(12) Deep sea corals, deep sea sponges, and 
their associated invertebrates are a potential source 
of compounds with biomedical properties, some of 
which are currently in clinical trials to study their 
anti-cancer, anti-tumor, and anti-inflammatory prop-
erties. 
(13) The United States Commission on Ocean 
Policy found that deep sea corals, along with their 
shallow-water counterparts, are declining at a ‘‘dis-
turbing pace,’’ and that certain types of fishing gear 
damage deep sea coral ecosystems. 
(14) The National Research Council, in a 2002 
report to Congress on the effects of trawling and 
dredging on seafloor habitats, found that deep sea 
corals warrant protection, based on evidence of the 
destruction of structured habitats caused by bottom 
trawls and dredges. 
(15) The President’s Ocean Action Plan of 
2004 ‘‘encourages all regional fishery management 
councils to take action, where appropriate, to protect 
deep-sea corals when developing and implementing 
regional fishery management plans’’ and includes 
provisions to ‘‘research, survey, and protect deep-sea 
coral communities’’.
(16) In 2005, the North Pacific Fishery Man-
agement Council proposed measures that will be 
adopted pending approval by the Secretary of Com-
merce to confine use of bottom trawls in the Aleu-
tian Islands exclusive economic zone to specified his-
torically productive fishing areas, to disallow use of 
bottom trawls in historically unfished areas of Aleu-
tian Islands waters where deep sea corals have been 
undisturbed, to designate as no-trawling zones those 
areas where coral ecosystems are known to exist, 
and to develop a comprehensive plan for research 
and monitoring. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to permit fishermen to use bottom trawls in 
areas that, traditionally, have been fished using bot-
tom trawls and that do not contain deep sea coral 
and sponge ecosystems; 
(2) to provide long-term protection for deep sea 
coral and sponge ecosystems, particularly in areas 
that have not traditionally been fished with bottom 
trawls; and 
(3) to identify, map, and assess deep sea coral 
and sponge ecosystems to create a balanced policy
for maintenance of fishing and protection of deep 
sea ecosystems. 
(b) PROCESS.—The Secretary shall use a process 
that achieves an outcome similar to the outcome achieved 
by the North Pacific Regional Fishery Management Coun-
cil— 
(1) to protect the habitat of deep sea corals or 
deep sea sponges to carry out the purposes of this 
Act; and 
(2) to identify areas that are open to the use 
of bottom trawls and areas closed to such use where 
deep sea coral and sponge ecosystems are present 
and protected. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) BOTTOM
TRAWL.—The term ‘‘bottom 
trawl’’ means any trawl or dredge fishing gear that 
contacts the seafloor while in use, including pelagic 
trawls that contact the seafloor while in use, otter 
trawls, and scallop dredges. 
(2) BOTTOM TRAWL ZONE.—The term ‘‘Bottom 
Trawl Zone’’ means any area designated under sec-
tion 7 or section 10 as a Bottom Trawl Zone. 
(3) CORAL
HABITAT
CONSERVATION
ZONE.— 
The term ‘‘Coral Habitat Conservation Zone’’ means