Sponsors (2)
The bill funds science, monitoring, gear development, and assistance to reduce bycatch and support fishing communities, but does so at measurable federal cost and with trade‑offs around transparency, equity, data privacy, and potential industry influence.
Commercial and subsistence fishers, Alaska Native communities, and coastal livelihoods will get better science (life‑history research, genetic stock ID, tagging, AI/ML) that helps reduce salmon and other bycatch, supporting more stable catches and local economies.
Fisheries managers and regional offices will receive faster, standardized electronic monitoring (EM) and observer data to inform stock assessments and catch limits, improving management responsiveness and enforcement consistency.
Commercial fishers and small businesses can access grants, a dedicated flume tank facility, and workforce training to develop, test, and adopt bycatch‑reducing gear and technologies, accelerating practical solutions and safety on vessels.
Taxpayers and the federal budget will face increased costs from expanded NOAA research, grant programs, a flume facility, EM implementation, and a $4M annual authorization, potentially requiring offsets or reallocation of agency funds.
Smaller or non‑participating fishers and rural operators may be competitively disadvantaged if they cannot access grants or cannot afford new monitoring/gear costs, concentrating benefits among better‑resourced operators.
Electronic monitoring and increased data sharing raise privacy and commercial‑sensitivity concerns for vessel owners (real‑time or detailed catch data could be public or used for enforcement), creating legal and business risks.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Directs NOAA to expand research, testing, electronic monitoring, and grant programs to reduce salmon and other bycatch and protect benthic habitat in Alaska waters, and authorizes funding and a donations fund to support those efforts.
Introduced December 18, 2025 by Daniel Scott Sullivan · Last progress December 18, 2025
Directs NOAA to expand research and testing to reduce salmon and other bycatch and to protect benthic habitat in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska. It reconstitutes a multi‑stakeholder task force, funds research and competitive grants for genetic/age identification of salmon, requires a public‑private flume tank and grants program to test new gear/technology, and pushes NOAA to speed electronic monitoring, streamlined permit review, better data integration, and regular stakeholder engagement. The bill authorizes $4 million per year for a bycatch engineering program for FY2027–FY2031 and creates a donations‑funded assistance account (managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation) to provide financial help for gear/technology to reduce bycatch and benthic contact.