I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5051 
To authorize appropriations to the Secretary of Commerce for the Magnuson- 
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act for fiscal years 2007 
through 2012, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 30, 2006 
Mr. GILCHREST (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. FARR, Mr. 
EHLERS, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. LEACH, and Mr. CASTLE) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To authorize appropriations to the Secretary of Commerce 
for the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act for fiscal years 2007 through 2012, 
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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage-
ment Amendments Act of 2006’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Amendment of Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage-
ment Act. 
Sec. 3. Changes in findings and definitions. 
Sec. 4. Highly migratory species. 
Sec. 5. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE I—SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES MANAGEMENT 
Subtitle A—Amendments 
Sec. 101. Cumulative impacts. 
Sec. 102. Regional Fishery Management Councils. 
Sec. 103. Fishery management plan requirements. 
Sec. 104. Fishery management plan discretionary provisions. 
Sec. 105. Limited access privilege programs. 
Sec. 106. Action by Secretary on fishery management plans and amendments 
to plans. 
Sec. 107. Environmental review process. 
Sec. 108. Emergency regulations. 
Sec. 109. Joint enforcement agreements. 
Sec. 110. Transition to sustainable fisheries. 
Sec. 111. Regional coastal disaster assistance, transition, and recovery pro-
gram. 
Sec. 112. Fishery finance program hurricane assistance. 
Sec. 113. Shrimp fisheries hurricane assistance program. 
Sec. 114. Bycatch reduction engineering program. 
Sec. 115. Ecosystem management. 
Sec. 116. Community-based restoration program for fishery and coastal habi-
tats. 
Sec. 117. Prohibited acts. 
Sec. 118. Cooperative restoration projects. 
Sec. 119. Enforcement. 
Sec. 120. Fishery permitting and registration programs. 
Sec. 121. Bycatch. 
Subtitle B—Collaborative Strategic Planning 
Sec. 131. Short title. 
Sec. 132. Definitions. 
Sec. 133. Program to achieve sustainable fisheries through collaborative stra-
tegic planning processes. 
Sec. 134. National Task Force on Sustainable Fishery Capacity. 
Sec. 135. Sustainable Fishery Vision, Implementation, and Management Plans. 
Sec. 136. Priority implementation. 
Sec. 137. Total allowable level of foreign fishing. 
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. 
Sec. 205. Restoration study. 
Sec. 206. Fisheries conservation and management fund. 
Sec. 207. Use of fishery finance program and capital construction fund for sus-
tainable purposes. 
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Sec. 208. Deep sea coral research and technology program. 
Sec. 209. Impact of turtle excluder devices on shrimping. 
Sec. 210. Hurricane effects on shrimp and oyster fisheries and habitats. 
TITLE III—OTHER FISHERIES STATUTES 
Sec. 301. Reauthorization of other fisheries Acts. 
TITLE IV—INTERNATIONAL 
Sec. 401. Finding with respect to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. 
Sec. 402. Action to end illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing and reduce 
bycatch of protected marine species. 
Sec. 403. Rebuilding depleted fisheries. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT OF MAGNUSON-STEVENS FISHERY 
CONSERVATION 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 provi-
sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a 
section or other provision of the Magnuson-Stevens Fish-
ery 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— 
(1) by amending paragraph (6) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(6) A national program for the conservation 
and management of the fishery resources of the 
United States is necessary to prevent overfishing, to 
rebuild depleted stocks, to protect the ecosystems as-
sociated with those fishery resources, to insure con-
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servation, to facilitate long-term protection of essen-
tial fish habitats, and to realize the full potential of 
the Nation’s fishery resources.’’; 
(2) in paragraph (8) by inserting ‘‘and associ-
ated ecosystems’’ after ‘‘fishery resources’’; and 
(3) 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) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 (16 U.S.C. 
1802) is amended— 
(1) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(4A) The term ‘confidential information’ 
means— 
‘‘(A) trade secrets; or 
‘‘(B) commercial or financial information 
the disclosure of which is likely to result in sub-
stantial harm to the competitive position of the 
person who submitted the information to the 
Secretary.’’; 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (8) the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘(8A) The term ‘depleted’ means a fishery the 
abundance of which is at or below a level that jeop-
ardizes the capacity of the fishery to produce max-
imum sustainable yield on a continuing basis.’’; 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (13) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(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 other-
wise own or operate businesses substantially de-
pendent upon a fishery.’’; 
(4) by inserting after paragraph (20) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(20A) The term ‘import’— 
‘‘(A) means to land on, bring into, or in-
troduce into, or attempt to land on, bring into, 
or introduce into, any place subject to the juris-
diction of the United States, whether or not 
such landing, bringing, or introduction con-
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