1 AN ACT To provide for the conservation and management of the Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 4 [SEC. 1] SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the "Marine Fisheries Conser 5 vation Act of 1975". 6 7 8 9 10 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS, POLICY, AND PUR POSES. [Sec. 2 (a)] (a) FINDINGS.-The Congress finds and declares the following: (1) Coastal species of fish which inhabit the waters adjacent to the United States, highly migratory species of the high seas, species which dwell on or in the Continental Shelf, and anadromous species which spawn in United States rivers and estuaries, constitute an irreplaceable resource which contribute to the food supply and economy of the Nation as well as to the health and recreation of its people. (2) Stocks of fish which United States fishermen depend upon have been the target of concentrated foreign fishing which has increased dramatically during the past decade. Certain coastal and anadromous species are depleted to the point where the survival of the fisheries is threatened and others have been substantially reduced in number, as the result of continued overfishing and failure to initiate or to observe sound conservation practices. (3) Commercial and recreational fishing constitutes a major source of employment and contributes significantly to the economy of the Nation. Many coastal areas are dependent upon the fishing industry as the foundation of the local economy. The depletion of fishery resources at an ever-increasing rate over the past decade threatens the social and economic fabric of those coastal regions where fishing and related activities are the principal source of employment. (4) United States fishermen, confronted by massive foreign fishing fleets in coastal waters of the United States, have suffered extensive interference with their fishing efforts and destruction of their gear under cir cumstances which render it virtually impossible to secure compensation. (5) International agreements have not been effective in halting the depletion of valuable coastal and anadromous species caused by such overfishing; and even to the extent that international agreements might ultimately prove to be effective, there is danger that irreversible depletion of such species will take place before such agreements can be negotiated, signed, ratified, and implemented. (6) Fishing for coastal and anadromous species is carried out in part on the high seas off the coasts of the United States by United States and foreign vessels where no regime of law, except for specific international agreements, applies to govern fishing or to require conservation practices. (7) Fisheries resources are renewable and if placed under sound management before depletion has caused irreversible effects, can be restored to provide optimum sustainable yield. It is therefore in the national interest and in the interest of all nations and peoples engaged in fishing on the high seas to provide effective management 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 S 9 10 11 12 programs that will both maintain the optimum sustain able yield of fisheries resources and support the commercial and recreational fishing industries. (8) Developing international law, as proposed in the informal single negotiating text recently prepared at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, proposes primary coastal state management and preference over coastal species in an economic zone extending to 200 miles beyond the baseline of the territorial sea, and primary host state management and preference over anadromous species. [Sec. 2 (b); 2 (c)] (b) POLICY AND PURPOSES.-It 13 is therefore declared to be the policy and purposes of the 14 Congress under this Act (1) to conserve and manage the fisheries resources found off the coasts of the United States and the anadromous fisheries resources of the United States in the high seas by establishing an exclusive fisheries conservation and management zone in the area extending 200 nautical miles seaward of the United States within which the United States will assume management responsibility and authority over all fisheries resources, except highly migratory species, and by declaring fisheries management responsibility and authority on the high seas beyond such zone with respect to anadromous species; with the terms of any applicable international fisheries agreement; (3) to promote the commercial and recreational fishing industries of the United States in order to maximize under sound conservation and management principles the production of food from the sea and the recreational opportunities of the American people; (4) to establish management programs which with achieve and maintain an optimum sustainable yield from fisheries resources under circumstances which will enable the States, the fishing industry, consumer and environmental organizations and other interested persons to participate in or advise on the establishment of manage ment plans and regulations, and in the development of such programs in regard to stocks of fish, to consider the social and economic needs of the coastal States along which such stocks abound; (5) to permit foreign fishing within the fisheries zone established by title I of this Act consistent with the conservation requirements of the various stocks, if there are excess stocks of fish not being utilized to the opti mum sustainable yield by United States commercial or |