[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 6, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H5067-H5068]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXEMPTING IMPORTATION AND EXPORTATION OF SEA URCHINS AND SEA CUCUMBERS
FROM ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT LICENSING REQUIREMENTS
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the
rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4245) to exempt importation and
exportation of sea urchins and sea cucumbers from licensing
requirements under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4245
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. EXEMPTION OF EXPORTATION OF CERTAIN ECHINODERMS
AND MOLLUSKS FROM PERMISSION AND LICENSING
REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Exemption.--Not later than 30 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Director of the United States
Fish and Wildlife Service shall amend section 14.92 of title
50, Code of Federal Regulations, to clarify that--
(1) fish or wildlife described in subsection (b) are
fishery products exempt from the export permission
requirements of section 9(d)(1) of the Endangered Species Act
of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538(d)(1)); and
(2) any person may engage in business as an exporter of
such fish or wildlife without procuring permission under such
section of that Act or an export license under subpart I of
part 14 of such title.
(b) Covered Fish or Wildlife.--The fish or wildlife
referred to in subsection (a) are members of the phylum
Echinodermata that are commonly known as sea urchins and sea
cucumbers, and members of the phylum Mollusca that are
commonly known as squid, octopus, and cuttlefish, including
products thereof, that--
(1) do not require a permit under part 16, 17, or 23 of
title 50, Code of Federal Regulations;
(2) are harvested in waters under the jurisdiction of the
United States or are processed in the United States; and
(3) are--
(A) exported for purposes of human or animal consumption;
or
(B) taken in waters under the jurisdiction of the United
States or on the high seas for recreational purposes.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
General Leave
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent
that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their
remarks and to include any extraneous material on the bill under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time
as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4245, introduced by our Maine colleagues, Chellie
Pingree and Bruce Poliquin, makes a commonsense adjustment to the
Federal law to eliminate regulatory duplication.
This bipartisan bill, as reported, protects fishermen, small
businesses, and their fresh, domestically harvested seafood destined
for export by exempting them from the duplicative U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service inspections and permits.
During the legislative hearing on H.R. 4245, both sides of the aisle
expressed concerns over these inspections, especially on sea urchin. In
fact, one of our minority colleagues said it best when he called the
inspections dramatic overkill. In addition, one witness discussed how
Federal inspection delays have spoiled shipments that cost businesses
thousands of dollars. This bill removes that Federal delay.
I commend our Maine colleagues for working on a bipartisan basis to
address this matter.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record an exchange of letters with the
chairmen of the House Ways and Means and the Foreign Affair Committees
regarding this bill. We thank them for agreeing to help expedite
consideration on this bill today.
I urge the adoption of this commonsense measure.
I reserve the balance of my time.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Natural Resources,
Washington, DC, July 7, 2016.
Hon. Kevin Brady,
Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: On December 10, 2015, the Committee on
Natural Resources favorably reported as amended H.R. 4245, to
exempt exportation of certain echinoderms and mollusks from
licensing requirements under the Endangered Species Act of
1973. This bill was referred primarily to the Committee on
Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Ways
and Means and Foreign Affairs. My staff has forwarded the
reported text to your committee for review.
Based on this text, I ask that you allow the Committee on
Ways and Means to be discharged from further consideration of
the bill so that it may be scheduled by the Majority Leader.
This discharge in no way affects your jurisdiction over the
subject matter of the bill, and it will not serve as
precedent for future referrals. In addition, should a
conference on the bill be necessary, I would support your
request to have the Committee on Ways and Means represented
on the conference committee. Finally, I would be pleased to
include this letter and any response in the bill report filed
by the Committee on Natural Resources to memorialize our
understanding, as well as in the Congressional Record.
Thank you for your consideration of my request, and I look
forward to further opportunities to work with you this
Congress.
Sincerely,
Rob Bishop,
Chairman,
Committee on Natural Resources.
____
House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means,
Washington, DC, July 7, 2016.
Hon. Rob Bishop,
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Bishop: Thank you for your letter concerning
H.R. 4245, to exempt the importation and exportation of sea
urchins and sea cucumbers from licensing requirements under
the Endangered Species Act. As you note, the Committee on
Ways and Means was granted an additional referral.
I appreciate your willingness to work with my Committee on
this legislation. In order to allow H.R. 4245 to move
expeditiously to the House floor, I agree to waive formal
consideration of this bill. The Committee on Ways and Means
takes this action with our mutual understanding that by
foregoing consideration on H.R. 4245 at this time, we do not
waive any jurisdiction over subject matter contained in this
or similar legislation. and that our Committee will be
appropriately consulted and involved as this bill or similar
legislation moves forward. Our Committee also reserves the
right to seek appointment of an appropriate number of
conferees to any House-Senate conference involving this or
similar legislation, and asks that you support any such
request.
I would appreciate your response to this letter confirming
this understanding, and would request that you include a copy
of this letter and your response in the Congressional Record
during the floor consideration of this bill. Thank you in
advance for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Kevin Brady,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Natural Resources,
Washington, DC, August 30, 2016.
Hon. Edward R. Royce,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: On December 10, 2015, the Committee on
Natural Resources favorably reported as amended H.R. 4245, to
exempt exportation of certain echinoderms and mollusks from
licensing requirements under the Endangered Species Act of
1973. This bill was referred primarily to the Committee on
Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on
Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means. My staff has forwarded
the reported text to your committee for review.
