[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3422 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3422

        To prohibit the sale of billfish and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 23, 2012

  Mr. Vitter introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
        To prohibit the sale of billfish 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 ``Billfish Conservation Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON THE 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) Exemption for Traditional Fisheries and Markets.--Subsection 
(a) does not apply to the State of Hawaii and Pacific Insular Area as 
defined in section 3(35) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1802(35)), except that billfish may be 
sold under this exemption only in the United States and the Pacific 
Insular Area.
    (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).
                                 <all>