IB 
Union Calendar No. 82 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1335 
[Report No. 114–116] 
To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
to provide flexibility for fishery managers and stability for fishermen, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 4, 2015 
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska (for himself, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, 
and Mr. BYRNE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
MAY 15, 2015 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 4, 2015] 
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A BILL 
To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act to provide flexibility for fishery man-
agers and stability for fishermen, and for other purposes. 
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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 ‘‘Strengthening Fishing 
Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Man-
agement Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act, any term used that is defined in section 
3 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Man-
agement Act (16 U.S.C. 1802) shall have the same meaning 
such term has under that section. 
SEC. 3. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of 
an amendment to, or repeal of, a provision, the reference 
shall be considered to be made to a provision of the Magnu-
son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 
U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). 
SEC. 4. FLEXIBILITY IN REBUILDING FISH STOCKS. 
(a) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—Section 304(e) (16 
U.S.C. 1854(e)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (4)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 
‘‘possible’’ and inserting ‘‘practicable’’; 
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(B) by amending subparagraph (A)(ii) to 
read as follows: 
‘‘(ii) may not exceed the time the stock 
would be rebuilt without fishing occurring 
plus one mean generation, except in a case 
in which— 
‘‘(I) the biology of the stock of 
fish, other environmental conditions, or 
management measures under an inter-
national 
agreement 
in 
which 
the 
United States participates dictate oth-
erwise; 
‘‘(II) the Secretary determines 
that the cause of the stock being de-
pleted is outside the jurisdiction of the 
Council or the rebuilding program can-
not be effective only by limiting fishing 
activities; 
‘‘(III) the Secretary determines 
that one or more components of a 
mixed-stock fishery is depleted but can-
not be rebuilt within that time- frame 
without significant economic harm to 
the fishery, or cannot be rebuilt with-
out causing another component of the 
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mixed-stock fishery to approach a de-
pleted status; 
‘‘(IV) the Secretary determines 
that recruitment, distribution, or life 
history of, or fishing activities for, the 
stock are affected by informal trans-
boundary 
agreements 
under 
which 
management activities outside the ex-
clusive economic zone by another coun-
try may hinder conservation and man-
agement efforts by United States fish-
ermen; and 
‘‘(V) the Secretary determines that 
the stock has been affected by unusual 
events that make rebuilding within the 
specified time period improbable with-
out significant economic harm to fish-
ing communities;’’; 
(C) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at 
the end of subparagraph (B), by redesignating 
subparagraphs (B) and (C) as subparagraphs 
(C) and (D), and by inserting after subpara-
graph (A) the following: 
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