I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3278
To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
to establish requirements for fishing quota systems, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 14, 2005
Mr. ALLEN (for himself, Mr. SIMMONS, and Mr. DELAHUNT) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act to establish requirements for fishing 
quota systems, 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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fishing Quota Stand-
ards Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT REFERENCES. 
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 provi-
sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to such
section or other provision of the Magnuson-Stevens Fish-
ery Conservation and Management 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: 
‘‘(48) The term ‘fishing quota system’—
‘‘(A) means any limited access system that 
requires a person to acquire a permit under this 
Act to harvest fish in a fishery, that specifies 
a percentage of the total allowable catch of a 
fishery that may be received or held for exclu-
sive use by the person or a definable group of 
persons, during each fishing season for which 
the permission is granted; and 
‘‘(B) includes any area or community 
quota program, sector quota program, fishing 
cooperative program, or individual fishing quota 
program. 
‘‘(49) The term ‘quota share’ means a permit 
under a fishing quota system to harvest a quantity 
of fish, expressed as a percentage of the total allow-
able catch of a fishery that may be received or held 
for exclusive use by a person, during each fishing 
season for which the permission is granted.’’.
SEC. 4. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR LIMITED ACCESS 
SYSTEMS FOR FISHERIES. 
(a) CONDITIONS
FOR AUTHORITY
TO ESTABLISH 
LIMITED
ACCESS
SYSTEMS.—Section 303(b)(6) (16 
U.S.C. 1853(b)(6)) is amended by striking subparagraphs 
(A) through (F) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(A) the conservation requirements of this 
Act with respect to the fishery; 
‘‘(B) the breadth of the present and his-
toric participation in the fishery; 
‘‘(C) the economics of the fishery; 
‘‘(D) the cultural and social framework rel-
evant to the fishery and any affected fishing 
communities; 
‘‘(E) the fair and equitable distribution of 
a fishery as a public trust resource; and 
‘‘(F) any other relevant considerations.’’. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS
FOR
THE FISHERY.—Section 
303(d) (16 U.S.C. 1853(d)) is amended—
(1) by striking paragraph (5); 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and 
(4) as paragraphs (7), (8), and (9), respectively; 
(3) by striking so much as precedes paragraph 
(7), as so redesignated, and inserting the following: 
‘‘(d) FISHING QUOTA SYSTEMS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A fishery management plan 
or plan amendment that establishes a fishing quota 
system for a fishery after the date of the enactment 
of the Fishing Quota Standards Act of 2005 shall—
‘‘(A) include management measures de-
signed to ensure the sustainability of the fishery 
and provide additional and substantial con-
servation benefits, social benefits, and economic 
benefits to the fishery and fishing communities; 
‘‘(B) be effective for a period of a fixed du-
ration, not to exceed 7 years; 
‘‘(C) provide for administration of the sys-
tem by the Secretary in accordance with the 
terms of the plan; 
‘‘(D) establish procedures for the Council 
having authority over the fishery, or the Sec-
retary in the case of a fishery management plan 
developed by the Secretary, to review the quota 
system at least 1 year prior to the end of the 
effective period of the plan; 
‘‘(E) allocate, review, and limit or termi-
nate quota shares in accordance with this sub-
section;
‘‘(F) provide a fair and equitable process 
to appeal to the Secretary decisions made by a 
Council on—
‘‘(i) eligibility to participate in the ref-
erendum required under this subsection 
and eligibility to receive an allocation of 
quota shares; and 
‘‘(ii) limitations, restrictions, and rev-
ocations of quota shares; 
‘‘(G) minimize, to the maximum extent 
practicable, negative social and economic im-
pacts of the system on local coastal commu-
nities including historic fishing communities; 
‘‘(H) minimize geographic consolidation of 
the fishery, including processing facilities; 
‘‘(I) ensure adequate enforcement, man-
agement, and data collection, including the use 
of observers where appropriate at a level of cov-
erage that yields statistically significant results; 
and 
‘‘(J) not require that quota shares be held 
by a person engaged in personal-use fishing, in-
cluding any recreational or subsistence fishing, 
if the fishery management plan designates a
separate portion of the total allowable catch for 
personal-use fishing. 
‘‘(2) ALLOCATION OF QUOTA SHARES.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Council having 
authority over the fishery shall make a fair and 
equitable allocation of all, or a portion, of the 
total allowable catch limit as quota shares 
among categories of vessels and among fishing 
gear types or other appropriate qualifiers. In al-
locating quota shares for a fishery, the Council 
shall—
‘‘(i) take into account present and his-
toric participation in the fishery; 
‘‘(ii) ensure that each quota share is 
held only by individuals who are citizens of 
the United States or permanent resident 
aliens; 
‘‘(iii) to the maximum extent prac-
ticable, preserve the percentage of the total 
quota shares available at the inception of 
the program to vessels for which the quota 
share holder is onboard during fishing op-
erations; 
‘‘(iv) establish a mechanism to allow 
new entrants into the fishery;
‘‘(v) prevent any person from control-
ling an excessive share of quota shares 
under a fishing quota system and establish 
any other limits, measures, or financial re-
porting requirements necessary to prevent 
inequitable concentration of quota shares 
and to prevent significant adverse impacts 
on any person that holds a permit author-
izing fishing in the fishery or fishing com-
munity; and 
‘‘(vi) create incentives in successive al-
locations for fishermen who increase their 
use of gear that more selectively captures 
target species or increase protection of es-
sential fish habitat, by increasing the allo-
cation for those fishermen. 
‘‘(B) TRANSFER TO FAMILY MEMBERS.—
(i) The Secretary may allow the transfer of a 
quota share allocated under subparagraph (A), 
on a case-by-case basis, from the holder of the 
quota share to a member of the holder’s imme-
diate family who would otherwise not be eligible 
for quota share under the program, due to 
death or disablement of the holder.