WASHINGTON — May 30, 2014 — The Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act (H.R. 4742) was approved by a House committee on Thursday, May 29. The House Natural Resources Committee voted in favor of the bill, which would reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation & Management Act. The committee approved a series of amendments.
The bill passed on a roll call vote of 24 to 17. One of the approved amendments would require new federal-state partnerships to collect recreational fishing data. The Department of Commerce would have to work with states and give guidance to help them collect info. The amendment would require a report every other year detailing the efforts. States could get federal grants to collect the data. Within two months of the bill's passage, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences would start work on a study to see how collection of state fisheries data has improved since 2006. The report would be due in a year.
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