Description:
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on September 17, 2014
S. 2482 would implement the Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the North Pacific Ocean (Convention). CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would cost less than $500,000 a year over the 2015-2019 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Because enacting the legislation would not affect direct spending or revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
The Convention that would be implemented under the bill would call for a science-based, precautionary approach to managing fisheries resources in the North Pacific Ocean. The Convention would establish two managing committees to carry out the functions of the Convention, including conducting environmental assessments of fisheries to ensure that no vulnerable marine ecosystems would be harmed if fishing were permitted in those areas. Based on information provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of State and assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that carrying out the new Convention would cost less than $500,000 a year over the 2015-2019 period. Those funds would be used to cover costs for annual dues, staff time, travel, and programmatic activities.
CBO has not reviewed S. 2482 for intergovernmental or private-sector mandates. 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 because it would implement the North Pacific Fisheries Convention.
