Legislative Background
Recent Action on Magnuson-Stevens
During the 109th Congress, Capitol Hill legislators took up the Nation’s major law governing management of fisheries in Federal offshore waters for the first time in a decade. The 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act was last updated in 1996, when Congress amended the law to require fisheries to rebuild overfished stock in most cases. Ten years later, however, experts say the fish populations are still severely threatened. The authorization of appropriations for the Magnuson-Stevens law expired at the end of Fiscal Year 1999, and the law has been extended annually since then.Senate and House Bills On June 18,…
