Reassign NMFS to the Department of Interior

To the United States Congress and Senate:

The signatories of this petition respectfully request that the duties of the National Marine Fishery Service be removed from the Department of Commerce and be placed with the Department of Interior.

We request this due to the conflicts that have occurred between the interest of the Department of Commerce and the interest of the resource they are charged with protecting.  

Since the introduction of the Magnusson/Stevens Act the DOC has done a poor job of managing the valuable fishery resource it is charge with protecting.  

The Department of Interior on the other hand has had numerous successes in resource management and has been a good steward of the national resources it is charge with managing.  The DOI also has an excellent track record of working with state and local governments to jointly manage wildlife and other vital resources.

The fishery resources are of vital national interest and we the signatories to this petition feel that these vital interests would best be served by a department with a proven track record of success in resource management.