Teddy Bear News
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Magnuson-Stevens Act passed again
Author: teddygirl | Thursday February 08, 2007
In December 2006, Congress passed the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). The primary law governing fishing in U.S. waters, MSA was first passed in 1976, and requires reauthorization every 10 years. This year’s reauthorization includes important conservation measures for promoting sustainable fisheries nationwide.
The new law ends overfishing on all fish populations; increases the use of science in fisheries management decisions; supports the study and protection of deep-sea corals; and enacts national standards for quota-based programs, such as individual fishing quota programs. While the bill did fall short on some of the recommendations from the 2003 Pew Ocean Commission Report and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, the overall bill has been strengthened and, equally important, no rollbacks were included (as initially proposed by a House of Representatives version presented earlier in 2006).
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