16 U.S.C. § 1826 : US Code - Section 1826: Large-scale driftnet fishing

Search 16 U.S.C. § 1826 : US Code - Section 1826: Large-scale driftnet fishing

(a) Short title
This section incorporates and expands upon provisions of the
Driftnet Impact Monitoring, Assessment, and Control Act of 1987 and
may be cited as the "Driftnet Act Amendments of 1990".
(b) Findings
The Congress finds that -
(1) the continued widespread use of large-scale driftnets
beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation is a destructive
fishing practice that poses a threat to living marine resources
of the world's oceans, including but not limited to the North and
South Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea;
(2) the use of large-scale driftnets is expanding into new
regions of the world's oceans, including the Atlantic Ocean and
Caribbean Sea;
(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;
(4) increased efforts, including reliable observer data and
enforcement mechanisms, are needed to monitor, assess, control,
and reduce the adverse impact of large-scale driftnet fishing on
living marine resources;
(5) the nations of the world have agreed in the United Nations,
through General Assembly Resolution Numbered 44-225, approved
December 22, 1989, by the General Assembly, that a moratorium
should be imposed by June 30, 1992, on the use of large-scale
driftnets beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation;
(6) the nations of the South Pacific have agreed to a
moratorium on the use of large-scale driftnets in the South
Pacific through the Convention for the Prohibition of Fishing
with Long Driftnets in the South Pacific, which was agreed to in
Wellington, New Zealand, on November 29, 1989; and
(7) increasing population pressures and new knowledge of the
importance of living marine resources to the health of the global
ecosystem demand that greater responsibility be exercised by
persons fishing or developing new fisheries beyond the exclusive
economic zone of any nation.
(c) Policy
It is declared to be the policy of the Congress in this section
that the United States should -
(1) implement the moratorium called for by the United Nations
General Assembly in Resolution Numbered 44-225;
(2) support the Tarawa Declaration and the Wellington
Convention for the Prohibition of Fishing with Long Driftnets in
the South Pacific; and
(3) secure a permanent ban on the use of destructive fishing
practices, and in particular large-scale driftnets, by persons or
vessels fishing beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation.
(d) International agreements
The Secretary, through the Secretary of State and the Secretary
of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, shall seek
to secure international agreements to implement immediately the
findings, policy, and provisions of this section, and in particular
an international ban on large-scale driftnet fishing. The
Secretary, through the Secretary of State, shall include, in any
agreement which addresses the taking of living marine resources of
the United States, provisions to ensure that -
(1) each large-scale driftnet fishing vessel of a foreign
nation that is party to the agreement, including vessels that may
operate independently to develop new fishing areas, which operate
beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation, is included in
such agreement;
(2) each large-scale driftnet fishing vessel of a foreign
nation that is party to the agreement, which operates beyond the
exclusive economic zone of any nation, is equipped with satellite
transmitters which provide real-time position information
accessible to the United States;
(3) statistically reliable monitoring by the United States is
carried out, through the use of on-board observers or through
dedicated platforms provided by foreign nations that are parties
to the agreement, of all target and nontarget fish species,
marine mammals, sea turtles, and sea birds entangled or killed by
large-scale driftnets used by fishing vessels of foreign nations
that are parties to the agreement;
(4) officials of the United States have the right to board and
inspect for violations of the agreement any large-scale driftnet
fishing vessels operating under the flag of a foreign nation that
is party to the agreement at any time while such vessel is
operating in designated areas beyond the exclusive economic zone
of any nation;
(5) all catch landed or transshipped at sea by large-scale
driftnet fishing vessels of a foreign nation that is a party to
the agreement, and which are operated beyond the exclusive
economic zone of any nation, is reliably monitored and
documented;
(6) time and area restrictions are imposed on the use of large-
scale driftnets in order to prevent interception of anadromous
species;
(7) all large-scale driftnets used are constructed, insofar as
feasible, with biodegradable materials which break into segments
that do not represent a threat to living marine resources;
(8) all large-scale driftnets are marked at appropriate
intervals in a manner that conclusively identifies the vessel and
flag nation responsible for each such driftnet;
(9) the taking of nontarget fish species, marine mammals, sea
turtles, seabirds, and endangered species or other species
protected by international agreements to which the United States
is a party is minimized and does not pose a threat to existing
fisheries or the long-term health of living marine resources; and
(10) definitive steps are agreed upon to ensure that parties to
the agreement comply with the spirit of other international
agreements and resolutions concerning the use of large-scale
driftnets beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation.
(e) Report
Not later than January 1, 1991, and every year thereafter until
the purposes of this section are met, the Secretary, after
consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the
department in which the Coast Guard is operating, shall submit to
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the
Senate and the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries of the
House of Representatives a report -
(1) describing the steps taken to carry out the provisions of
this section, particularly subsection (c) of this section;
(2) evaluating the progress of those efforts, the impacts on
living marine resources, including available observer data, and
specifying plans for further action;
(3) containing a list and description of any new fisheries
developed by nations that conduct, or authorize their nationals
to conduct, large-scale driftnet fishing beyond the exclusive
economic zone of any nation; and
(4) containing a list of the nations that conduct, or authorize
their nationals to conduct, large-scale driftnet fishing beyond
the exclusive economic zone of any nation in a manner that
diminishes the effectiveness of or is inconsistent with any
international agreement governing large-scale driftnet fishing to
which the United States is a party or otherwise subscribes.
(f) Certification
If at any time the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary
of State and the Secretary of the department in which the Coast
Guard is operating, identifies any nation that warrants inclusion
in the list described under subsection (e)(4) of this section, the
Secretary shall certify that fact to the President. Such
certification shall be deemed to be a certification for the
purposes of section 1978(a) of title 22.
(g) Effect on sovereign rights
This section shall not serve or be construed to expand or
diminish the sovereign rights of the United States, as stated by
Presidential Proclamation Numbered 5030, dated March 10, 1983, and
reflected in this chapter or other existing law.
(h) "Living marine resources" defined
As used in this section, the term "living marine resources"
includes fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds and other
waterfowl.