Pub. L. 108-7, div. B, tit. II, sec. 212

Sec. 212. (a) The Secretary of Commerce shall implement a fishing capacity reduction program for the West Coast groundfish fishery pursuant to section 212 of Public Law 107–206 and 16 U.S.C. 1861a (b)–(e); except that the program may apply to multiple fisheries; except that within 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall publish a public notice in the Federal Register and issue an invitation to bid for reduction payments that specifies the contractual terms and conditions under which bids shall h e made and accepted under this section; except that section 144(d)(1)(K)(3) of title I, division B of Public Law 106–554 shall apply to the program implemented by this section.(b) A reduction fishery is eligible for capacity reduction under the program implemented under this section; except that no vessel harvesting and processing whiting in the catcher-processors sector (section 19 660.323(a)(4)(A) of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations) may participate in any capacity reduction referendum or industry fee established under this section.(c) A referendum on the industry fee system shall occur after bids have been submitted, and such bids have been accepted by the Secretary, as follows: members of the reduction fishery, and persons who have been issued Washington, Oregon, or California Dungeness crab and Pink shrimp permits, shall be eligible to vote in the referendum to approve an industry fee system; referendum votes cast in each fishery shall be weighted in proportion to the debt obligation of each fishery, as calculated in subsection (f) of this section; the industry fee system shall be approved if the referendum votes cast in favor of the proposed system constitute a simple majority of the participants voting; except that notwithstanding 5 U.S.C. 553 and 16 U.S.C. 1861a(e), the Secretary shall not prepare or publish proposed or final regulations for the implementation of the program under this section before the referendum is conducted.(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Pacific Fishery Management Council from recommending, or the Secretary from approving, changes to any fishery management plan, in accordance with applicable law; or the Secretary from promulgating regulations (including regulations governing this program), after an industry fee system has been approved by the reduction fisher y.117 STAT. 81(e) The Secretary shall determine, and state in the public notice published under paragraph (a), all program implementation aspects the Secretary deems relevant.(f) Any bid submitted in response to the invitation to bid issued by the Secretary under this section shall be irrevocable; the Secretary shall use a bid acceptance procedure that ranks each bid in accordance with this paragraph and with additional criteria, if any, established by the Secretary: for each bid from a qualified bidder that meets the bidding requirements in the public notice or the invitation to bid, the Secretary shall determine a bid score by dividing the bid’s dollar amount by the average annual total ex-vessel dollar value of landings of Pacific groundfish, Dungeness crab, and Pink shrimp based on the 3 highest total annual revenues earned from such stocks that the bidder’s reduction vessel landed during 1998, 1999, 2000, or 2001. For purposes of this paragraph, the term “total annual revenue” means the revenue earned in a single year from such stocks. The Secretary shall accept each qualified bid in rank order of bid score from the lowest to the highest until acceptance of the next qualified bid with the next lowest bid score would cause the reduction cost to exceed the reduction loan’s maximum amount. Acceptance of a bid by the Secretary shall create a binding reduction contract between the United States and the person whose bid is accepted, the performance of which shall be subject only to the conclusion of a successful referendum, except that a person whose bid is accepted by the Secretary under this section shall relinquish all permits in the reduction fishery and any Dungeness crab and Pink shrimp permits issued by Washington, Oregon, or California; except that the Secretary shall revoke the Pacific groundfish permit, as well as all Federal fishery licenses, fishery permits, area, and species endorsements, and any other fishery privileges issued to a vessel or vessels (or to persons on the basis of their operation or ownership of that vessel or vessels) removed under the program.(g) The Secretary shall establish separate reduction loan sub-amounts and repayment fees for fish sellers in the reduction fishery and for fish sellers in each of the fee-share fisheries by dividing the total ex-vessel dollar value during the bid scoring period of all reduction vessel landings from the reduction fishery and from each of the fee-share fisheries by the total such value of all such landings for all such fisheries; and multiplying the reduction loan amount by each of the quotients resulting from each of the divisions above. Each of the resulting products shall be the reduction loan sub-amount for the reduction fishery and for each of the fee-share fisheries to which each of such products pertains; except that, each fish seller in the reduction fishery and in each of the fee-share fisheries shall pay the fees required by the reduction loan sub-amounts allocated to it under this paragraph; except that, the Secretary may enter into agreements with Washington, Oregon, and California to collect any fees established under this paragraph.(h) Notwithstanding 46 U.S.C. App. 1279(b)(4), the reduction loan’s term shall not be less than 30 years.(i) It is the sense of the Congress that the States of Washington, Oregon, and California should revoke all relinquishment permits in each of the fee-share fisheries immediately after reduction payment, and otherwise to implement appropriate State fisheries management and conservation provisions in each of the fee-share fisheries that establishes a program that meets the requirements 117 STAT. 82 of 16 U.S.C. 141861a(b)(1)(B) as if it were applicable to fee-share fisheries.(j) The term “fee-share fishery” means a fishery, other than the reduction fishery, whose members are eligible to vote in a referendum for an industry fee system under paragraph (c). The term “reduction fishery” means that portion of a fishery holding limited entry fishing permits endorsed for the operation of trawl gear and issued under the Federal Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan.