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Congressman Young Co-Sponsors the American Fisheries Management and Marine-Life Improvement Act

Washington, D.C., Mar 29 -

Alaska Congressman Don Young today announced the introduction of the American Fisheries Management and Marine-Life Improvement Act (H.R. 5018). This bill reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which is the paramount law governing American fisheries and fishing related activities in U.S. waters. Congressman Young co-sponsored this bill with House Resources Chairman Richard W. Pombo and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass).

"I appreciate the work that Chairman Pombo has put into this bipartisan legislation. While the bill does not go as far as I would like in a few areas, I understand that the Chairman has worked hard to create compromise legislation.

"As the Representative of the state where approximately 50 percent of all the seafood in the United States is landed, and where the North Pacific Council has been touted as the best of the eight regional fishery management councils, I appreciate the need to maintain the Council system and create an atmosphere where decisions can be made by those who are most affected by the management decisions. The North Pacific has no over-fished fisheries and this is testament to the hard work for the fishery managers and the use of science in management decisions. This legislation encourages this type of management for all fisheries across the US.

"I look forward to working with the Chairman and other Members of the Resources Committee to move this legislation through the process. Senator Stevens has introduced similar legislation on the Senate side and I look forward to working with him on getting a strong reauthorization bill enacted this year," said Congressman Young.