The Modern Fish Act has been debated for nearly two years, heard before its respective committees eight times, passed the Senate Commerce Committee and passed the House within a broader Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization bill in July. The recreational fishing community is urging Congress not to leave this progress behind. We must get the Modern Fish Act across the finish line in the 115th Congress.
If passed, the Modern Fish Act will make critical updates to federal fisheries management policy that finally consider the needs of America’s recreational fishing community, which has been ignored for more than four decades. Updates will include new data collection techniques and use of modern management tools that would bring the management process into the 21st century.
Scott Deal, president of Maverick Boat Group and co-chair of the Commission on Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Management, penned the editorial below to express the urgency of improving the way America’s fisheries are managed at the federal level. We’ve come so far in the 115th Congress. Let’s use the momentum made over the past two years to push the Modern Fish Act across the finish line before the end of the year.
Jeff Angers