Fisheries Science and Management Improvement Act of 2003 - Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to permit each Regional Fishery Management Council under the National Fishery Management Program to establish one or more scientific review committees to conduct peer review of all stock assessments prepared for fisheries under the Council's jurisdiction.Requires the Secretary of Commerce or his designee to conduct an independent and confidential peer review of any stock assessment by a scientific review committee before the assessment is used to further the purposes, policy, and provisions of this Act.Requires the Council of jurisdiction to establish a set of goals, objectives, an implementation schedule, and a statistically reliable method of achieving such goals and objectives for Fishery Management Observer programs that utilize observers deployed on U.S. fishing vessels or to U.S. fish processors.Requires the Secretary to issue national criteria for designating a habitat as a habitat area of particular concern.Revises requirements for: (1) fishery management plans; (2) fish habitat guidelines and recommendations; and (3) the determination and rebuilding of overfished fisheries.Requires fishery conservation and management measures to take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities and the cumulative impact of fishery conservation and management measures on those fishing communities.Requires fishery management plans to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.