jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2011-03-17 00:00:00

Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2011 - Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to require fishery management plans, amendments, or regulations for overfished fisheries to specify a time period for ending overfishing and rebuilding the fishery that is as short as practicable (under current law, as short as possible). Modifies the exceptions to the requirement that such period not exceed ten years. Requires consideration, in evaluating progress to end overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks, of factors other than commercial and recreational fishing. Requires, when the Secretary of Commerce extends the period under specified provisions, that the maximum rebuilding time not exceed the sum of the initial ten-year period, the expected time to rebuild the stock absent any fishing mortality and under prevailing environmental conditions, and the mean generation time of the stock.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2011-06-30 00:00:00

Asset Forfeiture Responsibility Act of 2011 - Establishes the Fisheries Investment Fund as a separate account in the general fund of the Treasury where all sums received by the United States as fines, penalties, and forfeitures of property for violations of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) or any other marine resource law enforced by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) shall be deposited and remain available until expended. Directs that fees deposited in the Fund be used to: (1) reimburse reasonable attorneys' fees to a person that the Secretary has directed to be remitted a fisheries enforcement penalty as recommended in the report of Special Master Swartwood or a person that submitted a complaint to the Special Master prior to May 7, 2011, seeking remittance of a fisheries enforcement penalty and whom the Secretary directs to receive at least a portion of such remittance; and (2) conduct Fund audits and specified enforcement and monitoring activities under provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act amended by this Act. Authorizes the Secretary, during FY2012-FY2013, to reimburse reasonable attorneys' fees to such a person. Directs a person to apply for such reimbursement within 60 days after the Secretary directs a fisheries enforcement penalty be remitted to that person. Allows the Secretary to pay from sums appropriated from the Fund for monitoring activities selected by the Regional Fishery Management Councils, including at-sea observers and shoreside monitoring, preparing fishery impact statements, and other priorities established by a Council as necessary to rebuild or maintain sustainable fisheries, ensure healthy ecosystems, and maintain fishing communities. Removes a provision allowing expenses directly related to investigations and civil or criminal enforcement proceedings, including related expenses necessary for equipment, training, travel, witnesses, and contracting services, to be paid from sums received as fines, penalties, and forfeitures of property for violations of the Magnuson-Stevens Act or any other fishery resource law enforced by the Secretary. Authorizes certain other costs and enforcement expenses to be paid from sums appropriated from the Fund.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2011-07-14 00:00:00

Rhode Island Fishermen's Fairness Act - Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to add Rhode Island to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and increase Council membership from 21 to 23 members, including: (1) the principal Rhode Island official with marine fishery management responsibility, and (2) a member appointed by the Secretary of Commerce from a list of individuals submitted by the governor of Rhode Island.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2011-10-11 00:00:00

Saving Fishing Jobs Act of 2011 - Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, with respect to multispecies fishing permits in the Gulf of Mexico, to remove a provision limiting the eligible signers (fishermen constituting more than 50% of the permit holders, or holding more than 50% of the allocation in the fishery) of a petition to the Secretary of Commerce requesting that the appropriate Regional Fishery Management Council or Councils be authorized to initiate the development of a limited access privilege program to only those participants who have substantially fished the species proposed to be included in the program. Sets forth procedures for the Secretary to: (1) certify a fishery management plan (or amendment) requested by a percentage of eligible fisherman to establish a limited access privilege program to harvest in fisheries under the authority of the New England, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, or Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; (2) terminate such a program in effect on or established after enactment of this Act for a fishery under the authority of such Councils when, within specified periods, the number of eligible fishermen is at least 15% less than the number of such fishermen previously in the fishery; and (3) collect fees, including observer costs, pursuant to modified fee-setting requirements for such programs. Directs the appropriate Council, within a one-year period, to develop an alternative fishery management plan for any such terminated program.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2011-11-28 00:00:00

