CONTACT: Gordon Helm FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
4/5/97
Anyone with access to the Internet can now chart the progress of the National Marine Fisheries Service's plans to implement the Sustainable Fisheries Act approved by Congress late last year, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service has prepared an overall plan of activities for implementing the provisions of the Sustainable Fisheries Act. Tffhis plan includes all tasks for each new provision under the SFA and identifies completed actions in implementing the SFA. Summaries of the activities along with the full text of the amended Magnuson-Stevens Act also are displayed on the web site.
"All of our implementation activities, with expected completion dates, are listed," said Gary Matlock, director of the Office of Sustainable Fisheries. "Our goal is to meet or beat those dates and get the Congress' directives in place as soon as possible."
The SFA, which amends and re-authorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, was signed into law by President Clinton on Oct. 11, 1996. Numerous significant revisions and additions to the requirements of the Act were made, changing the way in which the nation's living marine resources and their habitats are conserved and managed.
Commercial and recreational fishermen, environmentalists, riparian and coastal area users, and consumers of seafood products are among those who may be affected by the new requirements and will be most interested in the fisheries service's implementation process. In the future, managers expect to post on "the web" additional information about public hearings and workshops, public comment, and implementation of new regulations mandated by the SFA. The site will also carry the text of completed reports and proposed or final regulations implementing the provisions of the SFA.
By providing implementation information on the Internet, the National Marine Fisheries Service hopes that user groups and the general public will be able to more actively participate in the discussion and development of the measures necessary to meet the new requirements.
The National Marine Fisheries Service expects to update the web site information on a weekly basis. The Internet address of the SFA implementation plan is: http://kingfish.ssp.nmfs.gov/sfa
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