H.R. 2706 (112th): Billfish Conservation Act of 2012

Introduced:
Jul 29, 2011 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
Sponsor:
Rep. Jeff Miller [R-FL1]
Status:
Signed by the President
Slip Law:
This bill became Pub.L. 112-183.

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was enacted after being signed by the President on October 5, 2012.

Progress
Introduced Jul 29, 2011
Referred to Committee Jul 29, 2011
Reported by Committee Aug 01, 2012
Passed House Sep 10, 2012
Passed Senate Sep 22, 2012
Signed by the President Oct 05, 2012
Cosponsors
25 cosponsors (17R, 8D) (show)
Committees

House Natural Resources

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To prohibit the sale of billfish.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Jan 01, 2012.
2 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

10/5/2012--Public Law. (This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on September 10, 2012.
The summary of that version is repeated here.) Billfish Conservation Act of 2012 - Prohibits any person from offering billfish or billfish products for sale, selling them, or having custody, control, or possession of them for purposes of offering them for sale or selling them.
Treats a violation of this Act as an act prohibited by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Subjects a person to a maximum civil penalty of $100,000 for each violation, with each day of a continuing violation constituting a separate offense.
Exempts billfish:
(1) caught by U.S. fishing vessels and landed in the state of Hawaii or the Pacific Insular Areas (PIAs); or
(2) landed by foreign fishing vessels in the PIAs when the foreign caught billfish is exported to non-U.S. markets or retained within Hawaii and the PIAs for local consumption.
Defines "billfish" as any of the following:
(1) blue marlin,
(2) striped marlin,
(3) black marlin,
(4) sailfish,
(5) shortbill spearfish,
(6) white marlin,
(7) roundscale spearfish,
(8) Mediterranean spearfish, or
(9) longbill spearfish.
Excludes swordfish from such definition.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr2706.

Background

According to findings contained in the legislation, billfish populations are severely depleted and in need of greater protection. Billfish population declines are largely attributable to overfishing by non-United States commercial fishing fleets that harvest billfish caught while targeting other species. Commercial fisheries in the United States do not target billfish. The current United States prohibition on the commercial harvest and sale of billfish is limited to Atlantic-caught fish. There are no existing conservation measures that prohibit the importation of Pacific-caught billfish. Billfish account for less than 0.1 percent of the market value of United States seafood. The United States seafood market is highly elastic and consumers have a large number of sustainable seafood alternatives. Catch and release recreational angling for billfish generates billions of dollars in economic benefits to the United States economy each year.

Summary

H.R. 2706 would prohibit the sale and possession of billfish or products containing billfish. The bill would exempt the State of Hawaii and Pacific Insular Area from this prohibition, but only for billfish sold in Hawaii and the Pacific Insular Area. Under the legislation, billfish would be defined as any fish of the following species:

  • blue marlin;
  • striped marlin;
  • black marlin;
  • sailfish;
  • shortbill spearfish;
  • white marlin;
  • roundscale spearfish;
  • Mediterranean spearfish; and
  • longbill spearfish.

The legislation would not prohibit the sale of swordfish.

Cost

According to CBO, implementing the bill would have no significant impact on the federal budget.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)