WASHINGTON — March 14, 2013 — The Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs Federal fisheries management and conservation, is set to expire in September. The process to renew the Act got started Wednesday in Congress with a hearing of the House Natural Resources Committee.
The Magnuson-Stevens act was a monumental piece of legislation that has been credited with saving and protecting many of the commercial fisheries that take place in federal waters including the massive fisheries for pollock, crab, cod and other species in the Bering Sea. The Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee is Representative Doc Hastings from Washington who began Wednesday's hearing with some initial comments about the first hearing of the new Congress on the reauthorization process. He observed that the last reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act was in 2006 and during the last Congress there were a number of proposals to change the act, including to add additional transparency in the "Fisheries Management Council" process and to further define catch share management programs and tools. Representative Hastings stressed that during the reauthorization process the Natural Resources Committee will examine the need for better data collection.
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