GENERAL INTENTS AND RELEVANT PROVISIONS OF LEGISLATION 



Fishery Conservation and Management Act 



In passing the Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

 (Public Law 94-265, 13 April 1976), the Congress recognized 

 the importance to the nation of the renewable fisheries re- 

 sources of the U.S. continental shelves. These resources 

 contribute to the U.S. food supply, economy and health, and 

 provide recreational opportunities (FCMA, Sec. 2). 



Before the passage of the FCMA, fishery conservation 

 and management practices had not been adequate to deal with 

 increasing fishing pressures. Some fish stocks upon which 

 U.S. fishermen are dependent had been overfished substantial- 

 ly. Heavy and frequently unregulated foreign fishing on the 

 U.S. continental shelves has contributed to overfishing and 

 sometimes interfered with domestic fishing efforts or caused 

 destruction of fishing gear. International fishery agree- 

 ments were not thought to be effective in preventing over- 

 fishing or in providing for recovery of overfished stocks. 

 In addition, because it has taken so long to establish effec- 

 tive international agreements, there has been a danger that 

 irreversible effects from overfishing could take place before 

 such agreements could be implemented. A national program 

 for conservation and management of U.S. fishery resources was 

 considered necessary to prevent overfishing, to rebuild over- 

 fished stocks, to ensure conservation and to realize the full 

 potential of those resources (H.R. Report No. 94-948 (1976)). 



The purposes of the FCMA were to take immediate action 

 to conserve and manage fishery resources of the U.S. conti- 

 nental shelves , to encourage international fishery agreements 

 for the conservation of highly migratory species , to provide 

 sound conservation and management principles for domestic, 

 commercial and recreational fishing, and to encourage the de- 

 velopment of fisheries which are underutilized or not utilized 

 by U.S. fishermen (FCMA, Sec. 2) 



The Act established a fishery conservation zone (FCZ) 

 contiguous with the U.S. territorial sea and extending 200 

 nautical miles offshore from the coast (the same baseline 

 from which the territorial sea is measured) of the U.S. and 

 its territories (see Figure 1). The U.S. exercises exclusive 

 fishery management authority over all fish resources in the 

 FCZ except highly migratory species, such as tuna. Under 

 the Act, the U.S. will regulate the activities of both for- 

 eign and domestic fishing vessels in the U.S. FCZ. Management 



