U.S. House Passes Resolution to Improve Magnuson Act

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to pass H.R. 1335, amending and reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Act “to provide flexibility for fishery managers and stability for fishermen, and for other purposes.”

The vote was lauded by conservation-oriented recreational saltwater fishing groups such as Coastal Conservation Association, American Sportfishing Association and The Billfish Foundation.

Passage of the resolution may be taken as very good news by the citizens of Florida.

In recent years, Florida anglers who enjoy catching red snapper, red grouper, black seabass, triggerfish and many other good-eating species have suffered under a management system which has catered more and more to commercial fishing interests, obstructed positive change, spawned exponentially more complex regulations, and sown discord between recreational anglers and for-hire captains.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act, first passed by Congress in 1976, is a vital legislative mechanism to conserve marine fisheries. Elements such as the exclusion of foreign factory trawlers from U.S. waters, and the enabling of science-based fishery management plans, remain as important as ever for keeping fish in our waters. However, over the years, certain amendments to the Act—steered by political winds—created unnecessary burdens for anglers, while hobbling economic growth in the sportfishing and recreational boating industries.

Among other things, the House resolution contains changes to the MSA aimed at improving recreational data collection, promoting transparency and fairness in allocations, and forestalling unnecessary closures based on arbitrary limits.

“The House action recognizes the increasing popularity of saltwater recreational fishing, which contributes $70 billion annually to the nation's economy and supports 454,000 jobs in every type of business from marinas, tackle shops and boat dealerships to restaurants, motels and clothing stores,” said Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Coastal Conservation, based in Baton Rouge, LA.

On behalf of Yamaha Marine Group, a key industry supporter of affirmative change in the Act, Ben Speciale called the House vote a “very significant victory for the coalition of recreational anglers and conservation groups that have worked so hard for the last several years to effect change in the reauthorization of MSA.”

The Resolution passed the House with 236 Yeas, and 173 Nays. The vote was split on party lines, with Florida Republicans such as Jeff Miller, representing Walton County, and Ander Crenshaw, of Northeast Florida, affirming the important changes to the Magnuson Act. Elements of the resolution had been envisioned by the Commission on Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Management, often called the Morris-Deal Commission. Commission Co-Chairman Scott Deal, of Vero Beach, Florida, is president of Maverick Boat Company, and is profiled in the June 2015 print issue of Florida Sportsman Magazine, now on newsstands [see “Sharing the Boat,” page 68].

Among the three co-sponsors of the Resolution was Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama, a state whose legacy of fostering red snapper fisheries through aggressive reef-building has been all but overlooked by the federal National Marine Fisheries Service.

Predictably, a few commercial fishery boosters lamented the House vote. One organization decried the “prospect of review” of allocations—presumably allocations such as the Gulf red snapper IFQ system which grants more than half of a fishery to 400 or so commercial permit-holders, leaving hundreds of thousands of recreational anglers with 11-day seasons—or options to buy “access” to red snapper via headboats. The same group resurrected a canard used during the Florida Net Ban days, essentially accusing the House of Representatives of conspiring to “deprive millions of Americans of access to American seafood.” Opposition to the resolution was also voiced by the Pew Foundation and the Marine Fish Conservation Network, which assumed a posture of representing a “coalition of commercial and recreational” fishermen.

A Senate bill to reauthorize the Magnuson Act has been filed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). According Angers of the Center for Coastal Conservation, Rubio's bill includes several pillars of the Morris-Deal vision.

“The senator is committing to pulling it across the finish line,” said Angers “We understand he is planning to move the bill this month, and we plan to help him in every way.”

Speciale, of Yamaha, added, “We look forward to working with Senator Rubio and Members of the Senate Commerce Committee, on both sides of the aisle, as they lead the effort on the reauthorization of MSA in the Senate.”