Based on this text, I ask that you allow the Committee on
Foreign Affairs to be discharged from further consideration
of the bill so that it may be scheduled by the Majority
Leader. This discharge in no way affects your jurisdiction
over the subject matter of the bill, and it will not serve as
precedent for future referrals. In addition, should a
conference on the bill be necessary, I would support your
request to have the Committee on Foreign Affairs represented
on the conference committee. Finally, I would be pleased to
include this letter and any response in the bill report filed
by the Committee on Natural Resources to memorialize our
understanding, as well as in the Congressional Record.
[[Page H5068]]
Thank you for your consideration of my request, and I look
forward to further opportunities to work with you this
Congress.
Sincerely,
Rob Bishop,
Chairman,
Committee on Natural Resources.
____
House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, August 31, 2016.
Hon. Rob Bishop,
Chairman, House Committee on Natural Resources, Washington,
DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: Thank you for consulting with the
Committee on Foreign Affairs on your committee-reported text
of H.R. 4245, a bill to exempt exportation of certain
echinoderms and mollusks from licensing requirements under
the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
I agree that the Foreign Affairs Committee may be
discharged from further action on this bill so that it may
proceed expeditiously to the Floor, subject to the
understanding that this waiver does not in any way diminish
or alter the jurisdiction of the Foreign Affairs Committee,
or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives on this bill or
similar legislation in the future. The Committee also
reserves the right to seek an appropriate number of conferees
to any House-Senate conference involving this bill, and would
appreciate your support for any such request.
I ask that you place our exchange of letters into the
Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill.
I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation and
look forward to continuing to work with you as this measure
moves through the legislative process.
Sincerely,
Edward R. Royce,
Chairman.
Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the
gentlewoman from Maine (Ms. Pingree), the sponsor of this bill.
Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Beyer) for yielding the time, and I also thank my colleague from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for speaking in support of this as well.
I rise today in support of H.R. 4245, a bill that will end the
practice of export inspections for sea urchin, sea cucumbers, squid,
and cuttlefish that are being shipped overseas as part of our Nation's
fisheries and fish processing industry.
At the outset, I want to thank Chairman Bishop, subcommittee Chairman
Fleming, Ranking Member Grijalva, and my good friend from California,
Ranking Member Huffman, for their support and help in getting this bill
through the committee and to the House floor today. I want to recognize
my friend and colleague from Maine (Mr. Poliquin) who has been an
original cosponsor of this bill and a tireless supporter of this
effort.
To better understand this bill, I would like to tell you a little bit
about the sea urchin industry in Maine, which is a critical part of our
marine economy. Second only to California, the sea urchin industry in
Maine brings over $5.4 million to our State every year and supports 600
jobs, which includes harvesters up and down our beautiful coast.
Companies in Maine also process urchins that are harvested here, as
well as those from Canada and Chile, before being exported overseas. In
Japan and other parts of Asia, urchins are a valuable delicacy, known
in sushi restaurants as uni. They are also a delicacy here in the
United States and are very highly regarded.
Urchins imported to Maine from other countries are inspected by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service upon entering the country. Relatively
recently, the Fish and Wildlife Service has begun inspecting the
products once again before leaving the country. The policy change ended
a longtime exemption that urchins had received, an exemption that
lobster and other shellfish continue to receive.
Over 18 months ago, I started hearing from urchin processors in Maine
who reported problems with this recent change. Sometimes the urchins
sat in a hot warehouse in New York--usually at the JFK Airport--for
days waiting for an inspection, possibly resulting in the loss of a
very valuable and highly perishable product.
Since these are such a perishable product, despite the harvesters'
and processors' speedy work to get the urchins ready for shipment, once
they reached the inspection point in New York, they often came to a
halt.
I immediately started working with the Fish and Wildlife Service to
try and find a solution. Even though we haven't always seen eye to eye
with the Fish and Wildlife Service, they have been very willing to hear
our concerns, work with us on particular problems, and try to make
things easier on our harvesters and processors.
We had a very recent example. Last Friday afternoon, my office
received a call from an urchin processor who had $50,000 worth of
product soon to be sitting at the JFK Airport. The Fish and Wildlife
Service had closed this Friday, meaning that the urchins would be left
over a 3-day weekend. We were able to get it cleared, but it was a very
close call. Stories like this make it clear that the only real solution
is to get rid of this duplicative inspection, and this is what this
bill would do.
After working with the Fish and Wildlife Service, talking to urchin
harvesters, and visiting a processing plant in my district, I firmly
believe that these extra inspections are unnecessary. There is no
reason why sea urchins should be treated differently than shellfish.
These burdensome inspections create a great deal of risk for valuable
exports and too much uncertainty for a job-creating industry. As
communities on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts deal with challenges to
commercial fishing and working waterfronts, it is critical that
Congress do everything it can to support successful industries like sea
urchins in Maine or squid and cuttlefish in California, Rhode Island,
and other States.
I am very proud to have introduced this bipartisan legislation, and I
encourage my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this
piece of legislation.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4245, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to exempt
exportation of certain echinoderms and mollusks from licensing
requirements under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.''.
____________________