Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 109 Part 1.djvu/404

 109 STAT. 388 PUBLIC LAW 104-43—NOV. 3, 1995 encourages the United States Commissioners to add enforcement provisions similar to those applicable to bluefin tuna. (c) ENHANCED MONITORING. —It is further the sense of the Congress that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Customs Service should enhance monitoring activities to ascertain what specific stocks are being imported into the United States and the country of origin. (d) MULTILATERAL ENFORCEMENT PROCESS.— It is further the sense of the Congress that the United States Commissioners should pursue as a priority the establishment and implementation prior to December 31, 1996, an effective multilateral process that will enable ICCAT nations to enforce the conservation recommendations of the Commission. TITLE IV—FISHERMEN'S PROTECTIVE ACT 22 USC 1980a SEC. 401. FINDINGS. The Congress finds that— (1) customary international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea guarantee the right of passage, including innocent passage, to vessels through the waters commonly referred to as the "Inside Passage" off the Pacific Coast of Canada; (2) in 1994 Canada required all commercial fishing vessels of the United States to pay 1,500 Canadian dollars to obtain a "license which authorizes transit" through the Inside Passage; (3) this action was inconsistent with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and, in particular. Article 26 of that Convention, which specifically prohibits such fees, and threatened the safety of United States commercial fishermen who sought to avoid the fee by traveling in less protected waters; (4) the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 provides for the reimbursement of vessel owners who are forced to pay a license fee to secure the release of a vessel which has been seized, but does not permit reimbursement of a fee paid by the owner in advance in order to prevent a seizure; (5) Canada required that the license fee be paid in person in 2 ports on the Pacific Coast of Canada, or in advance by mail; (6) significant expense and delay was incurred by commercial fishing vessels of the United States that had to travel from the point of seizure back to one of those ports in order to pay the license fee required by Canada, and the costs of that travel and delay cannot be reimbursed under the Fishermen's Protective Act; (7) the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 should be amended to permit vessel owners to be reimbursed for fees required by a foreign government to be paid in advance in order to navigate in the waters of that foreign country if the United States considers that fee to be inconsistent with international law; (8) the Secretary of State should seek to recover from Canada any amounts paid by the United States to reimburse vessel owners who paid the transit license fee; (9) the United States should review its current policy with respect to anchorage by commercial fishing vessels of Canada

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