1998 

 OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Bering Sea crab boats and 

 shoreside processors in 

 Dutch Harbor-Unaiaska, 

 Alaska, the Nation's leading 

 fishing port by landed catch 

 and value. 



THE CONSERVATION RECORD 



It has long been recognized that tisheiy re- 

 sources are not inexhatistible, and that manage- 

 tnent tneasures are needed to ensure that they are 

 harvested in a sustainable manner. The concept ot 

 overfishing, and the need to avoid it or reverse its 

 effects, achieved |-oremost prominence in the 1976 

 law that regulates marine fisheries in the U.S. Ex- 

 clusive Economic Zone — the Magnuson Fishery 

 Conservation and Management Act (MFCMA'). 

 That Act's principal purpose is "to take immedi- 

 ate action to conserve and manage the fishery re- 

 sources found off the coasts ot the United States 



When the legislation became effective, several 

 fishery resources were considered to be overfished, 

 having declined "to the point where their survival 

 is threatened," and the MFCMA sought to reverse 



'The MFC;MA h.is been amended many time.s. most recenciv 

 durini; reauthorization by Congress in October l')')(i 

 tlirough ihe Sustainable Fisheries Act. It is currently reterred 

 to as [he Magnuson-Stevcns Fishery Conservation anti M.ui- 

 agenuni An (MSFCMA). 



this situation for those stocks, while preventing it 

 in other stocks by managing all resources h)r opti- 

 mal long-term use. To accomplish this, the 

 MFCMA established eight regional fishery man- 

 agement councils and entrusted them with pre- 

 paring fishery management plans that "will achieve 

 and maintain, on a continuing basis, the optimum 

 yield from each fisher)'." In addition, the MFCMA 

 sought to encourage the development ot the U.S. 

 fishing industry by phasing out hireign fishing 

 which was then perceived to be the main cause of 

 overfishing. 



Over 20 years have elapsed since the MFCMA 

 came into effect, but many stocks remain over- 

 fished. Operational definitions of overfishing and 

 rebuilding plans tor overfished stocks ha\e been 

 formally required in Federal fishery management 

 plans since 1 989, but it is only in the last tew years 

 that stock recoveries have begun to materialize. In 

 a 1998 report to Congress on the status ot U.S. 

 fisheries (NMFS, 1998), NOAA's National Ma- 

 rine Fisheries Service (NMFS) categorized 90 

 stocks as being overfished, 1(1 as approaching an 

 overfished condition, 200 as not overfished, and 

 S44 as having unknown status relative to overfish- 

 ing (although the stocks ot unknown status repre- 

 sent less than 3% of U.S. landings). Fhus, ot the 



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