NOAA Fisheries Service 12/8/06
National –
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Reauthorization Act Passes Congress
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On
December 8, 2006, in the final hours of the
109th Congress passed the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management
Reauthorization Act.
President Bush, through his Ocean Action
Plan, made reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens
Act a top priority. The President called for
an end to overfishing, increased use of
market-based management tools, creation of a
national saltwater angler registry, and an
emphasis on ecosystem approaches to
management.
The bill keeps intact the existing 10-year
rebuilding timeframe and adds in new
protections against overfishing. It requires
fishery managers to base all quotas on the
advice of scientists and advances new
limitations on "cap-and-trade" fishing permit
programs.
The new bill will:
- authorize the use of market-based
limited access privilege programs;
- require establishment of a
regionally-based registry for recreational
fishermen;
- strengthen fisheries enforcement;
- authorize the Secretary to provide
assistance to the Regional Fishery
Management Councils for development of
regional ecosystem pilot programs; and
- establishes Community Based Restoration
Programs that utilize public-private
partnerships to restore fishery and coastal
habitat, in line with the President's
Cooperative Conservation Agenda.
"We believe that this legislation is an
important step for the United States to
rebuild our nation's fisheries and will allow
our fishers to utilize all of the tools that
are available so their fishing businesses can
operate safely and economically," said Bill
Hogarth, director of the National Marine
Fisheries Service. |
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