Fisheries Listening Tour

During the 116th Congress, Rep. Huffman hosted a nationwide listening tour on federal fisheries management designed to engage diverse perspectives, interests, and needs of individuals who have a stake in the management of federal ocean and fisheries resources. This listening tour is a part of Huffman’s broader work as Chair of the Water, Oceans, and Wildlife subcommittee to foster a more transparent, deliberative, and science-based process for developing natural resources legislation than the backroom deals and partisan power plays that have frustrated good policymaking in recent years. 

The input Huffman received from this listening tour, and from other stakeholder outreach, has informed his introduction of a Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization bill. Through this comprehensive and inclusive approach, Huffman hopes to restore the historically bipartisan character of marine fisheries policies including prior successful Magnuson-Stevens reauthorizations.

Rep. Huffman’s goal for this listening tour was to assess whether improvements to the Magnuson-Stevens Act are needed and if so, what they should be. Topics that were covered in the roundtables included, but are not limited to:

• Climate change impacts on fisheries and whether managers have the tools and resources they need to ensure resilient fish populations and stability to fishing communities;
• Challenges of modernizing and improving our data collection systems;
• Supporting working waterfronts, coastal communities, and subsistence fishing, such as improving the fisheries disaster relief system and mitigating the harmful impacts of trade wars and unfair, illegal fishing practices;
• Examining how current fisheries management practices are maintaining ecosystem roles and functions, protecting important habitats, and minimizing bycatch;
• Challenges associated with stocks that are still unhealthy or experiencing overfishing; and
• Ensuring equitable access to resources and a sustainable future for seafood.

The full press release for this tour can be found here.