All about the Magnuson Stevens Act

[DarkSkies]

At the SSFFF meeting the other night I realized the foundation for much of the fishing legislation and laws we face today comes from the Magnuson Stevens Act.

It was a key piece of legislation that was imprtant because as I understand it, part of it addressed the 200 mile limit and foreign ships fishing our waters. I was just a kid then, but remember even back then writing a letter about it and trying to get involved.

I think a lot of people may not get involved in our current fishing issues because they may not understand how things used to be, or how bad things were at one time before they got better.

Guys like Finchaser, Surfwalker, Clamchucker, the OFFC, and others here have lived through the bad times. Sometimes it may seem like they rant too much :argue: but they speak from experience.

They have seen fishing, or catching, sink into the toilet from people being greedy, and if they sound like they're now preaching, it's because they don't want to see it happen again.

Denial, it's not just a river in Egypt! :cool:

Yet many new anglers are in denial, simply because they have not seen the years of fishing famine that we had not so long ago. :learn:

[DarkSkies]

In my mission to help educate more anglers as to why these "boring" things should be important to them, I'd like some of you members who have time to research some of the aspects of this Magnuson Act.

Post up what ya want, as long as it's related to the act or resulting legislation. I want to have a central place for this and other pieces of legislation so anyone who wants to learn can access it better.

If we are to ever garner support from more anglers, I want it to be because they have read some of this stuff, and start to feel the same outrage that I feel when I see legislators discounting our potential strength by shoving restrictive fishing legislation down our throats. :2flip: http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon3.gif

Knowledge is power, people, and I want to bring some of the potential of that power to all fishermen. :)

[njdiver]

Here's some starting points:

http://www.pcouncil.org/facts/msact.pdf

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007/details.html

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007/

Here's the Act:

http://www.nero.noaa.gov/sfd/MSA_amended_20070112_FINAL.pdf

[DarkSkies]

Thanks NJDiver!! :thumbsup: :HappyWave:

I came across when doing research for the other thread on proposed data collection and BSIA discussions in the thread NJdiver put up.


http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2005/

Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act of 2006

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) is the primary law governing marine fisheries management in United States federal waters.


The Act was first enacted in 1976 and amended in 1996. Most notably, the Magnuson-Stevens Act aided in the development of the domestic fishing industry by phasing out foreign fishing.


To manage the fisheries and promote conservation, the Act created eight regional fishery management councils.


The 1996 amendments focused rebuilding overfished fisheries, protecting essential fish habitat, and reducing bycatch.
President George W. Bush, through his Ocean Action Plan (http://ocean.ceq.gov/), made reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Act a top priority. The President called for a hard deadline to end overfishing, increased use of market-based management tools, creation of a national saltwater angler registry, and an emphasis on ecosystem approaches to management.

Learn more about the 2006 amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Act by clicking on the links below.

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, as amended through January 12, 2007 (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2005/docs/MSA_amended_msa%20_20070112_FINAL.pdf)
Enrolled Version of the Act (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007/2007reauth_notsigned.pdf)
• Title V: Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007/docs/TITLE_V.pdf)
• Title VI: Pacific Whiting (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007/docs/TITLE_VI.pdf) Redline Version of the Act (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007/MSA_Amended%20by%20Magnuson-Stevens%20Reauthorization%20Act%20(1-31-07%20draft).pdf)
Implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act overview presentation (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2005/MSA%202006%20Implementation%20Overview.pdf)