Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marine Debris Act 
Amendments of 2012’’. 
SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment is expressed as an amendment to 
a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered 
to be made to a section or other provision of the Marine 
Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act (33 U.S.C. 
1951 et seq.), as in effect immediately before the enactment 
of this Act. 
SEC. 3. SHORT TITLE AMENDMENT. 
Section 1 (33 U.S.C. 1951 note) is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘Research, Prevention, and Reduction’’. 
SEC. 4. PURPOSE. 
Section 2 (33 U.S.C. 1951) is amended to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
‘‘The purpose of this Act is to address the adverse im-
pacts of marine debris on the United States economy, the 
marine environment, and navigation safety through identi-
fication, determination of sources, assessment, prevention, 
reduction, and removal of marine debris.’’. 
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SEC. 5. NOAA MARINE DEBRIS PROGRAM. 
(a) NAME OF PROGRAM.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 (33 U.S.C. 1952) is 
amended— 
(A) in the section heading by striking 
‘‘PREVENTION AND REMOVAL’’; and 
(B) in subsection (a)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘Prevention and Re-
moval Program to reduce and prevent’’ and 
inserting ‘‘Program to identify, determine 
sources of, assess, prevent, reduce, and re-
move’’; and 
(ii) by inserting ‘‘the economy of the 
United States,’’ after ‘‘marine debris on’’; 
and 
(iii) by inserting a comma after ‘‘envi-
ronment’’. 
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (7) 
of section 7 (33 U.S.C. 1956) is amended by striking 
‘‘Prevention and Removal’’. 
(b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—Section 3(b) (33 U.S.C. 
1952(b)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—The Administrator, 
acting through the Program and subject to the availability 
of appropriations, shall— 
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‘‘(1) identify, determine sources of, assess, pre-
vent, reduce, and remove marine debris, with a focus 
on marine debris posing a threat to living marine re-
sources and navigation safety; 
‘‘(2) provide national and regional coordination 
to assist States, Indian tribes, and regional organiza-
tions in identification, determination of sources, as-
sessment, prevention, reduction, and removal of ma-
rine debris; 
‘‘(3) undertake efforts to reduce adverse impacts 
of lost and discarded fishing gear on living marine 
resources and navigation safety, including— 
‘‘(A) research and development of alter-
natives to gear posing threats to the marine en-
vironment, and methods for marking gear used 
in specific fisheries to enhance the tracking, re-
covery, and identification of lost and discarded 
gear; and 
‘‘(B) development of effective nonregulatory 
measures and incentives to cooperatively reduce 
the volume of lost and discarded fishing gear and 
to aid in its recovery; and 
‘‘(4) undertake outreach and education of the 
public and other stakeholders on sources of marine de-
bris, threats associated with marine debris, and ap-
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proaches to identify, determine sources of, assess, pre-
vent, reduce, and remove marine debris and its ad-
verse impacts on the United States economy, the ma-
rine environment, and navigational safety, including 
outreach and education activities through public-pri-
vate initiatives.’’. 
(c) GRANT CRITERIA AND GUIDELINES.—Section 3(c) 
(33 U.S.C. 1952(c)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 2(1)’’ 
and inserting ‘‘section 2’’; 
(2) by repealing paragraph (5); and 
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as 
paragraphs (5) and (6). 
SEC. 6. PROGRESS REPORTS. 
Section 5(c)(2) (33 U.S.C. 1954(c)(2)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORTS.— 
’’ and all that follows through ‘‘thereafter’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘BIENNIAL PROGRESS REPORTS.—Biennially’’; 
and 
(2) by inserting ‘‘Natural’’ before ‘‘Resources’’. 
SEC. 7. CONFIDENTIALITY OF SUBMITTED INFORMATION. 
Section 6(2) (33 U.S.C. 1955(2)) is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘by the fishing industry’’. 
SEC. 8. MARINE DEBRIS DEFINITION. 
Section 7 (33 U.S.C. 1956) is amended— 
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(1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para-
graph (9), and moving such paragraph to appear 
after paragraph (8); and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) MARINE DEBRIS.—The term ‘marine debris’ 
means any persistent solid material that is manufac-
tured or processed and directly or indirectly, and in-
tentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or aban-
doned into the marine environment or the Great 
Lakes.’’. 
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
Section 9 (33 U.S.C. 1958) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘are’’ and inserting ‘‘is’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘2006 through 2010’’ and all that 
follows through ‘‘(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘through fiscal 
year 2015’’; and 
(3) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘$10,000,000’’ 
and inserting ‘‘$4,900,000’’. 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marine De-
bris Act Amendments of 2012’’. 
SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, 
whenever in this Act an amendment is ex-
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pressed as an amendment to a section or 
other provision, the reference shall be consid-
ered to be made to a section or other provi-
sion of the Marine Debris Research, Preven-
tion, and Reduction Act (33 U.S.C. 1951 et 
seq.), as in effect immediately before the en-
actment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. SHORT TITLE AMENDMENT. 
Section 1 (33 U.S.C. 1951 note) is amended 
by striking ‘‘Research, Prevention, and Re-
duction’’. 
SEC. 4. PURPOSE. 
Section 2 (33 U.S.C. 1951) is amended to 
read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
‘‘The purpose of this Act is to address the 
adverse impacts of marine debris on the 
United States economy, the marine environ-
ment, and navigation safety through identi-
fication, determination of sources, assess-
ment, prevention, reduction, and removal of 
marine debris.’’. 
