May 17, 2006
Contact: Melissa Mazzella DeLaney (202) 226-9019
H.R. 5018 reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act, initially passed in 1976, which
oversees fisheries resources and fishing activities in Federal waters and
established the eight Regional Fishery Management Councils responsible for the
conservation and management of U.S. Fishery resources.
"After six years, 17 hearings and
testimony from 143 witnesses, I am happy to finally pass a Magnuson-Stevens
reauthorization bill out of the Resources Committee," Chairman
Richard Pombo said. "I very much appreciate the effort from my
colleagues to work together to create this compromise legislation. What we have
is a solid bill to take to the House floor and, eventually, to conference with
the Senate."
H.R. 5018 represents compromise legislation
from all involved parties, including ideas from earlier bills, recommendations
of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and many suggestions received by the
Resources Committee during public
hearings. It is modeled after the management framework of the North Pacific
Fishery Management Council, which is widely cited as the best in the nation.
In fact, at a recent hearing, the North Pacific Fishery's executive
director stated that H.R. 5018 "...contains clear direct language
regarding the establishment of annual catch limits, including provisions
regarding acceptable biological catch levels as recommended by the SSC. This
reflects a model that has been used in the North Pacific for three decades, and
I believe represents a significant strengthening of the conservation aspects of
the [A]ct."
"I am pleased that the Resources Committee
took this important step today toward passage of a balanced bill to reauthorize
the Magnuson-Stevens Act, essentially as sponsored by Chairman Pombo and
myself," Rep. Frank said. "I look forward to
continuing our work leading to a new law that will provide the framework for an
environmentally and economically sound fishing industry."
"I appreciate the work that Chairman Pombo
has put into this bipartisan legislation. While the bill does not go as
far as I would like in a few areas, I understand that the Chairman has worked
hard to create compromise legislation," Rep. Young
said. "As the representative of the state where approximately 50 percent of
all the seafood in the United States is landed, and where the North Pacific
Council has been touted as the best of the eight regional fishery management
councils, I appreciate the need to maintain the Council system and create an
atmosphere where decisions can be made by those who are most affected by the
management decisions. The North Pacific has no overfished fisheries and
this is testament to the hard work for the fishery managers and the use of
science in management decisions. This legislation encourages this type of
management for all fisheries across the
More on H.R. 5018:
National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA)
Most NEPA requirements are already part of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). H.R. 5018 adds the remaining two provisions to MSA
that the Resources Committee heard in hearings were not currently in the law.
The Secretary of Commerce would then make the determination if the MSA's
provisions are equivalent to NEPA's provisions.
If the Secretary of Commerce concludes that the
MSA's provisions are equivalent to NEPA's provision, the Secretary would have
the discretion to decide if NEPA's provisions have been met once a Council has
complied with MSA.
The executive
director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council also agrees that
NEPA should be streamlined with MSA, saying at a recent hearing that "[t]he
NEPA process does not and never will fit the dynamic nature of fisheries
management."
Rebuilding provisions
H.R. 5018 maintains the 10-year deadline to
rebuild fish stocks, but allows the Secretary of Commerce to extend it beyond 10
years in certain cases only:
At an April 25 hearing in
For more information on H.R. 5018, please click here.