FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLANS.

SEC. 108. FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLANS. (a) Required Provisions.—Section 303(a) (16 U.S.C. 1853(a)) is amended— (1) in paragraph (1)(A) by inserting “and rebuild overfished stocks” after “overfishing”; (2) by inserting “commercial, recreational, and charter fishing in” in paragraph (5) after “with respect to”; (3) by striking paragraph (7) and inserting the following: “(7) describe and identify essential fish habitat for the fishery based on the guidelines established by the Secretary under section 305(b)(1)(A), minimize to the extent practicable adverse effects on such habitat caused by fishing, and identify other actions to encourage the conservation and enhancement of such habitat;”; (4) by striking “and” at the end of paragraph (8); (5) by inserting “and fishing communities” after “fisheries” in paragraph (9)(A); 110 STAT. 3575 (6) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (9) and inserting a semicolon; and (7) by adding at the end the following: “(10) specify objective and measurable criteria for identifying when the fishery to which the plan applies is overfished (with an analysis of how the criteria were determined and the relationship of the criteria to the reproductive potential of stocks of fish in that fishery) and, in the case of a fishery which the Council or the Secretary has determined is approaching an overfished condition or is overfished, contain conservation and management measures to prevent overfishing or end overfishing and rebuild the fishery; “(11) establish a standardized reporting methodology to assess the amount and type of bycatch occurring in the fishery, and include conservation and management measures that, to the extent practicable and in the following priority— “(A) minimize bycatch; and “(B) minimize the mortality of bycatch which cannot be avoided; “(12) assess the type and amount of fish caught and released alive during recreational fishing under catch and release fishery management programs and the mortality of such fish, and include conservation and management measures that, to the extent practicable, minimize mortality and ensure the extended survival of such fish; “(13) include a description of the commercial, recreational, and charter fishing sectors which participate in the fishery and, to the extent practicable, quantify trends in landings of the managed fishery resource by the commercial, recreational, and charter fishing sectors; and “(14) to the extent that rebuilding plans or other conservation and management measures which reduce the overall harvest in a fishery are necessary, allocate any harvest restrictions or recovery benefits fairly and equitably among the commercial, recreational, and charter fishing sectors in the fishery.”. (b) Implementation.—Not later than 24 months after the date of enactment of this Act, each Regional Fishery Management Council shall submit to the Secretary of Commerce amendments to each fishery management plan under its authority to comply with the amendments made in subsection (a) of this section. (c) Discretionary Provisions.—Section 303(b) (16 U.S.C. 1853(b)) is amended— (1) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following: “(3) establish specified limitations which are necessary and appropriate for the conservation and management of the fishery on the— “(A) catch of fish (based on area, species, size, number, weight, sex, bycatch, total biomass, or other factors); “(B) sale of fish caught during commercial, recreational, or charter fishing, consistent with any applicable Federal and State safety and quality requirements; and “(C) transshipment or transportation of fish or fish products under permits issued pursuant to section 204;”; (2) by striking “system for limiting access to” in paragraph (6) and inserting “limited access system for”; 110 STAT. 3576 (3) by striking “fishery” in subparagraph (E) of paragraph (6) and inserting “fishery and any affected fishing communities”; (4) by inserting “one or more” in paragraph (8) after “require that”; (5) by striking “and” at the end of paragraph (9); (6) by redesignating paragraph (10) as paragraph (12); and (7) by inserting after paragraph (9) the following: “(10) include, consistent with the other provisions of this Act, conservation and management measures that provide harvest incentives for participants within each gear group to employ fishing practices that result in lower levels of bycatch or in lower levels of the mortality of bycatch; “(11) reserve a portion of the allowable biological catch of the fishery for use in scientific research; and”. (d) Regulations.—Section 303 (16 U.S.C. 1853) is amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following: “(c) Proposed Regulations.—Proposed regulations which the Council deems necessary or appropriate for the purposes of— “(1) implementing a fishery management plan or plan amendment shall be submitted to the Secretary simultaneously with the plan or amendment under section 304; and “(2) making modifications to regulations implementing a fishery management plan or plan amendment may be submitted to the Secretary at any time after the plan or amendment is approved under section 304”. (e) Individual Fishing Quotas.—Subsection 303 (16 U.S.C. 1853) is amended further by striking subsections (d), (e), and (f), and inserting the following: “(d) Individual Fishing Quotas.— “(1)(A) A Council may not submit and the Secretary may not approve or implement before October 1, 2000, any fishery management plan, plan amendment, or regulation under this Act which creates a new individual fishing quota program. “(B) Any fishery management plan, plan amendment, or regulation approved by the Secretary on or after January 4, 1995, which creates any new individual fishing quota program shall be repealed and immediately returned by the Secretary to the appropriate Council and shall not be resubmitted, reapproved, or implemented during the moratorium set forth in subparagraph (A). “(2)(A) No provision of law shall be construed to limit the authority of a Council to submit and the Secretary to approve the termination or limitation, without compensation to holders of any limited access system permits, of a fishery management plan, plan amendment, or regulation that provides for a limited access system, including an individual fishing quota program. “(B) This subsection shall not be construed to prohibit a Council from submitting, or the Secretary from approving and implementing, amendments to the North