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Fisheries management in this country is a mess -- rampant overfishing; wasteful bycatch of sea turtles, marine mammals, and non-target fish; and the ones doing the fishing are the ones who set the rules! That's why two national commissions have called for fundamental reform of our fisheries management system.

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), which is currently up for renewal, is the primary law governing management of our nation's ocean fisheries. Ocean fisheries are integral to national and coastal economies but they have significant effects on ocean ecosystems so their activities need to be carefully managed.

But a recent bill by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Ca.), H.R. 5018, goes in exactly the opposite direction, and would roll back many of the most important laws we have to prevent overfishing and to disclose the environmental impacts of commercial fisheries.

We need to send Congress a message: Protect Our Oceans; Strengthen, don't weaken, the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW! The House will be voting on the bill in July! Your Representative needs to know that you care about the health of our oceans and that he or she should oppose efforts to roll back critical environmental protections.

Email your Representative and ask him or him to oppose rollbacks to the MSA.

http://www.oceanchampions.org/no_rollback.htm