[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2569 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2569

  To prohibit the United States from entering into any international 
agreement which would prevent full implementation of the United Nations 
      moratorium on large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            December 1 (legislative day, September 12), 1994

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit the United States from entering into any international 
agreement which would prevent full implementation of the United Nations 
      moratorium on large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas.

    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 ``High Seas Driftnet Fishing 
Moratorium Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) Congress has enacted and the President has signed into 
        law numerous Acts to control or prohibit large-scale driftnet 
        fishing both within the jurisdiction of the United States and 
        beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation, including the 
        Driftnet Impact Monitoring, Assessment, and Control Act of 1987 
        (title IV, Public Law 100-220), the Driftnet Act Amendments of 
        1990 (Public Law 101-627), and the High Seas Driftnet Fisheries 
        Enforcement Act (title I, Public Law 102-582);
            (2) the United States has signed and the Senate has 
        ratified the Convention for the Prohibition of Fishing with 
        Long Driftnets in the South Pacific, also known as the 
        Wellington Convention;
            (3) the General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted 
        three resolutions and three decisions which established and 
        reaffirm a global moratorium on large-scale driftnet fishing on 
        the high seas, beginning with Resolution 44/225 in 1989 and 
        most recently in Decision 48/445 in 1993;
            (4) the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted 
        these resolutions and decisions at the request of the United 
        States and other concerned nations;
            (5) the best scientific information demonstrates the 
        wastefulness and potentially destructive impacts of large-scale 
        driftnet fishing on living marine resources and seabirds; and
            (6) Resolution 46/215 of the United Nations General 
        Assembly calls on all nations, both individually and 
        collectively, to prevent large-scale driftnet fishing on the 
        high seas.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION.

    The United States, or any agency or official acting on behalf of 
the United States, may not enter into any international agreement with 
respect to fisheries, marine resources, the use of the high seas, or 
trade in fish or fish products that would prevent full implementation 
of the global moratorium on large-scale driftnet fishing on the high 
seas, as such moratorium is expressed in Resolution 46/215 of the 
United Nations General Assembly.

SEC. 4. NEGOTIATIONS.

    The Secretary of State, on behalf of the United States, shall seek 
to enhance the implementation and effectiveness of the United Nations 
General Assembly resolutions and decisions regarding the moratorium on 
large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas through appropriate 
international agreements and organizations.

SEC. 5. CERTIFICATION.

    The Secretary of State shall determine in writing prior to the 
provisional or formal signing by the United States of any international 
agreement with respect to fisheries, marine resources, the use of the 
high seas, or trade in fish or fish products that the prohibition 
contained in section 3 will not be violated if such agreement is 
signed.

SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT.

    The President shall utilize appropriate assets of the Department of 
Defense, the United States Coast Guard, and other Federal agencies to 
detect, monitor, and prevent violations of the United Nations 
moratorium on large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas for all 
fisheries under the jurisdiction of the United States and, in the case 
of fisheries not under the jurisdiction of the United States, to the 
fullest extent permitted under international law.
                                 <all>