§ 53735 — Fisheries Financing And Capacity Reduction

(a) In this section, the term “program” means a fishing capacity reduction program established under section 312 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1861a). (b) The Secretary may guarantee the repayment of debt obligations issued by entities under this section. Debt obligations to be guaranteed may be issued by any entity that has been approved by the Secretary and has agreed with the Secretary to conditions the Secretary considers necessary for this section to achieve the objective of the program and to protect the interest of the United States. (c) A debt obligation guaranteed under this section shall— (1) be treated in the same manner and to the same extent as other obligations guaranteed under this chapter, except with respect to provisions of this chapter that by their nature cannot be applied to obligations guaranteed under this section; (2) have the fishing fees established under the program paid into a separate subaccount of the fishing capacity reduction fund established under this section; (3) not exceed $100,000,000 in an unpaid principal amount outstanding at any one time for a program; (4) have such maturity (not to exceed 20 years), take such form, and contain such conditions as the Secretary determines necessary for the program to which they relate; (5) have as the exclusive source of repayment (subject to the second sentence of subsection (d)(2)) and as the exclusive payment security, the fishing fees established under the program; and (6) at the discretion of the Secretary be issued in the public market or sold to the Federal Financing Bank. (1) There is a separate account in the Treasury, known as the Fishing Capacity Reduction Fund. Within the Fund, at least one subaccount shall be established for each program into which shall be paid all fishing fees established under the program and other amounts authorized for the program. (2) Amounts in the Fund shall be available, without appropriation or fiscal year limitation, to the Secretary to pay the cost of the program, including payments to financial institutions to pay debt obligations incurred by entities under this section. Funds available for this purpose from other amounts available for the program may also be used to pay those debt obligations. (3) Amounts in the Fund that are not currently needed for the purpose of this section shall be kept on deposit or invested in obligations of the United States Government. (e) The Secretary shall prescribe regulations the Secretary considers necessary to carry out this section.