assessments necessary for a risk-sharing pool implemented under subsection (e) of this section, less any amount received for such purpose from another source or from an existing surplus in the North Pacific Fishery Observer Fund established in subsection (d) of this section;

(B) be fair and equitable to all participants in the fisheries under the jurisdiction of the Council, including the Northern Pacific halibut fishery;

(C) provide that fees collected not be used to pay any costs of administrative overhead or other costs not directly incurred in carrying out the plan;

(D) not be used to offset amounts authorized under other provisions of law;

(E) be expressed as a percentage, not to exceed 2 percent, of the unprocessed ex-vessel value of fish and shellfish harvested under the jurisdiction of the Council, including the Northern Pacific halibut fishery;

(F) be assessed against all fishing vessels and United States fish processors, including those not required to carry an observer under the plan, participating in fisheries under the jurisdiction of the Council, including the Northern Pacific halibut fishery;

(G) provide that fees collected will be deposited in the North Pacific Fishery Observer Fund established under subsection (d) of this section;

(H) provide that fees collected will only be used for implementing the plan established under this section; and

(I) meet the requirements of section 9701(b) of title 31, United States Code.

(c) ACTION BY SECRETARY.-(1) Within 60 days after receiving a plan or plan amendment from the North Pacific Council under this section, the Secretary shall review such plan or plan amendment and either (A) remand such plan or plan amendment to the Council with comments if it does not meet the requirements of this section, or (B) publish in the Federal Register proposed regulations for implementing such plan or plan amendment.

(2) During the 60-day public comment period, the Secretary shall conduct a public hearing in each State represented on the Council for the purpose of receiving public comments on the proposed regulations.

(3) Within 45 days of the close of the public comment period, the Secretary, in consultation with the Council, shall analyze the public comment received and publish final regulations for implementing such plan.

(4) If the Secretary remands a plan or plan amendment to the Council for failure to meet the requirements of this section, the Council may resubmit such plan or plan amendment at any time after taking action the Council believes will address the defects identified by the Secretary. Any plan or plan amendment resubmitted to the Secretary will be treated as an original plan submitted to the Secretary under paragraph (1) of this subsection.

(d) FISHERY OBSERVER FUND.-There is established in the Treasury a North Pacific Fishery Observer Fund. The Fund shall be available, without appropriation or fiscal year limitation, only to the Secretary for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this

section, subject to the restrictions in subsection (b)(2) of this section. The Fund shall consist of all monies deposited into it in accordance with this section. Sums in the Fund that are not currently needed for the purposes of this section shall be kept on deposit or invested in obligations of, or guaranteed by, the United States. (e) SPECIAL PROVISIONS REGARDING OBSERVERS. (1) The Secretary shall review

(A) the feasibility of establishing a risk sharing pool through a reasonable fee, subject to the limitations of subsection (b)(2)(E) of this section, to provide coverage for vessels and owners against liability from civil suits by observers, and (B) the availability of comprehensive commercial insurance for vessel and owner liability against civil suits by observers. (2) If the Secretary determines that a risk sharing pool is feasible, the Secretary shall establish such a pool, subject to the provisions of subsection (b)(2) of this section, unless the Secretary determines that

(A) comprehensive commercial insurance is available for all fishing vessels and United States fish processors required to have observers under the provisions of this section, and

(B) such comprehensive commercial insurance will provide a greater measure of coverage at a lower cost to each participant.

(f) BYCATCH REDUCTION.—In implementing section 303(a)(11) and this section, the North Pacific Council shall submit conservation and management measures to lower, on an annual basis for a period of not less than four years, the total amount of economic discards occurring in the fisheries under its jurisdiction.

(g) BYCATCH REDUCTION INCENTIVES. (1) Notwithstanding section 304(d), the North Pacific Council may submit, and the Secretary may approve, consistent with the provisions of this Act, a system of fines in a fishery to provide incentives to reduce bycatch and bycatch rates; except that such fines shall not exceed $25,000 per vessel per season. Any fines collected shall be deposited in the North Pacific Fishery Observer Fund, and may be made available by the Secretary to offset costs related to the reduction of bycatch in the fishery from which such fines were derived, including conservation and management measures and research, and to the State of Alaska to offset costs incurred by the State in the fishery from which such penalties were derived or in fisheries in which the State is directly involved in management or enforcement and which are directly affected by the fishery from which such penalties were derived.

(2)(A) Notwithstanding section 303(d), and in addition to the authority provided in section 303(b)(10), the North Pacific Council may submit, and the Secretary may approve, conservation and management measures which provide allocations of regulatory discards to individual fishing vessels as an incentive to reduce per vessel bycatch and bycatch rates in a fishery, 1 Provided, That—

(i) such allocations may not be transferred for monetary consideration and are made only on an annual basis; and

1 So in original. The comma should be changed to a colon.

(ii) any such conservation and management measures will meet the requirements of subsection (h) and will result in an actual reduction in regulatory discards in the fishery.

(B) The North Pacific Council may submit restrictions in addition to the restriction imposed by clause (i) of subparagraph (A) on the transferability of any such allocations, and the Secretary may approve such recommendation.

(h) CATCH MEASUREMENT. (1) By June 1, 1997 the North Pacific Council shall submit, and the Secretary may approve, consistent with the other provisions of this Act, conservation and management measures to ensure total catch measurement in each fishery under the jurisdiction of such Council. Such measures shall ensure the accurate enumeration, at a minimum, of target species, economic discards, and regulatory discards.

(2) To the extent the measures submitted under paragraph (1) do not require United States fish processors and fish processing vessels (as defined in chapter 21 of title 46, United States Code) to weigh fish, the North Pacific Council and the Secretary shall submit a plan to the Congress by January 1, 1998, to allow for weighing, including recommendations to assist such processors and processing vessels in acquiring necessary equipment, unless the Council determines that such weighing is not necessary to meet the requirements of this subsection.

(i) FULL RETENTION AND UTILIZATION. (1) The North Pacific Council shall submit to the Secretary by October 1, 1998 a report on the advisability of requiring the full retention by fishing vessels and full utilization by United States fish processors of economic discards in fisheries under its jurisdiction if such economic discards, or the mortality of such economic discards, cannot be avoided. The report shall address the projected impacts of such requirements on participants in the fishery and describe any full retention and full utilization requirements that have been implemented.

(2) The report shall address the advisability of measures to minimize processing waste, including standards setting minimum percentages which must be processed for human consumption. For the purpose of the report, "processing waste" means that portion of any fish which is processed and which could be used for human consumption or other commercial use, but which is not so used. SEC. 314. [16 U.S.C. 1863] NORTHWEST ATLANTIC OCEAN FISHERIES REINVESTMENT PROGRAM.

(a) PROGRAM. (1) Not later than October 1, 1993, the Secretary shall establish a Northwest Atlantic Ocean Fisheries Reinvestment Program for the purposes of

(A) promoting development of commercial fisheries and markets for underutilized species of the northwest Atlantic Ocean;

(B) developing alternative fishing opportunities for participants in the New England groundfish fishery;

(C) providing technical support and assistance to United States fishermen and fish processors to improve the valueadded processing of underutilized species and to make participation in fisheries for underutilized species of the northwest Atlantic Ocean economically viable;

(D) creating new economic opportunities through the improved processing and expanded use of fish waste; and

(E) helping to restore overfished New England groundfish stocks through aquaculture or hatchery programs.

(2) CONSULTATION.-In establishing and implementing the Northwest Fisheries Reinvestment Program, the Secretary shall consult with representatives of the commercial fishing industry, the seafood processing industry, and the academic community (including the National Sea Grant Program).

