South Pacific Tuna Treaty Act of 2025
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReceived; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Mrs. Radewagen (for herself and Mr. Case) introduced the following …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The South Pacific Tuna Treaty Act of 2025 updates and modernizes the 37-year-old framework that allows U.S. commercial tuna fishing vessels to operate in the waters of Pacific Island nations. The bill reauthorizes the treaty, streamlines licensing procedures, and strengthens enforcement while also expanding assistance to Pacific Island partners.
Who Benefits and How
U.S. Commercial Tuna Fishing Industry: Vessel operators benefit from simplified licensing procedures, removal of outdated prescriptive requirements (like specific boom-lowering rules), and more flexible administrative processes for securing fishing access.
Pacific Island Nations: These nations receive expanded technical assistance including training programs, capacity building, and help facilitating private sector partnerships to develop their fisheries resources.
NOAA and Department of Commerce: The agency gains more administrative flexibility in reviewing agreements and establishing procedures, with open-ended appropriations authorization starting in fiscal year 2025.
Who Bears the Burden and How
U.S. Tuna Vessel Operators: While benefiting from streamlined procedures, operators now face new compliance requirements including adherence to regional terms and conditions set by the Forum Fisheries Agency, and must comply with fishing effort and catch limits. Violations of these new requirements carry expanded civil penalty exposure.
U.S. Taxpayers: The bill authorizes indefinite appropriations ("such sums as may be necessary") for treaty implementation and technical assistance to Pacific Island nations.
NOAA: The agency takes on new responsibilities for data confidentiality management and must establish new procedures for protecting sensitive fishing information.
Key Provisions
- Adds new prohibited acts: violating regional terms/conditions and exceeding authorized fishing effort or catch limits
- Expands civil penalty exposure by removing previous exemptions for certain violations
- Streamlines licensing by clarifying fee payment under the Treaty and updating application procedures
- Establishes data confidentiality rules protecting fishing information while allowing disclosure for enforcement, national security, and treaty administration
- Removes prescriptive equipment stowage requirements, delegating specifics to the Secretary
- Authorizes expanded technical assistance to Pacific Island nations including training and private sector partnership facilitation
- Reauthorizes appropriations for FY2025 and beyond with open-ended funding authorization
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Amends the South Pacific Tuna Act of 1988 to modernize and update the framework for licensing U.S. commercial purse seine vessels to fish for tuna in the South Pacific Treaty Area, including updated definitions, prohibited acts, enforcement procedures, and technical assistance provisions.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Modernize and streamline the U.S. tuna fishing treaty framework to align with current treaty provisions, reduce regulatory complexity, and expand technical assistance to Pacific Island nations"
Likely Beneficiaries
- U.S. commercial tuna fishing vessel owners and operators
- Pacific Island Parties (receiving technical assistance and capacity building)
- Forum Fisheries Agency (enhanced coordination role)
Likely Burden Bearers
- U.S. tuna vessel operators (new regional terms compliance and catch limits)
- NOAA/Secretary of Commerce (enforcement and administration)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Commerce (NOAA)
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of the Forum Fisheries Agency (Pacific Islands regional body)
- "the_secretary_of_state"
- → Secretary of State
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A license noticed and in effect in accordance with the Treaty (updated from prior reference to Annex I)
Area within the jurisdiction of a Pacific Island Party that is closed to vessels pursuant to a national law of that Pacific Island Party and is noticed and in effect
Includes harvesting of fish for any purpose, and use of any vessel/vehicle/aircraft/hovercraft for fishing activities except emergencies
Commercial purse seine fishing for tuna (narrowed from 'commercial fishing')
Waters under jurisdiction of a Pacific Island Party, except internal waters, territorial seas, archipelagic waters, and any Closed Area
Terms or conditions attached by the Administrator to the license issued by the Administrator, as notified by the Secretary
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology