Fishery management council process will be subverted

Dear fellow anglers & marine-related businesses:

Congress is considering legislation which would result in new and potentially harmful fishing regulations. H.R. 21, also known as Oceans 21, would set new requirements on fishermen and fisheries managers outside of and on top of the established process under the nation's primary fisheries law, the Magnuson-Stevens Act. This legislation would establish a comprehensive National Oceans Policy and guiding principles for use and management of U.S. coasts, oceans, Great Lakes and their resources. While the intention of this legislation is to improve coordination among federal agencies, laws and regulations, H.R. 21 would only result in additional layers of bureaucracy within the management of federal marine fisheries.

For more than 30 years, federally managed species have been regulated through the Magnuson-Stevens Act. As currently written, H.R. 21 would create a separate and likely conflicting bureaucratic regime under which fisheries would have to be regulated.

Please contact your member of Congress and request that H.R. 21 be amended to ensure that the science-based, stakeholder-driven process of the Magnuson-Stevens Act ??? not Oceans 21 ??? remains the exclusive authority to manage federal marine fisheries.

Contact John DePersenaire at jdepersenaire@joinrfa.org for more information. If you would no longer like to receive this Action Alert, please visit http://www.joinrfa.org/Newsletter.htm to be removed from the list!