Dear Representative:

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) works to turn environmental values into national priorities.  Each year, LCV publishes the National Environmental Scorecard, which details the voting records of members of Congress on environmental legislation.  The Scorecard is distributed to LCV members, concerned voters nationwide, and the media.

LCV urges you to vote NO on H.R. 200, legislation to reauthorize and amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) that threatens decades of successful sustainable fisheries management. H.R. 200 would severely undermine the science-based conservation tools under current law that are essential in preventing overfishing, restoring depleted fish populations, and aiding coastal communities that have suffered the negative consequences from years of overfishing.

With several provisions that would weaken rebuilding requirements, establish broad loopholes in conservation efforts, decrease accountability for overfishing, and other harmful language, H.R. 200 would fundamentally dismantle core management standards under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The rebuilding requirements and annual catch limits have been some of the most successful provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act in conserving fisheries. However, this bill undermines those provisions, ultimately allowing for depleted stocks for long periods of time and threatening recovery and stability, as well as establishing weaker standards and less accountability for some sectors of the fishing economy.

Rather than approving harmful and unnecessary measures that would weaken our fisheries economy and harm the environment, Congress should work in a true bipartisan fashion – as was done in 1996 and 2006 – to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act, not undermine its proven successes.

We urge you to REJECT H.R. 200. We will strongly consider including votes on this bill in the 2018 Scorecard. If you need more information, please call my office at (202) 785-8683 and ask to speak with a member of our government relations team.

Sincerely,

Gene Karpinski

President