The Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 is the Federal law that created the regional fishery management councils and is the Federal government's basis for fisheries management in the U. S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). It has been reauthorized a number of times and was renamed the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) in honor of the late Washington Senator, Warren G. Magnuson, in 1980, and in 1996, added Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.