[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2706 Engrossed in House (EH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2706

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
                   To prohibit the sale of billfish.

    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 ``Billfish Conservation Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States carefully regulates its domestic 
        fisheries for billfish and participates in international 
        fishery management bodies in the Atlantic and Pacific.
            (2) Global billfish populations have declined 
        significantly, however, because of overfishing primarily 
        through retention of bycatch by non-United States commercial 
        fishing fleets.
            (3) Ending the importation of foreign-caught billfish for 
        sale in the United States aligns with U.S. management measures 
        of billfish and protects the significant economic benefits to 
        the U.S. economy of recreational fishing and marine commerce 
        and the traditional cultural fisheries.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.

    The Congress enacts this Act pursuant to clause 3 of section 8 of 
article I of the Constitution.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF BILLFISH.

    (a) Prohibition.--No person shall offer for sale, sell, or have 
custody, control, or possession of for purposes of offering for sale or 
selling billfish or products containing billfish.
    (b) Penalty.--For purposes of section 308(a) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1858(a)), a 
violation of this section shall be treated as an act prohibited by 
section 307 of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1857).
    (c) Exemptions for Traditional Fisheries and Markets.--
            (1) Subsection (a) does not apply to billfish caught by US 
        fishing vessels and landed in the State of Hawaii or Pacific 
        Insular Areas as defined in section 3(35) of the Magnuson-
        Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 
        1802(35)).
            (2) Subsection (a) does not apply to billfish landed by 
        foreign fishing vessels in the Pacific Insular Areas when the 
        foreign caught billfish is exported to non-US markets or 
        retained within Hawaii and the Pacific Insular Areas for local 
        consumption.
    (d) Billfish Defined.--In this section the term ``billfish''--
            (1) means any fish of the species--
                    (A) Makaira nigricans (blue marlin);
                    (B) Kajikia audax (striped marlin);
                    (C) Istiompax indica (black marlin);
                    (D) Istiophorus platypterus (sailfish);
                    (E) Tetrapturus angustirostris (shortbill 
                spearfish);
                    (F) Kajikia albida (white marlin);
                    (G) Tetrapturus georgii (roundscale spearfish);
                    (H) Tetrapturus belone (Mediterranean spearfish); 
                and
                    (I) Tetrapturus pfluegeri (longbill spearfish); and
            (2) does not include the species Xiphias gladius 
        (swordfish).

            Passed the House of Representatives September 10, 2012.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.
112th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 2706

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

                   To prohibit the sale of billfish.