[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 126, 112th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


Public Law 112-183
112th Congress

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

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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).

Approved October 5, 2012.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 2706:
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HOUSE REPORTS: No. 112-656 (Comm. on Natural Resources).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 158 (2012):
Sept. 10, considered and passed House.
Sept. 21, considered and passed Senate.