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Dan MacMeekin         Attorney at Law        Washington, DC, USA

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U.S. Pacific Insular Area Fisheries

[Western Pacific Community Development Programs]

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Section 1855. Other requirements and authority

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(2)

(A) The Western Pacific Council and the Secretary may establish a western Pacific community development program for any fishery under the authority of such Council in order to provide access to such fishery for western Pacific communities that participate in the program.

(B) To be eligible to participate in the western Pacific community development program, a community shall -

(i) be located within the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Area;

(ii) meet criteria developed by the Western Pacific Council, approved by the Secretary and published in the Federal Register;

(iii) consist of community residents who are descended from the aboriginal people indigenous to the area who conducted commercial or subsistence fishing using traditional fishing practices in the waters of the Western [2] Pacific region;

(iv) not have previously developed harvesting or processing capability sufficient to support substantial participation in fisheries in the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Area; and

(v) develop and submit a Community Development Plan to the Western Pacific Council and the Secretary.

(C) In developing the criteria for eligible communities under subparagraph (B)(ii), the Western Pacific Council shall base such criteria on traditional fishing practices in or dependence on the fishery, the cultural and social framework relevant to the fishery, and economic barriers to access to the fishery.

(D) For the purposes of this subsection ''Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Area'' means the area under the jurisdiction of the Western Pacific Council, or an island within such area.

(E) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Western Pacific Council shall take into account traditional indigenous fishing practices in preparing any fishery management plan.

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(3) The Secretary shall deduct from any fees collected from a community development quota program under section 1854(d)(2) of this title the costs incurred by participants in the program for observer and reporting requirements which are in addition to observer and reporting requirements of other participants in the fishery in which the allocation to such program has been made.

(4) After October 11, 1996, the North Pacific Council and Western Pacific Council may not submit to the Secretary a community development quota program that is not in compliance with this subsection.

[Section 111(b) of the Sustainable Fisheries Act also authorized the Western Pacific Demonstration Grants, a program of grants to Western Pacific communities "to foster and promote traditional and indigenous fishing practices."

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