Fishery Failures: Urgently Needed Disaster Declarations Act

Fishery Failures: Urgently Needed Disaster Declarations Act

This bill revises the review process for making fishery resource disaster determinations.

Among other things, the bill

• maintains the authority of the Department of Commerce to determine the existence of a fishery disaster;
• sets forth requirements for initiating a request for a fishery resource disaster review;
• provides a 120-day time frame for Commerce to evaluate a request, beginning either upon receipt or at the close of the fishery season, if the fishery season closes;
• establishes criteria for Commerce to use when making a determination about whether a fishery resource disaster has occurred;
• lists eligible uses of fishery disaster relief funds, including for habitat conservation and restoration that reduce adverse impacts to a fishery; and
• revises reporting requirements for the biennial report on international compliance regarding foreign fishing and international fishery agreements.