NORTH PACIFIC AND NORTHWEST ATLANTIC OCEAN FISHERIES.

SEC. 117. NORTH PACIFIC AND NORTHWEST ATLANTIC OCEAN FISHERIES. (a) North Pacific Fisheries Conservation.—Section 313 (16 U.S.C. 1862) is amended— (1) by striking “RESEARCH PLAN” in the section heading and inserting “CONSERVATION”; (2) in subsection (a) by striking “North Pacific Fishery Management Council” and inserting “North Pacific Council”; and (3) by adding at the end the following: “(f) Bycatch Reduction.—In implementing section 303(a)(11) and this section, the North Pacific Council shall submit conservation and management measures to lower, on an annual basis for a period of not less than four years, the total amount of economic discards occurring in the fisheries under its jurisdiction. “(g) Bycatch Reduction Incentives.—(1) Notwithstanding section 304(d), the North Pacific Council may submit, and the Secretary may approve, consistent with the provisions of this Act, a system of fines in a fishery to provide incentives to reduce bycatch and bycatch rates; except that such fines shall not exceed $25,000 per vessel per season. Any fines collected shall be deposited in the North Pacific Fishery Observer Fund, and may be made available by the Secretary to offset costs related to the reduction of bycatch in the fishery from which such fines were derived, including conservation and management measures and research, and to the State of Alaska to offset costs incurred by the State in the fishery from which such penalties were derived or in fisheries in which the State is directly involved in management or enforcement and which are directly affected by the fishery from which such penalties were derived. 110 STAT. 3604 “(2)(A) Notwithstanding section 303(d), and in addition to the authority provided in section 303(b)(10), the North Pacific Council may submit, and the Secretary may approve, conservation and management measures which provide allocations of regulatory discards to individual fishing vessels as an incentive to reduce per vessel bycatch and bycatch rates in a fishery, Provided, That— “(i) such allocations may not be transferred for monetary consideration and are made only on an annual basis; and “(ii) any such conservation and management measures will meet the requirements of subsection (h) and will result in an actual reduction in regulatory discards in the fishery. “(B) The North Pacific Council may submit restrictions in addition to the restriction imposed by clause (i) of subparagraph (A) on the transferability of any such allocations, and the Secretary may approve such recommendation. “(h) Catch Measurement.—(1) By June 1, 1997 the North Pacific Council shall submit, and the Secretary may approve, consistent with the other provisions of this Act, conservation and management measures to ensure total catch measurement in each fishery under the jurisdiction of such Council. Such measures shall ensure the accurate enumeration, at a minimum, of target species, economic discards, and regulatory discards. “(2) To the extent the measures submitted under paragraph (1) do not require United States fish processors and fish processing vessels (as defined in chapter 21 of title 46, United States Code) to weigh fish, the North Pacific Council and the Secretary shall submit a plan to the Congress by January 1, 1998, to allow for weighing, including recommendations to assist such processors and processing vessels in acquiring necessary equipment, unless the Council determines that such weighing is not necessary to meet the requirements of this subsection. “(i) Full Retention and Utilization.—(1) The North Pacific Council shall submit to the Secretary by October 1, 1998 a report on the advisability of requiring the full retention by fishing vessels and full utilization by United States fish processors of economic discards in fisheries under its jurisdiction if such economic discards, or the mortality of such economic discards, cannot be avoided. The report shall address the projected impacts of such requirements on participants in the fishery and describe any full retention and full utilization requirements that have been implemented. “(2) The report shall address the advisability of measures to minimize processing waste, including standards setting minimum percentages which must be processed for human consumption. For the purpose of the report, ‘processing waste’ means that portion of any fish which is processed and which could be used for human consumption or other commercial use, but which is not so used.”. (b) Northwest Atlantic Ocean Fisheries.—Section 314 (16 U.S.C. 1863) is amended by striking “1997” in subsection (a)(4) and inserting “1999”.