Hawai'i Fisheries Initiative - The Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs

egulations and their interpretations in the
court system have honed in on four key
issues with respect to achieving sustainability
in the nation’s fisheries: overfishing,
incidental bycatch, altered predator-prey
relationships due to fishing and bycatch of
target and non-target species, and habitat
changes due to fishing and other pressures. 396
The Secretary of Commerce is charged
with implementing the MSA. Under the
umbrella of the Department of Commerce,
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the eight
regional fisheries councils 394 were given
authority under the act to oversee fisheries
management. The Western Pacific Fisheries
Management Council (Wespac) oversees
fisheries in the EEZ surrounding Hawai‘i,
American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern
Mariana Islands.
The 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act,
which amended the 1976 version, has
been called the “most significant federal
environmental legislation enacted in the
last two decades.” 395 The act advanced U.S.
efforts toward sustainability in fisheries
management and ecosystem protection.
Fishery Management Plans, marine
protected area designations, and federal
The 2006 reauthorization of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act, which was signed into law
in January 2007, sets a firm deadline to
end overfishing 397 by 2011. 398 “The causes
of overfishing include illegal fishing,
management decisions not in line with
scientific evidence, scientific standards
that are beyond the management system’s
capacity to administer, poorly designed
regulatory frameworks that promote
overfishing, failure to account for bycatch
as fish landings, and poor enforcement.” 399
Federal Statutes Affecting
Fisheries Management
In addition to Magnuson-Stevens, a host
of federal statutes – as well as presidential
proclamations and executive orders –
affect the nation’s fisheries. 400 Fundamental
to an understanding of federal oversight
of the ocean’s living natural resources are
the following:
u Marine Protected Areas – A 2000 executive
order required federal agencies to establish
a comprehensive national network of
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to include
all types of marine ecosystems to ensure
lasting protection for the natural and
cultural resources they contain. 401
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