Tell Your Representative: Vote for healthy, abundant oceans

Currently, Reps. Jared Huffman, Ed Case, and Mary Peltola are pushing to update and strengthen the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the primary law governing U.S. marine fisheries management. It’s time to continue rebuilding and protecting the health of America’s fisheries through this vital, forward-looking legislation, the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act (H.R. 4690).

We must ensure our oceans and fisheries remain healthy by acting now.

Tell your representative to enhance our U.S. fisheries law today by supporting this legislation.

target letter

Dear {contact_data~salutation},

As you know, in the 46 years since the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) was passed, the statute has been a hallmark of cooperation, bipartisanship, and science-based management. To ensure this progress continues, we are calling on you to vote YES on the upcoming Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act (H.R. 4690) that will strengthen the MSA and continue protections for our oceans and the people whose survival depends on them.

Since 2000, 47 fish stocks have been rebuilt, and NOAA’s most recent Status of Stocks report for 2021 again confirmed that approximately 90% of all stocks or stock complexes did not exceed their annual catch limits. In the most recent Fisheries Economics of the United States report from 2019, commercial and recreational fisheries in the United States generated 1.8 million jobs throughout the national economy. In addition, commercial and recreational fishing together generated $255 billion in sales impacts, and $117 billion total toward our gross domestic product (GDP). Several regionally important stocks, such as Atlantic sea scallops, Mid-Atlantic summer flounder, and Pacific widow rockfish, are still caught today thanks to management measures instituted under the MSA. These successes are due to the MSA’s effectiveness in halting overfishing, rebuilding fish stocks, and protecting our precious ocean resources.

However, fifty-one fish stocks, 20% of all known stocks, remain overfished. And NOAA Fisheries only knows the overfished status for 55% of the stocks that the agency manages. Additionally, 26 fish stocks are subject to overfishing, and the overfishing status of 30% of stocks is still unknown to the agency. Federal estimates have calculated that if all U.S. fish stocks were rebuilt, we would see an increase in revenue of $31 billion and an additional 500,000 jobs. This key legislation strengthening the MSA would ensure that our fish populations are sustainable and oceans are healthy for decades to come.

Since the MSA’s inception, fishermen, government officials, and policymakers from both political parties have worked together to craft the best possible fishery management laws and implementation plans. Thanks to these previous reauthorization provisions, including adding Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) and requiring that rebuilding plans end overfishing immediately, many of our fish populations have come back from the brink of collapse after decades of chronic overfishing. This legislation would bring about even stronger conservation standards that would be vital for our fisheries and ocean ecosystems.  If passed, this bill would:

-Promote healthy fish habitat 
-Reduce fishery bycatch 
-Rebuild fish stocks 
-Improve accountability and representation in fishery management  
-Enhance fisheries data collection and management 
-Support fishing communities  
-Ready fisheries for climate change 
-Protect forage fish

The MSA’s unique system of stakeholder-inclusive, science-based fishery management has a legacy of demonstrable success, both in improving the health of fish populations and in providing more stability to the commercial and recreational fishing industries. We must ensure that our oceans, and the fishing communities that depend on them, are sustainable for the future.

A vote for a strong MSA is a vote for our oceans. Their health depends on you.

Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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