(3) ACTIVITIES UNDER PROGRAM.-Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary shall award contracts, grants and other financial assistance to United States citizens to carry out the purposes of subsection (1)1, under the terms and conditions provided in section 2(c) of the Act of August 11, 1939 (15 U.S.C. 713c3(c); commonly referred to as the "Saltonstall-Kennedy Act"), except that, in making awards under this section for projects involving participation in fisheries for underutilized species, the Secretary shall give the highest priority to a person who owns or operates a fishing vessel permitted under this Act to participate in the New England groundfish fishery who agrees to surrender that permit to the Secretary during the duration of the contract, grant or other assistance.

(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.-There are authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1993 through 1999 to carry out the purposes of this section. For fiscal year 1993 no more than $1,000,000, and for fiscal year 1994 no more than $2,000,000, of such funds may be provided from monies made available under section 2(b) of the Act of August 11, 1939 (15 U.S.C. 713c-3(b)).

(b) ASSISTANCE OF OTHER AGENCIES.-The Secretary shall actively seek the assistance of other Federal agencies in the development of fisheries for underutilized species of the northwest Atlantic Ocean, including, to the extent permitted by other applicable laws, assistance from the Secretary of Agriculture in including such underutilized species as agricultural commodities in the programs of the Foreign Agricultural Service for which amounts are authorized under the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-624; 104 Stat. 3359).

(c) MANAGEMENT PLANS FOR UNDERUTILIZED SPECIES.-The New England Fishery Management Council, in consultation with other appropriate Councils, shall develop fishery management plans as soon as possible for any underutilized species of the northwest Atlantic Ocean that is not covered under such a plan, in order to prevent overfishing of that species.

(d) UNDERUTILIZED SPECIES DEFINED. For purposes of this section, the term "underutilized species of the northwest Atlantic Ocean" means any fish species of the northwest Atlantic Ocean that is identified, by the Director of the Northeast Fisheries Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service, as an underutilized species.

1 So in law. Should be "paragraph (1)”.

TITLE IV-FISHERY MONITORING AND

RESEARCH

SEC. 401. [16 U.S.C. 1881] REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT.

(a) STANDARDIZED FISHING VESSEL REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.-The Secretary shall, in cooperation with the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, the States, the Councils, and Marine Fisheries Commissions, develop recommendations for implementation of a standardized fishing vessel registration and information management system on a regional basis. The recommendations shall be developed after consultation with interested governmental and nongovernmental parties and shall

(1) be designed to standardize the requirements of vessel registration and information collection systems required by this Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), and any other marine resource law implemented by the Secretary, and, with the permission of a State, any marine resource law implemented by such State;

(2) integrate information collection programs under existing fishery management plans into a non-duplicative information collection and management system;

(3) avoid duplication of existing State, tribal, or Federal systems and shall utilize, to the maximum extent practicable, information collected from existing systems;

(4) provide for implementation of the system through cooperative agreements with appropriate State, regional, or tribal entities and Marine Fisheries Commissions;

(5) provide for funding (subject to appropriations) to assist appropriate State, regional, or tribal entities and Marine Fisheries Commissions in implementation;

(6) establish standardized units of measurement, nomenclature, and formats for the collection and submission of information;

(7) minimize the paperwork required for vessels registered under the system;

(8) include all species of fish within the geographic areas of authority of the Councils and all fishing vessels including charter fishing vessels, but excluding recreational fishing vessels;

(9) require United States fish processors, and fish dealers and other first ex-vessel purchasers of fish that are subject to the proposed system, to submit information (other than economic information) which may be necessary to meet the goals of the proposed system; and

(10) include procedures necessary to ensure

(A) the confidentiality of information collected under this section in accordance with section 402(b); and

(B) the timely release or availability to the public of information collected under this section consistent with section 402(b).

(b) FISHING VESSEL REGISTRATION.-The proposed registration system should, at a minimum, obtain the following information for each fishing vessel