 Ten years after the passage of the landmark Magnuson-Stevens Act of 1996, Congress beat back efforts to weaken the MSA’s conservation provisions and passed a bill which includes a number of reform-minded recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (2004). The reauthorized legislation includes ambitious new requirements aimed at ending overfishing, strengthening the role of science in the Councils, integrating NEPA compliance into decisionmaking, improving data and expanding research capabilities, establishing alternative funding sources, and enhancing discretionary habitat protection. The reauthorized Act also includes provisions to guide the development of limited access privilege programs (LAPPs), which are aimed at addressing excess fishing capacity. The Act falls short on a number of fronts, however, such as its failure to broaden public representation on the regional Councils or require region-specific bycatch reduction plans with performance goals and timelines. Troubling new language appears to restrict public access to fishery observer information, which is so broadly defined as to include nearly any fishery- or research-related information. In addition, the Act makes little progress in implementing ecosystem-based fishery management. Overall, the Act represents a significant advance for conservation on paper, but limited funding and insufficient management resources will present major challenges to effective implementation.
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
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Legislation 