Fishery Science Improvement Act of 2011 - Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 to prohibit the requirement that a mechanism be established for specifying annual catch limits in fishery management plans prepared by any Regional Fishery Management Council, or by the Secretary of Commerce, implementing regulations, or annual specifications, at a level such that overfishing does not occur in the fishery, from applying to: (1) a stock of fish for which a stock assessment has not been performed during the previous six-year period, if the Secretary has determined that the fishery is not subject to overfishing of that stock and that the stock is not overfished; and (2) an ecosystem component stock. Defines "ecosystem component stock" as a stock of fish determined by the Secretary to be a nontarget stock that is not subject to overfishing or overfished. Requires that ecosystem component species as determined by the Secretary prior to enactment of this Act be determined to be such ecosystem component stocks after enactment of this Act.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2012-03-12 00:00:00

Fisheries Investment and Regulatory Relief Act of 2012 - Amends the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act to revise the program under which the Secretary of Commerce provides financial assistance for fisheries research and development projects. Directs each Regional Fishery Management Council to establish a fishery investment committee to: (1) develop a regional fishery investment plan identifying research, conservation, management needs, and actions to rebuild and maintain healthy fish populations and sustainable fisheries; and (2) make recommendations to the Council on grant applications and projects to implement the respective plans. Requires that such plans be revised, approved by the relevant Council, and submitted to the Secretary at least once every five years. Directs the Secretary to establish an annual competitive grant program to advance regional priorities included in such plans. Makes state, federal, regional, or private entities or persons eligible for such funding. Requires that preference be given to public-private partnerships. Specifies that national fisheries investment program funds be used by the Secretary for research and investment that supports rebuilding and maintaining healthy U.S. fish populations and promotes sustainable fisheries. (Currently, such funds are used for harvesting, processing, marketing, and other associated infrastructures.) Allocates funds to each Council and marine fisheries commissions. Limits to a specified percentage the funds authorized to offset receipts for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operations, research, and facilities.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-02-15 00:00:00

Prohibits the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce from issuing any permit or in any other way authorizing commercial finfish aquaculture operations in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), except in accordance with law enacted after enactment of this Act.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-02-15 00:00:00

Fisheries Disaster Relief and Research Investment Act - Amends the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act to revise the program under which the Secretary of Commerce provides financial assistance for fisheries research and development projects. Directs each Regional Fishery Management Council to establish a fishery investment committee to: (1) develop a regional fishery investment plan identifying research, conservation, management needs, and actions to rebuild and maintain healthy fish populations and sustainable fisheries; and (2) make recommendations to the Council on grant applications and projects to implement the respective plans.

Requires that such plans be revised, approved by the relevant Council, and submitted to the Secretary at least once every five years.

Directs the Secretary to establish an annual competitive grant program to advance regional priorities included in such plans. Makes state, federal, regional, or private entities or persons eligible for such funding. Requires that preference be given to public-private partnerships.

Specifies that national fisheries investment program funds be used by the Secretary for research and investment that supports rebuilding and maintaining healthy U.S. fish populations and promotes sustainable fisheries. (Currently, such funds are used for harvesting, processing, marketing, and other associated infrastructures.)

Allocates monies to each Council and marine fisheries commissions.

Designates an amount to be distributed among eligible recipients of assistance for commercial fishery failures and fishery disasters declared by the Secretary in 2012 under specified provisions of the Interjurisdicitional Fisheries Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Limits to a specified percentage the monies authorized to offset receipts for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operations, research, and facilities.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-03-15 00:00:00

Gulf Fisheries Fairness Act - Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to provide each of the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida with exclusive fishery management authority over reef fish: (1) within the exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of Mexico in waters of a specified average depth on a continuous line within a minimum distance of nine nautical miles from the baseline from which the territorial sea of the United States is measured, and (2) between projected jurisdictional lines determined by the President under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Directs the Secretary of Commerce to publish a description and map of the applicable line along the coasts of such states.

Prohibits the Secretary from suspending, revoking, terminating, or otherwise limiting the authority of any person under federal law to engage in fishing based on the person fishing for Gulf reef fish in waters subject to the exclusive authority of such states.

