The Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996 is an amendment to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, a law governing the management of marine

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Another major amendment to this legislation was later made under the ''Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006''. The SFA was enacted to amend the outdated MSFCMA of 1976. The amendment included changes to the purpose of the act, definitions, and international affairs, as well as many small changes. The U.S. Senate

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

S. 39 was passed by the 104th United States Congressional session and enacted into law by the 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton on October 11, 1996.

Purpose

There were several major changes to the purpose of the law: # Prohibiting fisheries managers from using social, economic, or any other justifications to allow catch targets to exceed a calculated "maximum sustainable yield." # Mandating that for each managed species, fisheries managers quantitatively define "

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...

" (certain specified maximum allowed rates of fishing mortality) and "overfished" (depletion below a certain population level). # Mandating regular assessment of which fish populations that are overfished, and creating an official list of overfished species in U.S. waters. # Mandating that for overfished species, plans must be enacted allowing them to recover to quantitatively specified target population levels (usually about one-third of the estimated pre-fishing population) within ten years (with certain exceptions). # Adding that catches of unintended species or unmarketable fish be reduced, to the extent practicable. # Adding the promotion of protection of "Essential Fish Habitat." # Adding the promotion of catch and release programs to conservation and management principles.

Definitions

The following terms which became relevant in the twenty years following the original act were added: *

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

* charter fishing *

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

* economic

discards Discards are the portion of a catch of fish which is not retained on board during commercial fishing operations and is returned, often dead or dying, to the sea. The practice of discarding is driven by economic and political factors; fish which are ...

* essential fish habitat *

fishing community A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 m ...

individual fishing quota Individual fishing quotas (IFQs), also known as "individual transferable quotas" (ITQs), are one kind of ''catch share'', a means by which many governments regulate fishing. The regulator sets a species-specific total allowable catch (TAC), typicall ...

* optimum yield *

(overfished) * Pacific Insular Area *

recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...

* regulatory discards * special areas * vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States

International affairs

Besides establishing the Pacific Insular Area fishery agreement regulations, the SFA directs the Secretary of State to "seek to secure an international agreement to establish standards and measures for bycatch reduction that are comparable to the standards and measures applicable to United States fishermen."

References

External links

* U.S. Public Law 104-297 http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/sustainable_fishereries_act.pdf * 16 U.S.C. §§ 1801-1884 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/usc_sec_16_00001801000-.html {{fishery science topics, expanded=management Acts of the 104th United States Congress 1996 in the environment Fish conservation United States federal environmental legislation Fisheries law