’’, and 
by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(B) Each scientific and statistical com-
mittee shall provide its Council ongoing sci-
entific advice for fishery management decisions, 
including recommendations for acceptable bio-
logical catch for each fishery under the jurisdic-
tion of the Council, and reports on stock status 
and health, bycatch, habitat status, socio-eco-
nomic impacts of management measures, and 
sustainability of fishing practices. 
‘‘(C) Members appointed to the scientific 
and statistical committees shall be Federal em-
ployees, State employees, academicians, or inde-
pendent experts with strong scientific or tech-
nical credentials and experience. 
‘‘(D) In addition to payments authorized 
by subsection (f)(7), the Secretary may pay a 
stipend to members of the scientific and statis-
tical committees who are not employed by the 
Federal Government or a State government 
agency. 
‘‘(E) A science and statistical committee 
shall hold its meetings in conjunction with with 
the meetings of the Council, to the extent prac-
ticable.’’. 
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