[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8788 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8788
To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
to establish the Fisheries and Ecological Resilience Program and to
direct the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to
Congress a report on the competitiveness of domestic seafood producers
in domestic and global seafood trade.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 18, 2024
Mrs. Peltola introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on
Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
to establish the Fisheries and Ecological Resilience Program and to
direct the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to
Congress a report on the competitiveness of domestic seafood producers
in domestic and global seafood trade.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fisheries Improvement and Seafood
Health Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. RESILIENT FISHERIES.
(a) Fisheries and Ecological Resilience Program.--Section 305 of
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C.
1855) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(l) Fisheries and Ecological Resilience Program.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary, acting through the
Director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, shall
establish a program in the National Marine Fisheries Service to
be known as the `Fisheries and Ecological Resilience Program'
(referred to in this subsection as the `Program').
``(2) Director.--The Secretary, acting through the Director
of the National Marine Fisheries Service, shall appoint a
senior official of the National Marine Fisheries Service to
serve as the director of the Program (referred to in this
subsection as the `Program Director').
``(3) Mission.--The mission of the Program shall be to--
``(A) advance ocean and ecosystem understanding and
modeling to project future ocean conditions and to
inform fishery management;
``(B) assess the current and anticipated impacts
from, and vulnerability of, stocks of fish to changing
environmental and ecological conditions;
``(C) assess the anticipated impacts to coastal
communities, economies, and traditional ways of life
due to changing fishing and marine ecosystem
conditions;
``(D) develop innovative, science-based tools,
processes, and decision support systems for meeting
conservation and management standards under this Act in
response to changing environmental and ecological
conditions;
``(E) engage with and educate fishers, fishing
communities, State, local, Tribal, and community
leaders, and others on future ocean conditions and the
impacts of changing environmental and ecological
conditions on fisheries;
``(F) create and provide tools, training, and
support to Councils for management of and adaptation to
changing ecosystems and fisheries; and
``(G) coordinate across the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and other relevant agencies
to increase synergies and streamline efforts to better
understand and model changing ocean ecosystems and
increase fishery resilience.
``(4) Responsibilities.--The Program Director shall be
responsible for carrying out activities to implement the
mission in paragraph (3), including by--
``(A) conducting cooperative research with fishers,
communities, academic institutions, nongovernmental
organizations, and other interest parties on changing
ecological and environmental conditions and impacts to
stocks of fish and other marine resources;
``(B) coordinating across the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration to produce and collate
information about ocean and ecosystem modeling,
forecasts, and projections for fishery management
purposes;
``(C) communicating to fishers, fishing
communities, and the public about the risks posed by
changing ecological and environmental conditions to the
conservation and management of stocks of fish and other
marine resources;
``(D) conducting assessments to determine the
vulnerability of stocks of fish to impacts from
changing ecological and environmental conditions;
``(E) identifying and improving existing processes
and structures to incorporate ecological and
environmental information into management of stocks of
fish;
``(F) identifying gaps where innovative management
processes can be developed to facilitate incorporation
of rapidly changing ecological and environmental
information;
``(G) piloting innovative tools and approaches to
increase the adaptive capacity of fisheries managers to
the impacts of changing ecological and environmental
conditions on stocks of fish;
``(H) providing the Councils with assessments and
guidance on management actions and structured processes
to increase the resilience of stocks of fish identified
as vulnerable to impacts from changing ecological and
environmental conditions;
``(I) incorporating qualitative data, lived
experiences, and priorities of fishers, communities,
and other interested parties in initiatives to increase
the resilience of stocks of fish and the communities
that rely on them to changing ecological and
environmental conditions;
``(J) communicating frequently with and creating
opportunities for cross-regional collaboration and
learning among Councils and regional offices and
regional science centers of the National Marine
Fisheries Service;
``(K) collaborating with the National Ocean
Service, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric
Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Cooperative Institutes, the Integrated
Ocean Observing System Regional Associations, and
others to maintain a comprehensive digital database of
ecological and environmental information relevant to
fisheries and marine ecosystems, including regional
ocean model outputs, ecosystem projections, and other
data and information;
``(L) conducting a cross-agency assessment to avoid
redundancies and consolidate fishery resilience efforts
and ecosystem modeling under the Program; and
``(M) compiling information and analyzing progress
made to implement management measures to increase
resilience to changing ecological and environmental
conditions and respond to shifting populations of
stocks of fish and changing productivity.
``(5) Coordination.--The mission of the Program and the
activities of the Program Director shall be carried out in
coordination with other offices of the National Marine
Fisheries Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, the Councils and respective advisory panels,
fishers, academic institutions, nongovernmental organizations,
and other interested parties.
