In 1976, Congress passed the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson Act), which established a management system to more effectively use the marine fishery resources of the United States. As amended in 1986, the Magnuson Act required regional fishery management councils to evaluate the effects of habitat loss or degradation on their fishery stocks and take actions to mitigate such damage.

In 1996, the renamed Magnuson-Stevens Act went even further, calling for direct action to stop or reverse the continued loss of fish habitats, the identification of habitats essential to managed species, and measures to conserve and enhance this habitat. The Act requires cooperation among NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, eight Regional Fishery Management Councils, resource users, federal and state agencies, and others to protect, conserve, and enhance essential fish habitat.

“Essential fish habitat” is defined as those waters and substrate necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity.

• waters include aquatic areas and their associated physical, chemical, and biological properties that are used by fish.
• substrate includes sediment, hard bottom, structures underlying the waters, and associated biological communities.
• necessary means the habitat required to support a sustainable fishery and the managed species’ contribution to a healthy ecosystem.
• spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity covers a species’ full life cycle.

NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation has more information available on the protection of essential fish habitat.