Exempts such waters from specified federal regulatory requirements addressing fishery permits.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Animals
Date: 2013-03-21 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act - Amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to authorize the Secretary of the department in which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is operating to issue one-year permits to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission for the lethal taking on the waters of the Columbia River or its tributaries of sea lions that are part of a healthy population that is not listed as an endangered species or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 in order to protect endangered and threatened species of salmon and other nonlisted fish species. Authorizes the Secretary to renew such permits.

Prohibits such a permit from authorizing the lethal taking of more than 10 sea lions. Limits the cumulative annual taking of sea lions each year under all such permits to 1% of the annual potential biological removal level.

Authorizes the Secretary to suspend the issuance of such permits if, after five years, lethal removal authority is no longer necessary to protect salmonid and other fish species from sea lion predation.

Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) preventing predation by sea lions, recovery of listed salmonid stocks, and preventing future listings of fish stocks in the Columbia River is a vital priority; (2) permit holders exercising lethal removal authority should be trained in wildlife management; and (3) the government should continue to fund lethal and nonlethal removal measures for preventing such predation.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-04-11 00:00:00

Rhode Island Fishermen's Fairness Act - Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to add Rhode Island to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and increase Council membership from 21 to 23 members, including: (1) the principal Rhode Island official with marine fishery management responsibility, and (2) a member appointed by the Secretary of Commerce from a list of individuals submitted by the governor of Rhode Island.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2013-04-23 00:00:00

Prevention of Escapement of Genetically Altered Salmon in the United States Act - Prohibits a person from: (1) shipping, transporting, offering for sale, selling, or purchasing a covered fish, or a food product containing such fish, in interstate commerce; (2) having custody, control, or possession of, with the intent to ship, transport, offer for sale, sell, or purchase such fish or food products, in interstate or foreign commerce; (3) engaging in net-pen aquaculture of such fish; (4) releasing such fish into a natural environment; or (5) having custody, control, or possession of such fish with the intent to release it into a natural environment.

 Defines "covered fish" as any finfish (live or dead, including the gametes, fertilized eggs, offspring, and descendants) that is modified or produced through the application of recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technologies, using DNA from an organism's own genome or that of another species, that overcome natural physiological reproductive barriers and that are not techniques used in traditional breeding and selection.

Exempts from such prohibitions fish, fish parts, or products confined for scientific research or collected to enforce this Act. Sets forth an additional exception if the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, upon reviewing any application requesting a federal agency to permit activity prohibited by this Act: (1) prepares a finding of no significant impact in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, or (2) finds the application to be consistent with an environmental impact statement that includes an environmental risk analysis and specified assessments of costs and potential economic damage.

Directs each federal agency to promptly notify the Under Secretary when an action involving such covered fish or food products is first identified by such agency.

Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to enforce penalties for violations of this Act under specified provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2013-06-05 00:00:00

National Mitigation Fisheries Coordination Act - Directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to impose a charge for conducting mitigation fishery activities in connection with federal water resources development projects carried out by water development agencies (Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, or the Tennessee Valley Authority [TVA]). Requires such agencies to pay the charge in accordance with a fishery mitigation plan developed and approved by the USFWS Director and the agency head.

Defines "mitigation fishery activities" as rearing and stocking of native and nonnative fish to replace or maintain fishery resources or harvest levels lost as a result of such a project, including project planning, population assessment and evaluation, genetic monitoring, broodstock development, and fish health sampling.

Requires USFWS's charges to be reasonably related to expenditures necessary to: (1) operate, maintain, and rehabilitate certain USFWS-owned and -operated mitigation fishery facilities, hatcheries, and health centers; and (2) conduct mitigation fishery activities, including expenditures for personnel, transportation, utilities, contractual services, fish feed, supplies, equipment, routine maintenance, deferred maintenance, fish eggs, technical support, fish health, management and administration, planning, outreach and education, and hatchery product evaluations.

Sets forth a listing of applicable mitigation fishery facilities in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-07-10 00:00:00

Revitalizing the Economy of Fisheries in the Pacific Act or the REFI Pacific Act - Directs the Secretary of Commerce (upon receipt of such assurances as the Secretary considers appropriate to protect the interests of the United States) to issue a loan to refinance the existing debt obligation funding the fishing capacity reduction program for the West Coast groundfish fishery implemented under the Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2003.