SEC. 5. NOAA MARINE DEBRIS PROGRAM. 
(a) NAME OF PROGRAM.— 
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‘‘(b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—The Adminis-
trator, acting through the Program and sub-
ject to the availability of appropriations, 
shall— 
‘‘(1) identify, determine sources of, as-
sess, prevent, reduce, and remove marine 
debris, with a focus on marine debris pos-
ing a threat to living marine resources 
and navigation safety; 
‘‘(2) provide national and regional co-
ordination to assist States, Indian tribes, 
and regional organizations in identifica-
tion, determination of sources, assess-
ment, prevention, reduction, and removal 
of marine debris; 
‘‘(3) undertake efforts to reduce ad-
verse impacts of lost and discarded fish-
ing gear on living marine resources and 
navigation safety, including— 
‘‘(A) research and development of 
alternatives to gear posing threats to 
the marine environment, and meth-
ods for marking gear used in specific 
fisheries to enhance the tracking, re-
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covery, and identification of lost and 
discarded gear; and 
‘‘(B) development of effective non-
regulatory measures and incentives 
to cooperatively reduce the volume of 
lost and discarded fishing gear and to 
aid in its recovery; and 
‘‘(4) undertake outreach and edu-
cation of the public and other stake-
holders on sources of marine debris, 
threats associated with marine debris, 
and approaches to identify, determine 
sources of, assess, prevent, reduce, and 
remove marine debris and its adverse im-
pacts on the United States economy, the 
marine environment, and navigational 
safety, including outreach and education 
activities through public-private initia-
tives.’’. 
(c) REPEAL.—Section 2204 of the Marine 
Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act of 
1987 and the item relating to that section in 
the table of contents contained in section 2 of 
the United States-Japan Fishery Agreement 
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Approval Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C. 1915) are re-
pealed. 
(d) GRANT CRITERIA AND GUIDELINES.—Sec-
tion 3(c) (33 U.S.C. 1952(c)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sec-
tion 2(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2’’; 
(2) by repealing paragraph (5); and 
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (6) 
and (7) as paragraphs (5) and (6). 
SEC. 6. REPEAL OF OBSOLETE PROVISIONS. 
Section 4 (33 U.S.C. 1953) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘(a) STRATEGY.—’’; and 
(2) by repealing subsections (b) and 
(c). 
SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO DEFINITIONS. 
(a) INTERAGENCY MARINE DEBRIS COORDI-
NATING COMMITTEE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 
in subsection (b), section 2203 of the Ma-
rine Plastic Pollution Research and Con-
trol Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C. 1914) is redesig-
nated and moved to replace and appear 
as section 5 of the Marine Debris Re-
search, Prevention, and Reduction Act 
(33 U.S.C. 1954). 
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(2) CLERICAL
AMENDMENT.—The item 
relating to section 2203 in the table of 
contents contained in section 2 of the 
United States-Japan Fishery Agreement 
Approval Act of 1987 is repealed. 
(b) BIENNIAL PROGRESS REPORTS.—Section 
5(c)(2) (33 U.S.C. 1954(c)(2)), as in effect imme-
diately before the enactment of this Act— 
(1) is redesignated as subsection (e) of 
section 5, as redesignated and moved by 
the amendment made by subsection (a) of 
this section; and 
(2) is amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘ANNUAL PROGRESS 
REPORTS.—’’ 
and 
all 
that 
follows 
through ‘‘thereafter’’ and inserting 
‘‘BIENNIAL
PROGRESS
REPORTS.— 
Bienially’’; 
(B) by inserting ‘‘Natural’’ before 
‘‘Resources’’; 
(C) 
by 
redesignating 
subpara-
graphs (A) through (E) as paragraphs 
(1) through (5) of such subsection; 
and 
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(D) by moving such subsection 2 
ems to the left. 
SEC. 8. CONFIDENTIALITY OF SUBMITTED INFORMATION. 
Section 6(2) (33 U.S.C. 1955(2)) is amended 
by striking ‘‘by the fishing industry’’. 
SEC. 9. MARINE DEBRIS DEFINITION. 
Section 7 (33 U.S.C. 1956) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 
paragraph (9), and moving such para-
graph to appear after paragraph (8); and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) 
the following: 
‘‘(3) MARINE
DEBRIS.—The term ‘ma-
rine debris’ means any persistent solid 
material that is manufactured or proc-
essed and directly or indirectly, and in-
tentionally or unintentionally, disposed 
of or abandoned into the marine environ-
ment or the Great Lakes.’’. 
SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
Section 9 (33 U.S.C. 1958) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘are’’ and inserting 
‘‘is’’; 
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(2) by striking ‘‘2006 through 2010’’ 
and all that follows through ‘‘(1)’’ and in-
serting ‘‘through fiscal year 2015’’; 
(3) in paragraph (1), by striking 
‘‘$10,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$4,900,000’’; 
and 
(4) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and all that fol-
lows through the end of paragraph (2) 
and inserting a period. 
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Union Calendar No. 432 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1171 
[Report No. 112–584, Parts I and II] 
A BILL 
To reauthorize and amend the Marine Debris 
Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act. 
JULY 17, 2012 
Reported from the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure with an amendment 
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