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S 2593 IS

To protect diverse and structurally complex areas of the seabed in the United States exclusive economic zone by establishing a maximum diameter size limit on rockhopper, roller, and all other ground gear used on bottom trawls.

June 6, 2002

Mr. TORRICELLI (for himself and Mr. CLELAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

To protect diverse and structurally complex areas of the seabed in the United States exclusive economic zone by establishing a maximum diameter size limit on rockhopper, roller, and all other ground gear used on bottom trawls.

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 `Ocean Habitat Protection Act of 2002'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) The fish and other marine species that are associated with three-dimensional structurally complex seafloor habitats within the exclusive economic zone of the United States--

(A) constitute valuable and renewable natural resources;

(B) are an essential component of marine biodiversity;

(C) contribute to the food supply, economy, and health of the United States;

(D) support the economies of coastal communities; and

(E) provide recreational opportunities.

(2) Commercial and recreational fishing constitute major sources of employment and contribute significantly to the economy of the United States.

(3) The United States is dependent upon healthy and diverse ocean ecosystems for income, nutrition, medicines, raw materials, and valuable natural processes.

(4) Diverse types of sponges, deep sea corals, and other species are found in marine habitats, many of which have not been adequately studied for their potential benefit to society or their ecological importance to fish species and other forms of marine life.

(5) Habitat complexity and marine biodiversity created by geologic structures and structure-forming organisms on the seabed are essential to numerous fish species, including commercially and recreationally harvested species, that rely on them for food and shelter from predation.

(6) Bottom trawling reduces habitat complexity and biological diversity by smoothing geologic bedforms and by removing, crushing, burying, and exposing benthic organisms to predators and scavengers.

(7) The reduction of biodiversity caused by bottom trawling is detrimental to many commercially and recreationally important species and to the industries and people that depend on them.

(8) In the past, the practice of bottom trawling was conducted mainly on soft bottom areas, and was rarely used in three-dimensional, structurally complex habitats.

(9) Technological modifications to bottom trawls, including the creation of large rockhopper and roller gear and chafing gear, facilitate the use of bottom trawls in rocky and other complex marine habitats that were once refuges for fishes and other marine life.

(10) The expansion in the use of bottom trawls from soft bottom areas to three-dimensional, structurally complex habitats over the past 20 years has had and continues to have significant, adverse effects on the diversity and habitat complexity of these areas.

(11) Numerous scientific studies show that bottom trawling is especially damaging to three-dimensional, structurally complex habitats such as corals, boulder fields, sponge beds, and gravel bottoms.

(12) Bottom trawling in these habitats significantly reduces their value for economically and ecologically important fishes and other marine life. Reductions in structural complexity may be long-term and irreversible. Recovery of some of these areas to their natural state after a single pass of a trawl may take decades or centuries. With repeated trawling in the same area, the damage may be irreversible.

(13) Prohibiting the use of large rockhopper, roller, and other ground gear is a practical, precautionary, and enforceable measure to protect structurally complex, benthic marine habitats from the damaging effects of bottom trawling.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF LARGE ROCKHOPPER AND ROLLER GEAR ON BOTTOM TRAWL NETS.

(a) PURPOSE- The purpose of this section is to prevent bottom trawls from accessing and damaging three-dimensional, structurally complex marine habitats that are needed by commercially and recreationally important fish and other marine life for food and shelter from predation.

(b) PROHIBITION- Section 307(1) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1857(1)) is amended--

(1) by striking `or' at the end of subparagraph (O);

(2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (P) and inserting `; or'; and

(3) by inserting after subparagraph (P) the following:

`(Q) to use a bottom trawl with rollers, bobbins, tires, rockhoppers, or any other devices attached to the foot rope of the trawl net that are in excess of 8 inches in diameter for fishing that is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, including fishing by a vessel of the United States beyond the equivalent of the exclusive economic zone of all countries.'.

(c) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION- Section 310(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1860(e)) is amended--

(1) by aligning paragraph (3) with paragraph (2); and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

`(4) For purposes of this Act, it shall be a rebuttable presumption that any vessel that is shoreward of the outer boundary of the exclusive economic zone or beyond the equivalent zone of all countries, and that has on board gear comprised of a bottom trawl net with rollers, bobbins, tires, rockhoppers, or any other device attached to the foot rope of the trawl net that is in excess of 8 inches in diameter, is engaged in fishing using such gear.'.

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