[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2191 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2191

To amend the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 to permit reimbursement 
 of fishermen who must pay in advance what the United States considers 
                   an illegal fee to navigate waters.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                June 15 (legislative day, June 7), 1994

Mr. Stevens (for himself, Mr. Murkowski, and Mr. Gorton) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 to permit reimbursement 
 of fishermen who must pay in advance what the United States considers 
                   an illegal fee to navigate waters.

    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 ``Fishermen's Protective Act Amendment 
of 1994''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) customary international law and the United Nations 
        Convention on the Law of the Sea guarantee the right of 
        passage, including innocent passage, to vessels through the 
        waters commonly referred to as the ``Inside Passage'' off the 
        Pacific Coast of Canada;
            (2) Canada has recently announced that it will require all 
        commercial fishing vessels of the United States to pay 1,500 
        Canadian dollars to obtain a ``license which authorizes 
        transit'' through the Inside Passage off the Pacific Coast of 
        Canada;
            (3) this action is a clear violation of international law, 
        including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 
        and in particular Article 26 of that Convention, which 
        specifically prohibits such fees;
            (4) the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 provides for the 
        reimbursement of fishing vessel owners who are forced to pay a 
        license fee to secure the release of a vessel which has been 
        seized, but does not permit reimbursement of a fee paid by the 
        owner in advance in order to prevent a seizure;
            (5) Canada has announced that the license fee may only be 
        paid in two ports on the Pacific Coast of Canada, and must be 
        paid in person or in advance by mail;
            (6) significant expense and delay would be incurred by a 
        United States fishing vessel that had to travel from the point 
        of seizure back to one of those ports in order to pay the 
        license fee required by Canada, and the costs of that travel 
        and delay cannot be reimbursed under the Fishermen's Protective 
        Act as presently enacted; and
            (7) the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 should be 
        amended to permit fishing vessel owners to be reimbursed for 
        fees paid in advance as required by a foreign government to 
        navigate in the waters of that foreign country if the United 
        States considers that fee to be inconsistent with international 
        law.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE FISHERMEN'S PROTECTIVE ACT.

    The Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 (Public Law 90-482), as 
amended, is further amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:
    ``Sec. 11. In any case on or after June 15, 1994, in which a 
commercial fishing vessel of the United States exercising its right of 
passage is charged a fee by the government of a foreign country to 
navigate in waters of that foreign country, and such fee is regarded by 
the United States as being inconsistent with international law, the 
Secretary of State shall reimburse the vessel owner for the amount 
paid. In seeking such reimbursement, the vessel owner shall provide, 
together with such other information that the Secretary of State may 
require, a copy of the receipt for payment and an affidavit attesting 
that the claimant or the claimant's agent paid the fee under protest. 
Requests for reimbursement shall be made to the Secretary of State 
within 120 days of the date of payment of the fee, or within 90 days of 
the date of enactment of this section, whichever is later. The 
Secretary of State shall take such action as the Secretary deems 
appropriate to make and collect claims against the foreign country 
imposing such fee for any amounts reimbursed under this section.''.

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