Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996

Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996

Long title	An Act to amend the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act to authorize appropriations, to provide for sustainable fisheries, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	SFA FFA
Nicknames	Fisheries Financing Act
Enacted by	the 104th United States Congress
Effective	October 11, 1996
Citations
Public law	104-297
Statutes at Large	110 Stat. 3559
Codification
Titles amended	16 U.S.C.: Conservation
U.S.C. sections amended	16 U.S.C. ch. 38, subch. II § 1812 16 U.S.C. ch. 38, subch. III §§ 1821, 1822, 1823, 1824, 1826 16 U.S.C. ch. 38, subch. IV §§ 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858, 1860, 1861, 1861a, 1862, 1863 16 U.S.C. ch. 38, subch. V §§ 1881, 1881a, 1881b, 1881c, 1881d, 1882, 1883
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 39 by Ted Stevens (R–AK) on January 4, 1995 Committee consideration by Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation, House Resources Passed the Senate on September 19, 1996 (Roll call vote 295, via Senate.gov 100-0) Passed the House on September 27, 1996 (Roll call vote 448, via Clerk.House.gov 384-30) Signed into law by President William J. Clinton on October 11, 1996

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 in the United States. 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 The SFA was enacted to amend the outdated MSFCMA of 1976.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 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.^[1]

Purpose

There were several major changes to the purpose of the law:

1. Prohibiting fisheries managers from using social, economic, or any other justifications to allow catch targets to exceed a calculated "maximum sustainable yield."
2. Mandating that for each managed species, fisheries managers quantitatively define "overfishing" (certain specified maximum allowed rates of fishing mortality) and "overfished" (depletion below a certain population level).
3. Mandating regular assessment of which fish populations that are overfished, and creating an official list of overfished species in U.S. waters.
4. 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).
5. Adding that catches of unintended species or unmarketable fish be reduced, to the extent practicable.
6. Adding the promotion of protection of "Essential Fish Habitat."
7. 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
• charter fishing
• commercial fishing
• economic discards
• essential fish habitat
• fishing community
• individual fishing quota
• optimum yield
• overfishing (overfished)
• Pacific Insular Area
• recreational 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 http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/usc_sec_16_00001801000-.html

Fisheries science and wild fisheries Fisheries science Population dynamics of fisheries Shifting baseline Fish stock Fish mortality Condition index Stock assessment Fish measurement Standard weight in fish Fish counter Data storage tag Catch per unit effort Otolith microchemical analysis Biomass Fisheries acoustics Acoustic tag Coded wire tag GIS and aquatic science Pop-up satellite archival tag EcoSCOPE Age class structure Trophic level Trophic cascades Match/mismatch hypothesis Fisheries and climate change Marine biology Aquatic ecosystems Bioeconomics EconMult Ecopath FishBase Census of Marine Life OSTM Fisheries databases Institutes Fisheries scientists Wild fisheries Ocean fisheries Diversity of fish Coastal fish Coral reef fish Demersal fish Forage fish Pelagic fish Cod fisheries Crab fisheries Eel fisheries Krill fisheries Kelp fisheries Lobster fisheries Shrimp fishery Eel ladder Fish ladder Fish screen Migration Salmon run Sardine run Shoaling and schooling Marine habitats Marine snow Water column Upwelling Humboldt current Algal blooms Dead zones Fish kill

Fisheries management, sustainability and conservation Management Fisheries management Fisheries law Monitoring control and surveillance Vessel monitoring system Fishery Resources Monitoring System Catch reporting Fisheries observer Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing Magnuson–Stevens Act Pulse fishing Fisheries organizations Quotas Catch share Individual fishing quota Minimum landing size Slot limit Bycatch Discards Incidental catch Cetacean bycatch Turtle excluder device Shrimp-Turtle case EU quotas EU MLS Exclusive economic zone Sustainability Sustainable fisheries Maximum sustainable yield List of harvested aquatic animals by weight Sustainable seafood Overfishing Environmental effects of fishing Fishing down the food web Destructive fishing practices Future of Marine Animal Populations The Sunken Billions The End of the Line Conservation Marine Protected Area Marine reserve Marine conservation Marine conservation activism Salmon conservation Grey nurse shark conservation Shark sanctuary Organisations The Black Fish Marine Stewardship Council Aquaculture Stewardship Council Friend of the Sea SeaChoice Seafood Watch Ocean Conservancy Oceana Sea Around Us Project WorldFish Center Defying Ocean's End HERMIONE PROFISH International Seafood Sustainability Foundation Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Greenpeace Related issues CalCOFI Fish slaughter Marine pollution Mercury in fish Shark finning Threatened sharks Threatened rays List of fishing topics by subject Index of fishing articles Fisheries glossary