Magnuson-Stevens Act 2007

It is unlawful— 99-659, 101-224, 101-627, 102-251, 104-297, 106-557, 109-479 (1) for any person— (G) to ship, transport, offer for sale, sell, purchase, import, export, or have custody, control, or possession of, any fish taken or retained in violation of this Act or any regulation, permit, or agreement referred to in subparagraph (A) or (C);

Any fishery management plan which is prepared by any Council, or by the Secretary, with respect to any fishery, may-- (3) establish specified limitations which are necessary and appropriate for the conservation and management of the fishery on the— (B) sale of fish caught during commercial, recreational, or charter fishing, consistent with any applicable Federal and State safety and quality requirements;

It is unlawful— 99-659, 101-224, 101-627, 102-251, 104-297, 106-557, 109-479 (1) for any person— (P)(i) to remove any of the fins of a shark (including the tail) and discard the carcass of the shark at sea; (ii) to have custody, control, or possession of any such fin aboard a fishing vessel without the corresponding carcass; or (iii) to land any such fin without the corresponding carcass;

(12) International cooperation is necessary to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and other fishing practices which may harm the sustainability of living marine resources and disadvantage the United States fishing industry. (b) PURPOSES.—It is therefore declared to be the purposes of the Congress in this Act— 99-659, 101-627, 102-251 (2) to support and encourage the implementation and enforcement of international fishery agreements for the conservation and management of highly migratory species, and to encourage the negotiation and implementation of additional such agreements as necessary;

The Congress finds that— (3) there is a pressing need for detailed and reliable information on the number of seabirds, sea turtles, nontarget fish, and marine mammals that become entangled and die in actively fished large-scale driftnets and in large-scale driftnets that are lost, abandoned, or discarded;

Any fishery management plan prepared by a Council or by the Secretary may establish a system of incentives to reduce total bycatch and seabird interactions, amounts, bycatch rates, and post-release mortality in fisheries under the Council’s or Secretary’s jurisdiction, including— (3) measures that, based on the best scientific information available, will reduce bycatch and seabird interactions, bycatch mortality, post-release mortality, or regulatory discards in the fishery.

(2) The foreign nation, and the owner or operator of any fishing vessel fishing pursuant to such agreement, will abide by the requirement that— (D) United States observers required under subsection (h) be permitted to be stationed aboard any such vessel and that all of the costs incurred incident to such stationing, including the costs of data editing and entry and observer monitoring, be paid for, in accordance with such subsection, by the owner or operator of the vessel; Magnuson-Stevens Act 2007 97-453 (6) If at any time the requirement set forth in paragraph (1) cannot be met because of insufficient appropriations, the Secretary shall, in implementing a supplementary observer program: (A) certify as observers, for the purposes of this subsection, individuals who are citizens or nationals of the United States and who have the requisite education or experience to carry out the functions referred to in paragraph (3);

(1) (A) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall establish a program under which a United States observer will be stationed aboard each foreign fishing vessel while that vessel is engaged in fishing within the exclusive economic zone [or special areas]*

(1) AUTHORITY TO ISSUE PERMITS.—The Secretary may issue a transshipment permit under this subsection which authorizes a vessel other than a vessel of the United States to engage in fishing consisting solely of transporting fish or fish products at sea from a point within the exclusive economic zone or, with the concurrence of a State, within the boundaries of that State, to a point outside the United States to any person who— (A) submits an application which is approved by the Secretary under paragraph (3); and (B) pays a fee imposed under paragraph (7).

(7) ESTABLISHMENT OF CONDITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS.—The Secretary shall establish conditions and restrictions which shall be included in each permit issued pursuant to any application approved under paragraph (6) or subsection (d) and which must be complied with by the owner or operator of the fishing vessel for which the permit is issued

95-354, 99-659, 102-251, 104-297 (c)(1) The foreign nation, and the owner or operator of any fishing vessel fishing pursuant to such agreement, will abide by all regulations promulgated by the Secretary pursuant to this Act, including any regulations promulgated to implement any applicable fishery management plan or any preliminary fishery management plan.

(b) FISHING VESSEL REGISTRATION.—The proposed registration system should, at a minimum, obtain the following information for each fishing vessel— (1) the name and official number or other identification, together with the name and address of the owner or operator or both; (2) gross tonnage, vessel capacity, type and quantity of fishing gear, mode of operation (catcher, catcher processor, or other), and such other pertinent information with respect to vessel characteristics as the Secretary may require; and (3) identification (by species, gear type, geographic area of operations, and season) of the fisheries in which the fishing vessel participates.

LIMITED ACCESS PRIVILEGE PROGRAMS (b) NO CREATION OF RIGHT, TITLE, OR INTEREST.—Limited access privilege, quota share, or other limited access system authorization established, implemented, or managed under this Act— (1) shall be considered a permit for the purposes of sections 307, 308, and 309; (2) may be revoked, limited, or modified at any time in accordance with this Act, including revocation if the system is found to have jeopardized the sustainability of the stock or the safety of fishermen;

(f) CHARACTERISTICS.—A limited access privilege established after the date of enactment of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 is a permit issued for a period of not more than 10 years that— (2) will be revoked, limited, or modified if the holder is found by the Secretary, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing under section 554 of title 5, United States Code, to have failed to comply with any term of the plan identified in the plan as cause for revocation, limitation, or modification of a permit, which may include conservation requirements established under the plan;

16 U.S.C. 1853a MSA § 303A (f) CHARACTERISTICS.—A limited access privilege established after the date of enactment of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 is a permit issued for a period of not more than 10 years that— (3) may be revoked, limited, or modified if the holder is found by the Secretary, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing under section 554 of title 5, United States Code, to have committed an act prohibited by section 307 of this Act;

95-354, 99-659, 101-627, 104-297 (a) REQUIRED PROVISIONS.—Any fishery management plan which is prepared by any Council, or by the Secretary, with respect to any fishery, shall— (1) contain the conservation and management measures, applicable to foreign fishing and fishing by vessels of the United States, which are— (C) consistent with the national standards, the other provisions of this Act, regulations implementing recommendations by international organizations in which the United States participates (including but not limited to closed areas, quotas, and size limits), and any other applicable law;

SEC. 608. The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of State, and in cooperation with relevant fishery management councils and any relevant advisory committees, shall take actions to improve the effectiveness of international fishery management organizations in conserving and managing fish stocks under their jurisdiction. These actions shall include— (1) urging international fishery management organizations to which the United States is a member— (D) to increase use of observers and technologies needed to monitor compliance with conservation and management measures established by the organization, including vessel monitoring systems and automatic identification systems;

P.L. 109-479, sec. 208 (b) PURPOSES.—Subject to the allocation of funds described in subsection (d), amounts in the Fund shall be available to the Secretary of Commerce, without appropriation or fiscal year limitation, to disburse as described in subsection (e) for— (1) efforts to improve fishery harvest data collection including— (A) expanding the use of electronic catch reporting programs and technology; and (B) improvement of monitoring and observer coverage through the expanded use of electronic monitoring devices and satellite tracking systems such as VMS on small vessels;