Pacific halibut and sablefish, South Atlantic wreckfish, or Mid-Atlantic surf clam and ocean (including mahogany) quahog individual fishing quota programs. “(3) An individual fishing quota or other limited access system authorization— 110 STAT. 3577 “(A) shall be considered a permit for the purposes of sections 307, 308, and 309; “(B) may be revoked or limited at any time in accordance with this Act; “(C) shall not confer any right of compensation to the holder of such individual fishing quota or other such limited access system authorization if it is revoked or limited; and “(D) shall not create, or be construed to create, any right, title, or interest in or to any fish before the fish is harvested. “(4)(A) A Council may submit, and the Secretary may approve and implement, a program which reserves up to 25 percent of any fees collected from a fishery under section 304(d)(2) to be used, pursuant to section 1104A(a)(7) of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (46 U.S.C. App. 1274(a)(7)), to issue obligations that aid in financing the— “(i) purchase of individual fishing quotas in that fishery by fishermen who fish from small vessels; and “(ii) first-time purchase of individual fishing quotas in that fishery by entry level fishermen. “(B) A Council making a submission under subparagraph (A) shall recommend criteria, consistent with the provisions of this Act, that a fisherman must meet to qualify for guarantees under clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) and the portion of funds to be allocated for guarantees under each clause. “(5) In submitting and approving any new individual fishing quota program on or after October 1, 2000, the Councils and the Secretary shall consider the report of the National Academy of Sciences required under section 108(f) of the Sustainable Fisheries Act, and any recommendations contained in such report, and shall ensure that any such program— “(A) establishes procedures and requirements for the review and revision of the terms of any such program (including any revisions that may be necessary once a national policy with respect to individual fishing quota programs is implemented), and, if appropriate, for the renewal, reallocation, or reissuance of individual fishing quotas; “(B) provides for the effective enforcement and management of any such program, including adequate observer coverage, and for fees under section 304(d)(2) to recover actual costs directly related to such enforcement and management; and “(C) provides for a fair and equitable initial allocation of individual fishing quotas, prevents any person from acquiring an excessive share of the individual fishing quotas issued, and considers the allocation of a portion of the annual harvest in the fishery for entry-level fishermen, small vessel owners, and crew members who do not hold or qualify for individual fishing quotas.”. (f) Individual Fishing Quota Report.—(1)Not later than October 1, 1998, the National Academy of Sciences, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the Regional Fishery Management Councils, shall submit to the Congress a comprehensive final report on individual fishing quotas, which shall include rec-110 STAT. 3578ommendations to implement a national policy with respect to individual fishing quotas. The report shall address all aspects of such quotas, including an analysis of— (A) the effects of limiting or prohibiting the transferability of such quotas; (B) mechanisms to prevent foreign control of the harvest of United States fisheries under individual fishing quota programs, including mechanisms to prohibit persons who are not eligible to be deemed a citizen of the United States for the purpose of operating a vessel in the coastwise trade under section 2(a) and section 2(c) of the Shipping Act, 1916 (46 U.S.C. 802 (a) and (c)) from holding individual fishing quotas; (C) the impact of limiting the duration of individual fishing quota programs; (D) the impact of authorizing Federal permits to process a quantity of fish that correspond to individual fishing quotas, and of the value created for recipients of any such permits, including a comparison of such value to the value of the corresponding individual fishing quotas; (E) mechanisms to provide for diversity and to minimize adverse social and economic impacts on fishing communities, other fisheries affected by the displacement of vessels, and any impacts associated with the shifting of capital value from fishing vessels to individual fishing quotas, as well as the use of capital construction funds to purchase individual fishing quotas; (F) mechanisms to provide for effective monitoring and enforcement, including the inspection of fish harvested and incentives to reduce bycatch, and in particular economic discards; (G) threshold criteria for determining whether a fishery may be considered for individual fishing quota management, including criteria related to the geographical range, population dynamics and condition of a fish stock, the socioeconomic characteristics of a fishery (including participants’ involvement in multiple fisheries in the region), and participation by commercial, charter, and recreational fishing sectors in the fishery; (H) mechanisms to ensure that vessel owners, vessel masters, crew members, and United States fish processors are treated fairly and equitably in initial allocations, to require persons holding individual fishing quotas to be on board the vessel using such quotas, and to facilitate new entry under individual fishing quota programs; (I) potential social and economic costs and benefits to the nation, individual fishing quota recipients, and any recipients of Federal permits described in subparagraph (D) under individual fishing quota programs, including from capital gains revenue, the allocation of such quotas or permits through Federal auctions, annual fees and transfer fees at various levels, or other measures; (J) the value created for recipients of individual fishing quotas, including a comparison of such value to the value of the fish harvested under such quotas and to the value of permits created by other types of limited access systems, and the effects of creating such value on fishery management and conservation; and 110 STAT. 3579 (K) such other matters as the National Academy of Sciences deems appropriate. (2) The report shall include a detailed analysis of individual fishing quota programs already implemented in the United States, including the impacts: of any limits on transferability, on past and present participants, on fishing