The Magnuson-Ste-vens Fisheries Conservation Act (MSA) reauthorization was in play this spring and, to that point at least, there was remarkably little opposition to what may be the most successful fishery legislation in history. The MSA was originally aimed at kicking foreign j fishing fleets off our fish resources by extending the U.S. "Essential Economic Zone" out to 200 miles. It worked, and the big factory-fleets that could have strip-mined the ocean off our shores were stopped in their tracks. Later, the MSA was successfully used to "rationalize" fisheries, such as halibut, and most recently crab, to minimize waste, danger, and unnecessary capitalization of our fisheries. That, too, worked and the council process established itself as a model for the rest of the world by striking reasonable balances between resource conservation and human communities.
展开▼
