WASHINGTON President Bush on Friday signed into law a
measure that overhauls management of marine fisheries and
strengthens protections against further depletion of dwindling
stocks.
The bill reauthorizes through 2013 the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act, a 30-year-old law that guides
fishery management in waters between three miles and 200 miles
offshore.
The act works to end overfishing in America by 2011, uses
market-based incentives to replenish fish stocks and strengthens
enforcement of fishing laws.
Supporters said the measure strengthens current law by requiring
an end to overfishing, science-based management of U.S. fisheries
and penalties for illegal fishing in international waters.
When Congress passed the measure, the Natural Resources Defense
Council said the world's oceans are in serious trouble and the
legislation would help reverse their decline.
Environmentalists
hailed a provision that sets overall limits on the number of fish
that can be caught, while allowing fishermen flexibility in how
they divide shares of the total catch.
At the insistence of West Coast lawmakers, the bill includes
language to speed recovery of Klamath River salmon stocks in
California and Oregon.
For fishermen adversely affected by recent
closures aimed at protecting threatened fish, there would be
disaster relief programs.