Sustainable Fisheries

The Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act

An update to the nation’s premier marine fisheries law

The nation’s premier marine fisheries law is the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). The law was originally passed in 1976 and has been reauthorized twice (most recently in 2006). The MSA has been transformative in managing U.S. fisheries sustainably. Even so, there are a number of growing challenges—like climate change—and longstanding issues in fishery management that could be addressed by making improvements to the law.

Representatives Jared Huffman (D-CA- 2), James Moylan (R-Guam-At-Large) Ed Case (D-HI-1), and Mary Peltola (D-AK-At-Large) have introduced H.R. 8862, a bipartisan bill to improve and reauthorize the MSA. The Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act of 2024 builds on the bill that Reps. Huffman and Case introduced last Congress (H.R. 4690) following a year-long listening tour to understand ongoing fishery management issues.

The Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act offers a bold and comprehensive update to the law. It would modernize fishery management to address serious conservation issues and move us towards a more just and equitable management system.

Previous reauthorizations of the MSA have been bipartisan efforts that strengthened the conservation provisions of the law and improved the sustainability of U.S. fisheries. The introduced bill would continue this legacy of improvements. It would enact much-needed reforms to the law to promote healthy fish stocks, fisheries and fishing communities.

The proposals offered in the bill would enhance our ocean’s long-term ability to provide food and support businesses, recreation, culture and thriving coastal communities. The bill seeks to ready fisheries for climate change, support fishing communities, improve representation and accountability for fishery managers, enhance the collection and use of fishery and recreational data, promote healthy fish habitat, reduce bycatch, rebuild fish stocks and protect forage fish. The bill also makes important changes to advance justice, equity and access the fishery management process, including by adding consideration of subsistence fishing in the MSA and by the addition of Tribal representation to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council as requested by Alaska Native Tribes. To support these improvements to the law, the bill also increases the amount authorized for appropriations to implement the MSA, which gives Congress more authority to provide increasing funding levels.