The intent of the bill is to enhance the Clean Water Act instead of undercutting it. The act has not been modified in several years. While the chemical state of surface waters has improved dramatically, their physical and biological health have received much less attention and far fewer resources, conservationists say.
Statistics support their claim.
Nearly 40 percent of the nation's waters still are not considered fishable. Less than 2 percent of 3.6 million stream miles are healthy enough to be considered high quality. Seventy percent of riparian corridors have been damaged or destroyed. In developing the Fishable Waters Act, the Fishable Waters Coalition, an alliance of farmers, anglers, state resource agencies and environmentalists, concluded that the Clean Water Act did not provide a complete strategy to solve the nation's fisheries needs. If passed, the Fishable Waters Act would provide financial and technical aid for local, voluntary partnerships to boost watersheds across the country.