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  1. DIVISION H – Committee on Natural Resources
    1. Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Provision
    2. Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction
    3. Marine Mammal Research and Response
    4. Restoring Resilient Reefs
    5. Buy American Seafood
    6. Ocean and Costal Mapping Integration
    7. Law Enforcement Attaché Deployment
    8. Lacey Act Amendments
    9. Shark Fin Sales Elimination

DIVISION H – Committee on Natural Resources

The America COMPETES Act of 2022 prioritizes environmental and labor standards – protecting our oceans, wildlife, workers and consumers – which is crucial to our role as a global leader in international trade and competitiveness. The provisions in this division highlight our strong contrast with the PRC’s long history of illegal and unreported fishing, wildlife trafficking, human rights abuses, environmental destructiveness and use of slave labor.

Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Provision

  • U.S. is the largest seafood importer in the world and despite efforts to deny illegally and unethically harvested seafood access to U.S. markets, nearly 11 percent of our total seafood imports in 2019 – worth $2.9 billion – were products of illegal or unreported fishing.

  • Authorizes $20 million per year through FY 2026 for the Secretary of Commerce to combat human trafficking through seafood import monitoring and strengthening international fisheries management.

  • Prioritizes audits of imports from countries identified by other Federal agencies as having human trafficking, forced labor and child labor in any part of the seafood supply chain.

  • Expands the United States’ authority to withhold or revoke U.S. port privileges for fishing vessels from nations that have been identified for illegal or unreported fishing.

Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction

  • Large-scale driftnet fishing – a method of fishing that results in large bycatch of non-target fish and other marine animals – is already illegal on the high seas.

  • This bill amends the definition of large-scale driftnet fishing in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to phase it out in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone within five years.

Marine Mammal Research and Response

  • Increasing activity in the Arctic, including new ice breakers and shipping lanes by China, Russia and other countries, threatens the fragile Arctic ecosystem and the marine mammal species that depend upon it.

  • Directs analysis, planning and cooperation to expand Arctic mammal rescue and response capabilities

  • Creates a Marine Mammal Health Monitoring and Analysis Platform to collect and report data about the death of marine mammals, promoting interdisciplinary research, facilitating communication and improving collaboration among scientists and observation networks.

Restoring Resilient Reefs

  • Reauthorizes and amends the Coral Reef Conservation Act to better address climate change, ecosystem loss, disease outbreaks and other threats to corals.

  • Establishes new programs and funding opportunities for states and territories for coral research, conservation and restoration and authorizes the Coral Reef task force and Department of Interior coral reef activities focusing on U.S. insular areas.

Buy American Seafood

  • Expresses the sense of Congress that the U.S. government agencies that purchase seafood should prioritize buying seafood caught or harvested in the U.S.

  • Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to make grants to promote the consumption of seafood products that are local or domestic, climate-friendly for from well-managed but less known species.

Ocean and Costal Mapping Integration

  • Adds an assessment of progress in the study of Insular Areas and the effects of climate change as an element of the biennial report to Congress on progress in coverage and modernization of ocean and coastal mapping required by the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act.

Law Enforcement Attaché Deployment

  • The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is a global leader in the effort to stop wildlife trafficking, which is driven by the global demand for wildlife products.

  • The FWS attachés program includes criminal investigators who work with nations throughout the globe to combat wildlife trafficking.

  • Expands the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement attaché program to 50 attachés. This section authorizes $150,000,000 for each fiscal year 2022-2030.

Lacey Act Amendments

  • Addresses threats from wildlife disease and invasive species by amending the Lacey Act to allow for up to a three-year emergency ban on the importation of wildlife that poses imminent threats to human health.

  • Prohibits the transportation of injurious species across state lines in response to a circuit court ruling that limited the scope of the Lacey Act.

Shark Fin Sales Elimination

  • Prohibits the domestic sale of shark fins and creates a violation penalty under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

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