communities, on the rate and total amount of bycatch (including economic and regulatory discards) in the fishery, on the safety of life and vessels in the fishery, on any excess harvesting or processing capacity in the fishery, on any gear conflicts in the fishery, on product quality from the fishery, on the effectiveness of enforcement in the fishery, on the size and composition of fishing vessel fleets, on the economic value created by individual fishing quotas for initial recipients and non-recipients, on conservation of the fishery resource, on fishermen who rely on participation in several fisheries, on the success in meeting any fishery management plan goals, and the fairness and effectiveness of the methods used for allocating quotas and controlling transferability. The report shall also include any information about individual fishing quota programs in other countries that may be useful. (3) The report shall identify and analyze alternative conservation and management measures, including other limited access systems such as individual transferable effort systems, that could accomplish the same objectives as individual fishing quota programs, as well as characteristics that are unique to individual fishing quota programs. (4) The Secretary of Commerce shall, in consultation with the National Academy of Sciences, the Councils, the fishing industry, affected States, conservation organizations and other interested persons, establish two individual fishing quota review groups to assist in the preparation of the report, which shall represent: (A) Alaska, Hawaii, and the other Pacific coastal States; and (B) Atlantic coastal States and the Gulf of Mexico coastal States. The Secretary shall, to the extent practicable, achieve a balanced representation of viewpoints among the individuals on each review group. The review groups shall be deemed to be advisory panels under section 302(g) of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act, as amended by this Act. (5) The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the National Academy of Sciences and the Councils, shall conduct public hearings in each Council region to obtain comments on individual fishing quotas for use by the National Academy of Sciences in preparing the report required by this subsection. The National Academy of Sciences shall submit a draft report to the Secretary of Commerce by January 1, 1998. The Secretary of Commerce shall publish in the Federal Register a notice and opportunity for public comment on the draft of the report, or any revision thereof. A detailed summary of comments received and views presented at the hearings, including any dissenting views, shall be included by the National Academy of Sciences in the final report. (6) Section 210 of Public Law 104–134 is hereby repealed. (g) North Pacific Loan Program.—(1) By not later than October 1, 1997 the North Pacific Fishery Management Council hall recommend to the Secretary of Commerce a program which 110 STAT. 3580uses the full amount of fees authorized to be used under section 303(d)(4) of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act, as amended by this Act, in the halibut and sablefish fisheries off Alaska to guarantee obligations in accordance with such section. (2)(A) For the purposes of this subsection, the phrase “fishermen who fish from small vessels” in section 303(d)(4)(A)(i) of such Act shall mean fishermen wishing to purchase individual fishing quotas for use from Category B, Category C, or Category D vessels, as defined in part 676.20(c) of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations (as revised as of October 1, 1995), whose aggregate ownership of individual fishing quotas will not exceed the equivalent of a total of 50,000 pounds of halibut and sablefish harvested in the fishing year in which a guarantee application is made if the guarantee is approved, who will participate aboard the fishing vessel in the harvest of fish caught under such quotas, who have at least 150 days of experience working as part of the harvesting crew in any United States commercial fishery, and who do not own in whole or in part any Category A or Category B vessel, as defined in such part and title of the Code of Federal Regulations. (B) For the purposes of this subsection, the phrase “entry level fishermen” in section 303(d)(4)(A)(ii) of such Act shall mean fishermen who do not own any individual fishing quotas, who wish to obtain the equivalent of not more than a total of 8,000 pounds of halibut and sablefish harvested in the fishing year in which a guarantee application is made, and who will participate aboard the fishing vessel in the harvest of fish caught under such quotas. (h) Community Development Quota Report.—Not later than October 1, 1998, the National Academy of Sciences, in consultation with the Secretary, the North Pacific and Western Pacific Councils, communities and organizations participating in the program, participants in affected fisheries, and the affected States, shall submit to the Secretary of Commerce and Congress a comprehensive report on the performance and effectiveness of the community development quota programs under the authority of the North Pacific and Western Pacific Councils. The report shall— (1) evaluate the extent to which such programs have met the objective of providing communities with the means to develop ongoing commercial fishing activities; (2) evaluate the manner and extent to which such programs have resulted in the communities and residents— (A) receiving employment opportunities in commercial fishing and processing; and (B) obtaining the capital necessary to invest in commercial fishing, fish processing, and commercial fishing support projects (including infrastructure to support commercial fishing); (3) evaluate the social and economic conditions in the participating communities and the extent to which alternative private sector employment opportunities exist; (4) evaluate the economic impacts on participants in the affected fisheries, taking into account the condition of the fishery resource, the market, and other relevant factors; (5) recommend a proposed schedule for accomplishing the developmental purposes of community development quotas; and (6) address such other matters as the National Academy of Sciences deems appropriate. 110 STAT. 3581 (i) Existing Quota Plans.—Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed to require a reallocation of individual fishing quotas under any individual fishing quota program approved by the Secretary before January 4, 1995.