U.S. Coastal and Ocean Legislation Update

H.R.774, the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015, and H.R. 34, the Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act of 2015 were passed in the Senate. H.R. 774 aims to strengthen enforcement mechanisms to stop illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. H.R.34 would authorize and strengthen the tsunami detection, forecast, warning, research, and mitigation program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

 

H.R. 2168, which would let West Coast states permanently take over management of the Dungeness crab fishery, was passed in the House.

Other recently introduced bills include:

West Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2015 (S.2155), which would permanently prohibit the conduct of offshore drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington.

Save Our Bays Act (H.R.3479), which would provide a credit for developing and implementing plans to address non-point source pollution affecting nationally significant estuaries.

Offending Oil Polluters Act (H.R.3760), which would deny certain tax benefits to persons responsible for the discharge of oil or other hazardous substances into navigable waters of the United States.

A legislative tracker maintained by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership is available here.

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