Question

Explain, using illustrative example, how the Magnuson-Stevens Act includes framework elements that are sector-, spatial, and ecosystem- oriented.

Answer 1

The Magnuson Stevens Act was implemented in the year 1976 with a view of solving the ever lasting problem of over fishing in the Federal Waters of the United States of America.

The main ideology behind this was that overfishing might lead to bad conditions of the ecosystem and would disallow the sector from any future growth.

Trawlers previously were not regulated by the government which meant that they had undue advantage of fishing as much as their capacity allowed this had implications both on the entire ecosystem and the spatial and economic setup respectively.

To prevent such things from happening and to protect the environment at large, the Act was implemented which saw a drastic change in the fishing activities which took place in the United States respectively.

For an example if Large trawlers were allowed to operate freely in the federal waters, they would go on fishing to the maximum of their capacity. This would lead to spatial problems by not allowing small fishermen their right to fish. On a sector based problem, it would mean that the entire sector would soon vanish due to over ecploitation of the natural resource which takes some time before it is replenished. Further no fishes in the ecosystem would lead to major issues such as rise of algae in the water which would be extremely barmgul for the society.

This, the act provides benefits to the sector I. e fishing, the spatial characteristics by protecting the right of smaller fishermen and the ecosystem by ensuring that fishing activities do not go beyond a certain maximum capacity

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