[Pages H5622-H5623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

MAKING TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO CERTAIN MARINE FISH CONSERVATION
STATUTES

Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the bill (H.R. 4528) to make technical amendments to certain marine
fish conservation statutes, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 4528

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. BILLFISH CONSERVATION ACT OF 2012.

Section 4(c)(1) of the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012
(16 U.S.C. 1827a(c)(1)) is amended by inserting ``and
retained'' after ``landed''.

SEC. 2. SHARK CONSERVATION ACT OF 2010.

The Act entitled ``An Act to amend the High Seas Driftnet
Fishing Moratorium Protection Act and the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act to improve the
conservation of sharks'', approved January 4, 2011 (Public
Law 111-348; 124 Stat. 3668), is amended--
(1) by striking section 104 and inserting the following:

``SEC. 104. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

``Nothing in this title or the amendments made by this
title shall be construed as affecting, altering, or
diminishing in any way the authority of the Secretary of
Commerce to establish such conservation and management
measures as the Secretary considers necessary and appropriate
under sections 302(a)(3) and 304(g) of the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C.
1852(a)(3), 1854(g)).''; and
(2) in section 1, by striking the item relating to section
104 and inserting the following:

``Sec. 104. Rule of construction.''.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Utah (Mr. Bishop) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Soto) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah.

General Leave

Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Utah?
There was no objection.
Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Today, we are considering an amendment to the Billfish Conservation
Act that was passed in 2012. Unfortunately, when it was passed, there
was a loophole in the bill. What this bill today does is close that
loophole, preserving the original congressional intent, while also
preserving traditional markups in Hawaii, as well as in our Pacific
territories. It is supported by everybody and their third cousin.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a 2-page letter of support from
a broad coalition of sportsmen's groups, manufacturing associations,
and conservation groups, plus a full list of the supporting
organizations for this bill.

December 19, 2017.
The Hon. Rob Bishop
Chairman, House Committee on Natural Resources, Washington,
DC.
Hon. Raul Grijalva
Ranking Member, House Committee on Natural Resources,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Bishop and Ranking Member Grijalva: we
strongly urge the House Natural Resources Committee to
immediately consider and pass out of committee S. 396, a bill
to make a technical amendment to the Billfish Conservation
Act of 2012 (P. L. 112-183). The Senate passed S. 396 by
unanimous consent on October 2, 2017, receiving no objections
or holds during the process to hotline and clear the bill.
Considering such bipartisan support in the Senate for this
important conservation legislation for Pacific billfish, it
is our sincere request that the House Natural Resources
Committee clear this bill as soon as possible and have the
bill move out of the House under suspension.
S. 396 provides a technical amendment to the Billfish
Conservation Act (BCA) to clarify a slight ambiguity related
to the treatment of covered Pacific billfish under the law.
The BCA was passed by both the House and Senate with broad
bipartisan support on October 5, 2012. The legislation was a
rare event in Congress where Members on both sides of the
aisle saw the wisdom of passing a bill that would put in
place a critical prohibition on the sale of billfish in the
continental U.S. The law was intended to put similar
prohibitions on the sale of Pacific billfish as those for
Atlantic billfish, effectively eliminating an estimated
30,000 billfish being imported to the U.S. each year from the
Pacific.
However, over five years since passage of the BCA, the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) failed to issue
regulations to properly implement the law. Failure by NMFS to
issue regulations to implement the BCA is effectively
undermining the conservation goals of the law and creating
uncertainty, where there should be none, on whether Pacific
billfish can be sold in the continental U.S. The House
passage of S. 396 would eliminate this ambiguity.
The legislative history in both the House and Senate is
extremely clear that the BCA was written to allow
traditional, cultural fishing and markets for billfish in
Hawaii and the Pacific Insular Area, but otherwise eliminated
the market for billfish in the remainder of the U.S. House
passage of S. 396 would make this absolutely clear and would
immediately put into force the critical conservation
requirements of the BCA.
The Billfish Conservation Act of 2012 was a great
conservation win for saltwater anglers. We request you pass
S. 396 out of committee to further solidify this victory for
preserving Pacific billfish.
Sincerely,
Mike Nussman, President & CEO, American Sportfishing
Association; Jeff Angers, President, Center for
Sportfishing Policy; Patrick Murray, President, Coastal
Conservation; Jeff Crane, President, Congressional
Sportsmen's Foundation; Guy Harvey, President, Guy
Harvey Ocean Foundation; Nehl Horton, President,
International Game Fish Association; Thom Dammrich,
President, National Marine Manufacturers Association;
Ellen Peel, President, The Billfish Foundation.
International Game Fish Association; Greenpeace; Wild
Oceans; Nature Abounds; The Pew Charitable Trusts; Oceana;
Blue Ocean Institute; Sierra Club; Center for Biological
Diversity; Turttle Island Restoration Network; Endangered
Species Coalition; Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation
Network; Friends of Earth; WildAid; Mobile Bay Audubon
Scoety; BlueVoice.org; Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife; Ocean
Conservation Research; Citrus County Audubon Society; Ocean
Futures Society.
Coastal Wildlife Club; WILDCOAST; Duval Audubon Society;
E.O. Wison Biophilia Center; Deleware Nature Society; Sierra
Club, Delaware Chapter; Eltrose Farms; Alachua Audubon
Society; Big Bend Coastal

