[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2956 Introduced in House (IH)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 2956

To amend the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act of 1986 to authorize the 
   provision of certain disaster assistance to commercial fishermen 
       through State and local government agencies and nonprofit 
                 organizations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 1, 1996

  Mr. Studds introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act of 1986 to authorize the 
   provision of certain disaster assistance to commercial fishermen 
       through State and local government agencies and nonprofit 
                 organizations, and for other purposes.

    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 Disaster Assistance Act of 
1996''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO INTERJURISDICTIONAL FISHERIES ACT OF 1986.

    Section 308(d) of the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act of 1986 (16 
U.S.C. 4107(d)) is amended--
            (1) in the heading by striking ``Grants'' and inserting 
        ``Assistance'';
            (2) in paragraph (1) by striking ``award grants to persons 
        engaged in commercial fisheries, for uninsured losses 
        determined by the Secretary to have been suffered'' and 
        inserting ``help persons engaged in commercial fisheries, 
        either by providing assistance directly to those persons or by 
        providing assistance indirectly through State and local 
        government agencies and nonprofit organizations, for projects 
        or other measures to alleviate harm determined by the Secretary 
        to have been incurred'';
            (3) in paragraph (3) by striking ``a grant under this 
        subsection'' and inserting ``assistance provided directly to a 
        person under this subsection'';
            (4) by amending paragraph (4) to read as follows:
    ``(4)(A) The Secretary may not award any assistance under this 
subsection under a fishing capacity reduction program designed to 
remove fishing vessels and fishing permits from any New England fishery 
until there has taken effect, after the date of enactment of the 
Fisheries Disaster Assistance Act of 1996, an amendment to the 
Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan that is designed to 
rebuild stocks of cod, haddock, and yellow tail flounder in a manner 
that is consistent with requirements under the Magnuson Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (if any are in effect) for rebuilding 
overfished stocks.
    ``(B) As a condition of awarding assistance with respect to a 
vessel under a fishing capacity reduction program described in 
subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall--
            ``(i) prohibit the vessel from being used for fishing; and
            ``(ii) require that the vessel be--
                    ``(I) scrapped or otherwise disposed of in a manner 
                approved by the Secretary; or
                    ``(II) donated to a nonprofit organization and 
                thereafter used only for purposes of research, 
                education, or training.
    ``(C) A vessel that is prohibited from fishing under subparagraph 
(B) shall not be eligible for a fishery endorsement under section 
12108(a) of title 46, United States Code, and any such endorsement for 
the vessel shall not be effective.''; and
            (5) in paragraph (5) by striking ``for awarding grants'' 
        and all that follows through the end of the paragraph and 
        inserting ``receiving assistance under this subsection.''.
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