House Bill Would Undermine Healthy US Fisheries and Oceans - Oceana

House Bill Would Undermine Healthy US Fisheries and Oceans

Press Release Date: June 2, 2015

Location: Washington, DC

Contact:

Anna Baxter | email: abaxter@oceana.org
Anna Baxter

WASHINGTON–Today, the U.S. House of Representatives is debating a bill to rewrite the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, H.R. 1335, introduced by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska). 

Jacqueline Savitz, Oceana’s Vice President for U.S. Oceans, issued the following statement on the bill:

“The bipartisan Magnuson-Stevens Act is not broken. The Act is working to reverse overfishing and bring back fisheries abundance. This wrong-headed bill would turn the clock backwards on fisheries management and undermine important progress in restoring stocks to robust levels that can provide Americans with a steady supply of healthy seafood. This bill would seriously undercut the health of our fisheries, compromise the role of science in driving fisheries management, and create loopholes that weaken our ability to end overfishing and rebuild fishery ecosystems.”