American Fisheries Recovered From Overfishing

By 1996, U.S. authorities had classified 86 fish stocks as overfished after major fisheries collapsed during the early 1990s. Congress strengthened the Magnuson-Stevens Act, requiring science-based catch limits and plans to rebuild depleted populations. By 2014, only 16 percent of assessed U.S. stocks remained overfished, compared with an estimated 63 percent globally. By the end of 2015, NOAA had declared 39 U.S. marine fish stocks rebuilt since 2000.

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