``(6) Staff.--In carrying out the requirements of this
subsection, the Program Director shall--
``(A) appoint full- and part-time employees;
``(B) establish a regional ocean modeling and
prediction coordination team to fund partnerships with
relevant experts across the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, regional science centers,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Cooperative Institutes, Integrated Ocean Observing
System Regional Associations, and others to produce and
deliver coordinated regional forecasts, projections,
and other resources to improve regional understand and
forecasting of ecosystem changes as needed to inform
fishery management decisions; and
``(C) establish management and decision support
teams that will support the Councils by utilizing the
information produced by the teams authorized in
subparagraph (B) for developing assessments and
guidance on management actions to increase the
resilience of stocks of fish vulnerable to impacts from
changing ecological and environmental conditions.
``(7) Report to congress.--Not later than 2 years after the
date of the enactment of the Fisheries Improvement and Seafood
Health Act of 2024, and every 2 years thereafter during the
period in which appropriations are authorized for the Program
under paragraph (8), the Program Director shall submit to
Congress a report on actions taken to fulfill the requirements
of this subsection.
``(8) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this
subsection $30,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2025
through 2030.''.
(b) Council Training Program.--Section 302(k)(1) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1852(k)(1))
is amended--
(1) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) through (H) as
subparagraphs (D) through (I), respectively;
(2) by redesignating subparagraph (I) as subparagraph (K);
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
``(C) relevant impacts from changing environmental
and ecological conditions on fisheries health, range,
and other factors that would affect the conservation
and management of a stock of fish;'';
(4) by striking ``and'' after the semicolon at the end of
subparagraph (I), as so redesignated; and
(5) by inserting after subparagraph (I), as so
redesignated, the following:
``(J) ecosystem-based fishery management; and''.
(c) Fisheries Research.--Section 404 of the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1881c) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``, on changes in
geographic range, spatial distribution, and productivity of a
fishery or interrelated fisheries,'' after ``management''; and
(2) in subsection (c)(1), by inserting ``changes in
geographic range, spatial distribution, and productivity of a
fishery or interrelated fisheries,''after ``degradation,''.
SEC. 3. REPORT ON THE COMPETITIVENESS OF DOMESTIC SEAFOOD PRODUCERS IN
DOMESTIC AND GLOBAL SEAFOOD TRADE.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this section, the Comptroller General of the United States
shall submit to the Congress a report on the competitiveness of
domestic seafood producers in domestic and global seafood trade.
(b) Contents.--The report required by subsection (a) shall--
(1) identify Federal laws, regulations, and policies that
directly affect the costs of domestic seafood production and
seafood industry investment in the United States, compared to
the costs of seafood production and investment in other
seafood-producing countries;
(2) analyze the competitive position of United States
seafood in domestic and global markets, given differences in
tariffs and nontariff barriers among countries and changes in
trade flows and market share over the last 5 years,
highlighting the relative position of the United States
compared to other seafood-producing countries;
(3) include an inventory and assessment of Federal domestic
programs to help manage costs, facilitate and incentivize
domestic capacity and modernization, and facilitate domestic
and overseas market access for United States seafood producers,
including--
(A) identification of programs available and
unavailable to wild and farmed domestic seafood
producers;
(B) recommendations to improve the utility of these
programs for domestic seafood producers; and
(C) the financial health and stability of the
Seafood Inspection Program as provider of seafood
health and catch certificates and other services to
domestic seafood producers and exporters;
(4) provide recommendations for a new National Seafood
Trade Policy to improve the competitiveness of United States
seafood producers, including--
(A) ways to facilitate interagency coordination
under existing authorities and consultation with
domestic seafood producers around common goals for
seafood tariffs, nontariff barriers, and market access
policy;
(B) domestic seafood cost control and investment
programs; and
(C) domestic seafood producers' access to financial
support programs;
(5) identify trade barriers to United States seafood
production that are vulnerable to dispute settlement through
the World Trade Organization or otherwise under trade
agreements;
(6) include a strategy for enforcing violations of trade
agreements related to such trade barriers; and
(7) identify like-minded trading partners for specific
trade barriers that could act as co-complainants or primary
complainants on disputes that are systemically or economically
important to the United States.
(c) Quarterly Reports.--Following the submission of the report
required by subsection (a), the Comptroller General of the United
States shall submit to the Congress quarterly reports on progress
towards resolving cases or filing disputes to resolve trade barriers
described in subsection (b)(5).
SEC. 4. ECOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS.
Section 303(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1853(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (14), by striking ``and;'' and inserting a
semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (15), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(16) consider and account for the effects of changing
ecological and environmental conditions on the fishery and
describe how the management measures contained in the plan or
plan amendment address such changing conditions.''.
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