Bycatch Reduction Act

This bill sets new rules for trawl fishing vessels in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska. It would require pelagic (mid-water) trawl vessels to use salmon excluder devices within 1 year and would lead to rules on seafloor contact detection systems, and it would require certain bottom-trawl catcher/processor vessels to use modified footropes and sweeps within 2 years. It would require the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to hold recorded votes, post meeting recordings, and give a 4-week public comment period. It would bar U.S. transactions involving seafood from foreign vessels unless the Secretary of Commerce finds the source fishery is comparable to U.S. conservation standards. It also funds research, a gear-testing flume tank, electronic monitoring changes, and a donation-based fund to help fishermen buy or modify gear.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Dan Sullivan Republican sponsor
• 0 cosponsors