April 14, 2026 — As the U.S. celebrates its 250th birthday this year, many of us in the fishing and ocean communities are also celebrating another important milestone: the 50th anniversary of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the law responsible for ensuring wild-caught seafood from U.S. waters will nourish our families and sustain our coastal businesses and economies for generations.
America’s storied fishing tradition pre-dates our nation’s birth, but the passage of the 1976 Fishery Conservation and Management Act marked the beginning of our nation’s path toward sustainable management of our fisheries. Over the subsequent thirty years, Congress added science-based conservation mandates to stop chronic overfishing and rebuild depleted fish stocks, leading to one of the most effective fisheries management systems in the world.