On Friday, Congress re-authorized the Magnuson-Stevens Sustainable Fisheries Management Act, which was first authorized in 1997. Good news for anglers, the bill requires the federal Fishery Management Councils to recognize the $31 billion economic contribution of sportfishing when setting allocations.

The bill also places limits on the creation of no-fishing zones, requiring that they be based on sound science and that a review process be set to determine when and if they are no longer needed.

Other measures include: a time frame to end overfishing; new requirements for reducing bycatch; and provisions for buyouts of overcapitalized commercial fleets.

The bill also contains extensive provisions on individual fishing quotas to professionalize commercial fleets, and strengthen enforcement to fight illegal international fishing. Finally, key essential fish habitat conservation provisions were preserved.

As Congress began to debate Magnuson re-authorization, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) built a marine conservation working group that was joined by the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), Environmental Defense, the American Sportfishing Association, the Berkley Conservation Institute, the Izaak Walton League of America, and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.