Requires such loan to have a maturity that expires 45 years after the date of issuance, subject to extension if there is an outstanding balance after such period.

Prohibits the fee with respect to such loan from exceeding 3% of the ex-vessel value of the harvest from each fishery for which the loan is issued.

Sets forth requirements for direct loan interest rates, subloans, and the calculation of the ex-vessel landing fee to be collected for payment of such loan.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Animals
Date: 2013-07-17 00:00:00

Stanislaus River Native Anadromous Fish Improvement Act - Directs the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, the Oakdale Irrigation District, and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District to jointly develop and conduct a pilot non-native predator fish removal program to remove non-native striped bass, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, black bass, and other non-native predator fish from the Stanislaus River.

Requires the program to: (1) be scientifically based; (2) include methods to quantify the number and size of predator fish removed each year, the impact of such removal on the overall abundance of predator fish, and the impact of such removal on the populations of certain juvenile anadromous fish found in the Stanislaus River; and (3) be implemented for five consecutive years.

Requires such Districts to be responsible for the cost of such program.

Directs the Commissioner to post a monthly summary of the raw data on the Bureau website.

Requires the Commissioner and districts, following the completion of the program, to publish a peer reviewed report that discusses findings and makes recommendations for further study and action.

Voids and preempts any California legal restriction imposed on the catch, take, or harvest of any non-native or introduced aquatic or terrestrial species that preys upon specified stocks of anadromous fish and that occupies or is found in the Stanislaus River.

Defines "anadromous fish" as native stocks of salmon (including steelhead) that, as of October 30, 1992, were present in and had not been extirpated from the Stanislaus River and that ascend such river to reproduce after maturing in San Francisco Bay or the Pacific Ocean. Excludes any stock, strain, or member of American shad, sockeye salmon, or striped bass.

Prohibits a definition of "anadromous fish" provided in the Central Valley Project Improvement Act from applying to the operation of New Melones Dam and Reservoir or to any federal action in the Stanislaus River.

Requires this Act and the authorities provided under this Act to expire seven years after implementation of the pilot program begins.
Topic: Agriculture — Fisheries & Fishing
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-08-02 00:00:00

Healthy Fisheries through Better Science Act - Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to require the Secretary of Commerce to develop and publish at least triennially in the Federal Register (on the same schedule as the fisheries research strategic plan) a plan to conduct stock assessments for all stocks of fish for which a fishery management plan is in effect.

Defines "stock assessment" as an evaluation of the past, present, and future status of a stock of fish, including: (1) a range of life history characteristics, including the stock's geographical boundaries, age, growth, natural mortality, sexual maturity and reproduction, feeding habits, and habitat preferences; and (2) fishing for the stock.

Requires the plan to: (1) establish schedules for conducting initial stock assessments and updating previously conducted assessments; and (2) identify data and analysis, especially concerning recreational fishing, that would reduce uncertainty in and improve the accuracy of future stock assessments, including whether such data and analysis could be provided by nongovernmental sources, such as fishermen, fishing communities, universities, and research institutions. Provides for waivers of stock assessment requirements when the Secretary determines that the assessment is not necessary and justifies such determination in the Federal Register notice.

Directs the Secretary to develop and publish in the Federal Register guidelines to incorporate data, analysis, and stock assessments from nongovernmental sources into fisheries management decisions and to establish a registry of information providers. Requires the Secretary and Regional Fishery Management Councils to use such information as the best scientific information available in fisheries management decisions, unless otherwise determined by the science and statistical committee of such Councils.

Directs the Secretary to report to Congress regarding each fishery governed by a fishery management plan to: (1) identify the goals and methods of the applicable programs governing monitoring and enforcement of fishing subject to such plan; (2) certify which methods are most cost-effective; and (3) explain why such most-cost-effective methods are not required, if applicable.

Prohibits the Secretary from collecting certain fishing permit fees and North Pacific Council fisheries research plan implementation fees before identifying the costs that will be recovered by such fee.