November 26, 2019 — A once-in-a-decade opportunity for everyone to weigh in on the management of our fisheries has been put into motion.
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act is the primary federal law that governs all management of marine fisheries in federal waters of the United States. The act governs both commercial and recreational fishing sectors. First enacted by bi-partisan legislation in 1976, it has been reauthorized and amended by Congress in 1996 and 2006. The intent was to update and reauthorize the MSA every 10 years. Obviously, a reauthorization in 2016 did not occur and the MSA has remained essentially unchanged since 2006.
U.S. Representative Jared Huffman has set a goal to have the MSA reauthorized in the spring of 2020. To that end, he is holding a series of roundtable meetings throughout the country to gather input from all stakeholders as to how they feel the MSA can be updated and improved. I attended, as an audience member, the roundtable that was held in San Francisco on Oct. 7.
Congressman Huffman presided over a panel of 11 people who represented organizations concerned with commercial and recreational fishing. Congressman Huffman set the tone by stating that he was there to listen and gather information and opinions from all parties. He also stressed that he will try to garner bi-partisan support for the reauthorization process. He took extensive notes and asked questions for clarification. No conclusions or rebuttals were offered. It was truly an information-gathering atmosphere.