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House Passage of Marine Fisheries Bill on Hold with Improvements Under Consideration

Press Room

Press Release

For Immediate Release
July 21, 2006
For more information contact:
Jodi Stemler, (703) 915-1386

House Passage of Marine Fisheries Bill on Hold with Improvements Under Consideration

WASHINGTON - A vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on marine fisheries legislation was anticipated for next week but was postponed until after the August recess, temporarily putting off the final stage for this critical piece of legislation. Recreational angling and conservation allies working together through the “Angling 4 Oceans” coalition today expressed support for efforts this week to address important issues in the latest reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act but also expressed that the House needs to continue moving forward in voting on the bill.

This week, through the leadership of representatives Richard Pombo (R-CA), Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) and Jim Saxton (R-NJ), progress was made on several key provisions in H.R. 5018, the American Fisheries Management and Marine Life Protection Act, including:

• Overfishing deadlines;
• Rebuilding fisheries; and
• Integrating fisheries management plans with the National Environmental Policy Act. 

We appreciate the good faith efforts and negotiations these members have had on these issues and look forward to decisive action in September. The Senate passed its version of Magnuson-Stevens in June.

As Congress goes into its August recess, we hope that these key members will rally support for House passage of a good bill and that leaders in both the House and the Senate will make final passage of a Magnuson-Stevens bill a top priority. With a good bill from the Senate, and a good bill hopefully to come from the House in early September, these bills should be conferenced in short order and sent to the president for his signature. Congress needs to take advantage of this historic opportunity to significantly improve the management of our precious marine resources.

Core groups of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership’s Angling 4 Oceans campaign are the American Sportfishing Association, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Berkley Conservation Institute, Coastal Conservation Association, Environmental Defense, and the Izaak Walton League of America.

For additional information about the Magnuson-Stevens Act and more details on this coalitions priorities, go to: www.angling4oceans.org.

***

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is a coalition of leading hunting, fishing and conservation organizations, labor unions and individual partners working together to guarantee access to places to hunt and fish, conserve fish and wildlife habitat, and increase funding for conservation.