The former Alaska US Senator Ted Stevens who died in an airplane crash on 9 August was one of the pair the gave the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act its name, in some respects held forth as an example to follow for the EU.
The legislation under that name was introduced after USA claimed a 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in order to ward off foreign fishermen and rebuild stocks under strict management for future sustainable fisheries for the American sector.
The Pew Environment Group recently published a study of the American management system, particularly the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) approach introduced in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, as a valuable source of experience when building a new Common Fisheries Policy for the EU.
Stevens, a Republican, served in the US Senate between 1968-2009. His partner in working out the 1976 legislation was the Washington Senator Warren Magnuson (1905-89), a Democrat.
Senator Stevens, who died in a small airplane on his way to a private fishing lodge, was 86. His name also lives on in the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.