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The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976,
as amended, provides the United States with exclusive management authority over fisheries,
except for highly migratory species of tuna, within a fishery conservation zone of 3 to 200 miles offshore. The
law was enacted to insure sound fishery conservation and management measures for both domestic and foreign fisheries.
Eight regional fishery management councils were established to serve as planning units to carry out provisions
of the Act. Each Council is directed to prepare fishery management plans for implementation
by the Secretary of
Commerce.
The Mid-Atlantic Council
consists of representatives from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, and North Carolina. The Council consists of 25 members (21 voting, 4 non-voting), representing State
and Federal agencies and the public. The voting members are the Regional Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries
Service, a State fisheries official from each State, and thirteen public members nominated by the State Governors
and selected by the Secretary of Commerce. Each State is entitled to at least one public member, with the remaining
public members appointed at-large. The public members serve three-year terms. The non-voting members represent
the Fish and Wildlife Service (Dept. of the Interior), the US Coast Guard, the State Department, and the Atlantic
States Marine Fisheries Commission. A permanent staff, a Scientific and Statistical Committee, and an Advisory
Panel are established to support and advise the Council.
The Scientific and Statistical
Committee
has up to 20 members (currently 18
with 2 vacancies) appointed by the Council for two-year
terms.
The Council also appoints industry advisors to work with Council Committees during the preparation of fishery management
plans and amendments.
FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLANS
Fishery management plans must conform to national standards and take into consideration
social, economic, biological, and environmental factors associated with fisheries. The national standards are:
NATIONAL STANDARD 1 -
Conservation and
management measures shall prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each
fishery for the United States fishing industry.
NATIONAL STANDARD 2 -
Conservation and
management measures shall be based upon the best scientific information available.
NATIONAL STANDARD 3 -
To the extent
practicable, an individual stock of fish shall be managed as a unit throughout its range, and interrelated stocks
of fish shall be managed as a unit or in close coordination.
NATIONAL STANDARD 4 -
Conservation and
management measures shall not discriminate between residents of different States. If it becomes necessary to allocate
or assign fishing privileges among various United States fishermen, such allocation shall be:
Fair and equitable
to all such fishermen;
Reasonably calculated
to promote conservation; and
Carried out in
such a manner that no particular individual, corporation, or other entity acquires an excessive share of such privileges.
NATIONAL STANDARD 5 -
Conservation and
management measures shall, where practicable, consider efficiency in the utilization of the fishery resources;
except that no such measure shall have economic allocation as its sole purpose.
NATIONAL STANDARD 6 -
Conservation and
management measures shall take into account and allow for variations among, and contingencies in, fisheries, fishery
resources, and catches.
NATIONAL STANDARD 7 -
Conservation
and management measures shall, where practicable, minimize costs and avoid unnecessary duplication.
NATIONAL STANDARD 8 -
Conservation and
management measures shall, consistent with the conservation requirements of this Act (including the prevention
of overfishing and rebuilding of overfished stocks), take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing
communities in order to (A) provide for the sustained participation of such communities, and (B) to the extent
practicable, minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities.
NATIONAL STANDARD 9 -
Conservation and
management measures shall, to the extent practicable, (A) minimize bycatch and (B) to the extent bycatch cannot
be avoided, minimize the mortality of such bycatch.
NATIONAL STANDARD 10 -
Conservation
and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, promote the safety of human life at sea.
FINANCIAL
INTEREST OF MEMBERS
Council members may have an interest in any
fishery-related harvesting, processing, lobbying,
advocacy, or marketing activity as long as they disclose
the extent of this interest to the public. This ensures
that knowledgeable fishing industry members can serve on
the Council. Council members are not allowed to vote on
matters that would benefit only them or a minority of
other people within the same sector or gear group.
MAFMC member financial disclosure
forms must be available for public inspection
on the Internet and at the Council office. Details of
this requirement are provided in the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act –
Section 302 (j) DISCLOSURE OF
FINANCIAL INTEREST AND RECUSAL. |
