New Report Gives Mixed Review to 10 Years of Fishing Restrictions

A new study on the condition of the nation's fish stocks reports mixed results.

In 1996, Congress passed the Magnuson-Stevens Act, designed to rebuild commercial fish populations in ten years by ending overfishing.

But the study commissioned by the Lenfest Ocean Program of the Pew Charitable Trusts has found that the law hasn't been working very well.

Only about 5 percent of the stocks have been rebuilt over ten years.

And about 50 percent continue to be overfished.

Dr. Andrew Rosenberg, Professor of Natural Resources at the University of New Hampshire was the lead author of the study.

His study on the nation's fish stocks was sponsored by the Lenfest Ocean Program of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

It is to be published in the August issue of the scientific journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

He tells NHPR's Mark Bevis the Magnuson-Stevens Act gets a mixed performance review.