Statement From Lee Crockett, Executive Director of the Marine Fish Conservation Network on the Presidential Signing of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006
Posted on: Friday, 12 January 2007, 12:00 CST
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today marks the culmination of more than eight years of hard work from Members of Congress, NOAA, commercial and recreational fishermen, and environmental groups from across the U.S. who understand the importance and value of healthy oceans and productive fisheries. This bill should mark the beginning of a new chapter to increase protections for fishermen, ocean wildlife, and marine environments around the country.
We thank President Bush for his strong stance against overfishing, which is one of the greatest threats to the long-term health of our oceans. Congress answered his call to end overfishing with this bill. Now that the President has signed this bill into law, the burden lies with the National Marine Fisheries Service to develop strong regulations that fully implement what lawmakers have mandated. NMFS should take this bill as a clear message from Congress and from President Bush that our oceans and the people who depend on them require and deserve better management of our ocean fisheries.
The President and Congress should also allocate increased funding for cooperative scientific research, better fisheries data, habitat protection, and programs to monitor wasteful fishing practices, which have been seriously underfunded in past years. This law can only go as far as the money allocated to implement it. We should not let the hard work of this Congress go to waste solely because of a lack of funding.
Ensuring the long-term health of our fisheries is important for local economies and seafood consumers nationwide. We thank lawmakers for responding to the crisis with our oceans, for enacting important fishery management reforms, and for making the protections of our oceans a non-partisan issue that all sides can support.
CONTACT: Jo Knight of the Marine Fish Conservation Network, +1-202-607-9110.
Marine Fish Conservation Network
CONTACT: Jo Knight of the Marine Fish Conservation Network,+1-202-607-9110
Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire
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