[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 180 (Monday, November 28, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S7911]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Vitter, Mr. 
        Wicker, Mr. Thune, Mr. Begich, Ms. Landrieu, and Ms. 
        Murkowski):
  S. 1916. A bill to exclude ecosystem component stocks of fish from 
certain annual catch limits and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 
the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1916

       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 ``Fishery Science Improvement 
     Act of 2011''.

     SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC DATA FOR ANNUAL CATCH 
                   LIMITS.

       (a) Scientific Data Required for Annual Catch Limits.--
     Section 104(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
     and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-
     479; 16 U.S.C. 1853 note) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (2) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (5); and
       (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
       ``(3) shall not apply to a stock for which a stock 
     assessment has not been performed during the previous 6-year 
     period, if the Secretary has determined pursuant to section 
     304(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
     Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1854(e)) that--
       ``(A) the fishery is not subject to overfishing of that 
     stock; and
       ``(B) the stock is not overfished;
       ``(4) shall not apply to an ecosystem component stock; 
     and''.
       (b) Ecosystem Component Stocks.--Section 104 of the 
     Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
     Reauthorization Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-479; 120 Stat. 
     3584) is amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(e) Ecosystem Component Stock.--
       ``(1) Definition.--In this section, the term `ecosystem 
     component stock' means a stock of fish that the Secretary 
     determines--
       ``(A) is a nontarget stock; and
       ``(B) is not subject to overfishing or overfished.
       ``(2) Prior determinations.--Ecosystem component species as 
     determined by the Secretary of Commerce prior to the date of 
     the enactment of the Fishery Science Improvement Act of 2011, 
     shall be determined to be ecosystem component stocks as 
     defined by paragraph (1) after such date of enactment.''.

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