Description:
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation on July 31, 2012
S. 1980 would authorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to implement an international agreement to reduce illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Under the bill, NOAA would be required to identify ports that can be used by foreign vessels, coordinate inspections of those vessels with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), deny port entry to vessels that have engaged in IUU fishing, and share information with foreign governments and other entities regarding the results of inspections and any actions taken if IUU fishing is discovered. S. 1980 also would establish civil and criminal penalties for entities that violate provisions in the bill.
Based on information provided by NOAA and the USCG, CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would have no significant impact on the federal budget.
Implementing S. 1980 would not significantly affect the workload of NOAA and the USCG because those agencies already carry out the activities required under the bill. Enacting the legislation could increase revenues (from civil and criminal penalties) and associated direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that such increases would be small and would offset each other in most years.
CBO has not reviewed S. 1980 for intergovernmental and private-sector mandates because section 4 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act excludes from the application of that act any legislative provisions that are necessary for the ratification or implementation of international treaty obligations. CBO has determined that the bill falls within that exclusion.
