The SFPA deferred to the Magnuson-Stevens Act for its definition of a fishing vessel.

The second is the pending reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act regulating fishing practices in U.S. waters.

Five years ago, Bush signed a reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which dates to the mid-1970s and governs all fishing in U.S. waters.

This was the reauthorization of the 30-year-old Magnuson-Stevens Act, the basic law regulating fishing practices in American waters from 3 to 200 miles offshore.

In 2010, NOAA, citing the Magnuson-Stevens Act, banned fishing of red snapper until the population has time to recover.

The conservation partnership is among the organizations lobbying to have saltwater licensing, or a national saltwater angler registry, written into the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

In any case, the NOAA data represents the best available science that must, under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, be the basis of any federal decision.

With respect to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, this Act in its final form replaced the SFPA entirely, and made it illegal:

The Magnuson-Stevens Act has jurisdiction over the management and conservation of marine fish species.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act was originally enacted as the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976.