Fishery Science Improvement Act of 2011

Fishery Science Improvement Act of 2011 - Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 to postpone from fishing year 2011 to 2014 the effective date upon which a mechanism for specifying annual catch limits and accountability measures for fisheries other than those determined by the Secretary of Commerce to be subject to overfishing must be established in fishery management plans prepared by any Regional Fishery Management Council or the Secretary, implementing regulations, or annual specifications.

Makes the catch limit mechanism, for all fisheries, inapplicable to a fishery for any stock of fish: (1) for which a peer reviewed stock survey and stock assessment have not been performed during the five-year period before enactment of this Act and for which the Secretary determines overfishing is not occurring, and (2) that is an ecosystem stock.

Defines "ecosystem stock" as a stock of fish determined by the Secretary to be a nontarget stock that is not overfished or likely to become overfished.

Requires the Secretary, within 270 days after determining that a fishery is overfished, to perform a stock survey and stock assessment of each of the overfished stocks in the fishery and transmit the assessment to the appropriate Council.

[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2304 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2304

   To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
    Reauthorization Act of 2006 to provide the necessary scientific 
 information to properly implement annual catch limits, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 22, 2011

Mr. Wittman (for himself, Mr. Miller of Florida, Mr. Ross of Arkansas, 
 Mr. Latta, Mr. Shuler, Mr. Landry, Mr. Southerland, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. 
Boustany, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Boren, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Guinta, Mr. Fleming, 
 Mr. Bonner, Mr. Rigell, Mr. Duncan of South Carolina, and Mr. Harris) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
    Reauthorization Act of 2006 to provide the necessary scientific 
 information to properly implement annual catch limits, 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 ``Fishery Science Improvement Act of 
2011''.

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

    (a) Scientific Data Required for Annual Catch Limits.--
            (1) In general.--Section 104(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens 
        Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 
        (16 U.S.C. 1853 note) is amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(B)--
                            (i) by striking ``2011'' and inserting 
                        ``2014''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``and'' after the 
                        semicolon;
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' after the 
                semicolon;
                    (C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph 
                (5); and
                    (D) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
            ``(3) shall not apply to a fishery for any stock of fish 
        for which--
                    ``(A) a peer reviewed stock survey and stock 
                assessment have not been performed during the five-year 
                period that ends on the date of enactment of the 
                Fishery Science Improvement Act of 2011; and
                    ``(B) the Secretary determines that overfishing is 
                not occurring;
            ``(4) shall not apply to a fishery for any stock of fish 
        that is an ecosystem stock; and''.
            (2) Definition of ecosystem stock.--Section 104 of the 
        Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
        Reauthorization Act of 2006 (16 U.S.C. 1853 note) is amended by 
        adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Definition of Ecosystem Stock.--In this section, the term 
`ecosystem stock' means a stock of fish that the Secretary determines--
            ``(1) is a nontarget stock; and
            ``(2) is not overfished or likely to become overfished.''.
    (b) Stock Assessment for Overfished Fisheries.--Section 304(e)(2) 
of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 
U.S.C. 1854) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(2) If the Secretary'' and inserting 
        ``(2)(A) If the Secretary''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(B) Not later than 270 days after the Secretary makes a 
        determination described in subparagraph (A), the Secretary 
        shall perform a stock survey and stock assessment of each of 
        the stocks that are overfished in the fishery and transmit the 
        assessment to the appropriate Council.''.
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