The Law That's Saving American Fisheries - Ocean Conservancy

I. Introduction and summary
Cod—shown drying in Gloucester, MA, in the 1800s—were abundant in New England in the 19th century,
but by the 20th century, they were severely overexploited.
NOAA
For more than 200 years, the catch of important fish such as cod and bass, sardines and salmon, and
oysters and clams helped America build ports, communities, and industries. These historic fisheries
contributed not only to the nation’s food supply but also to its economy, culture, and trade. Individual
states regulated local fishing fleets, but their authority generally ended three miles from shore, far enough
to oversee coastal fishing. The federal government had more pressing concerns than policing the millions of
square miles where fishermen, frigate birds, and whales plied the waters.
Prosperity after World War II ushered in a golden age for
America’s commercial and recreational fishermen. The former
had a hungry nation to feed and faced few competitors as the
world recovered from the conflict. Recreational fishermen
exerted their influence beyond freshwater with the dawning
of the sportfishing industry, trailerable boats, and advanced
fishing gear.
But America was not the only place where the engines of
technology thrust fishing into the 20th century and far
beyond nearshore waters. Bigger, faster, more powerful foreign
factory ships arrived by the hundreds and began emptying
the ocean’s larders off U.S. shores. Fishing industry leaders
from regions such as New England, the Pacific Northwest,
and Alaska turned to their representatives in Congress for
measures with a longer reach than states’ three-mile jurisdiction.
They had seen proof that modern fishing methods could
deplete oceans that once seemed inexhaustible. It was time
to bring the rule of law to the open sea. 1
In 1976, with the passage of what is now known as the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management
Act—led by Senators Warren Magnuson (D-WA) and Ted
Stevens (R-AK)—the United States took charge of all that
swims, scuttles, and tastes good in the world’s largest exclusive
economic zone: 3.4 million square miles of sea.
A generation of determined, farsighted commercial and recreational
fishermen, marine scientists, and legislators shaped
that law. They brought to it lessons learned the hard way,
based on principles that are simple and sound. They believed
that the nation’s rich fishing grounds could feed generations
of Americans far into the future, but only if catches were
well-controlled. 2 Many of them knew that it would pay off to
leave enough fish in the water to regenerate healthy stocks in
the future.
But politics is the art of the possible, and the law in its
original form was well-designed but not watertight. U.S.
4 It’s a Keeper