A fishery conservation zone between the territorial seas of the US and 200 nautical
miles offshore
An exclusive US fishery management authority over fish within the fishery conservation
zone (excluding highly migratory species)
Regulations for foreign fishing within the fishery conservation zone through
international fishery agreements, permits and import prohibitions
National standards for fishery conservation and management and eight regional fishery management
councils to apply those national standards in fishery management plans.
Congress enacted the 1996 amendments to the Act, known as the Sustainable Fisheries Act
(SFA) (P.L. 104-297
), to address the substantially reduced fish
stocks that declined as a result of direct and indirect habitat loss. The now
amended Act was renamed the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
(FCMA).