July 23, 2018 — Dig out the tackle box and gas up the boat. The most sweeping overhaul of federal fishing laws in more than a decade is swimming its way through Congress – and long-frustrated recreational anglers are delighted.
The reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, passed by the House this month largely along partisan lines, aims to give weekend fishermen expanded access to rebounding saltwater stocks that the decades-old law has helped rescue. A similar but more limited measure is making its way through the Senate and could be approved later this year.
Past efforts to loosen restrictions have largely died, in no small part because of opposition by the Obama administration. But private-boat anglers and the coastal businesses that support them sense momentum on their side, pointing to steps lawmakers have taken to advance their agenda and temporary actions the Trump administration has taken during the past year to expand saltwater access.