[[Page H5623]]

Conservency; Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper; Florida Billfish,
Inc.; Florida Wildlife Federation; Four Rivers Audubon;
Friends of Gumbo Limbo; Halifax River Audubon Society;
Highlands County Audubon Society; Just-in-Time Charters;
Loxahatchee Group Sierra Club; Mean Tide Media, LLC; North
Swell Media & Consulting.
Oklawaha Valley Audubon Society; Peace River Audubon
Society; Rescue Earth; Save-A-Turtle; Sea to Shore Alliance;
Shark Whisperer; Space Coast Audubon Society; Space Coast
Kayaking; Wild Florida Adventures; Georgia Conservancy;
Interfaith Council for the Protection of Animals & Nature;
Conservation Council for Hawai`i; Marine Conservation Science
Institute; Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter; Gulf Restoration
Network; Downeasy Audubon; Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy;
Berkshire Environmental Action Team; Cape Cod Bay Watch; New
England Coastal Wildlife Alliance.
Sustainable Plymouth; SandyHook SeaLife Foundation;
HerpDigest; New York Turtle and Tortoise Society; Shark
Angels; Charlotte Saltwater Sport Fishing Club; North
Carolina Wildlife Federation; OCEAN Magazine; PenderWatch &
Conservancy; Green Alliance; Coastal Conservation League;
Vermonters for Sustainable Population; American Sportfishing
Association; Center for Sportfishing Policy; Coastal
Conservation Association; Congressional Sportsmen's
Foundation; Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation; Internationl Game
Fish Association; National Marine Manufacturers Association;
The Billfish Foundation.

Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SOTO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bill, H.R. 4528, a
bill to make technical changes to certain marine fish conservation
statutes.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Bishop--and, Mr. Speaker, I did ask my
third cousin; he is in support, too--as well as Ranking Member Grijalva
for all of their collaboration and support on this important bill.
H.R. 4528 makes technical amendments to two marine fish conservation
statutes, the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012 and the Shark
Conservation Act of 2010.
First, the bill amends the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012. It
clarifies that the exemption from marlin and billfish fishing in Hawaii
and Pacific insular areas, as is tradition, can only be sold locally.
More specifically, it clarifies these fish cannot be sold to the other
49 States. This strikes a balance between preserving traditional
cultural fishing in these areas and the overall intent to prevent
large-scale commercial fishing of these billfish.
Second, it clarifies that, under the Shark Conservation Act of 2010,
there is no language in the Shark Conservation Act that alters existing
authority of the Secretary of Commerce to manage Atlantic highly
migratory species under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. It also cleans up
language in the Shark Conservation Act by removing an expired offset.
The main goal of this is to ensure protection against shark finning.
H.R. 4528 will fix confusion within the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration to allow rulemaking to go forward for the
Atlantic smooth dogfish, a type of shark.
This bill has support from both the sportsmen-anglers communities and
conservation groups.
Again, I thank the Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bishop and
Ranking Member Grijalva for working with me on this. Without their
support, this legislation would not be on the floor today.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues in the Chamber to support
H.R. 4528, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, it is a good bill. I urge its
support, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Marshall). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop) that the House suspend
the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4528.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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