Sponsors (7)
The bill strengthens ecosystem-based protections and monitoring to sustain forage and predator fisheries and improve scientific decisionmaking, but does so at the cost of higher near-term costs for fishers and small businesses, increased administrative burdens on NOAA and councils, and potential timing and governance trade-offs that create uncertainty during implementation.
Coastal and fishing-dependent communities (commercial and recreational) and consumers will benefit from stronger forage-fish conservation and ecosystem-based catch limits that support predator fisheries and more stable long-term catches.
Fisheries managers, NOAA, and regional councils gain clearer, more uniform legal definitions and standardized guidance (including workshops and statutory findings), improving consistency, transparency, and defensibility of management decisions.
Marine ecosystems and biodiversity are better protected through explicit ecosystem-based requirements (considering forage abundance, predators' dietary needs, habitat, and bycatch), which can preserve food webs and long-term ecosystem services.
Many commercial and recreational fishers, vessel operators, and small coastal businesses will face higher costs and reduced short-term revenues from tighter catch limits, monitoring requirements, and delays on new fisheries development.
NOAA, regional councils, and scientific advisory bodies will incur significant administrative, monitoring, and analytical burdens — requiring staff, funding, or resource reallocations that could divert capacity from other programs.
The bill's timing trade-offs—multi-year phase-ins that postpone conservation benefits in some areas versus short statutory deadlines for certain actions—create uncertainty for stakeholders and risk either delayed protections or rushed, incomplete implementation.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Requires NOAA and Councils to define and manage forage fish, block new directed forage fisheries until scientific review and management are in place, add river herring/shad to Atlantic plans, and increase monitoring.
Creates a new federal framework to identify, define, and manage "forage fish"—small-to-intermediate schooling species that move energy up the food web—and requires regional councils and NOAA to incorporate forage‑fish needs into scientific advice, fishery plans, and regulations. It adds river herring and shad to Atlantic fishery plans, delays opening new directed forage fisheries until scientific review and management are in place, and increases at-sea monitoring for certain herring/mackerel trips. Sets deadlines for NOAA and Councils to act (definition within 12 months; regulatory guidance within 18 months; some council duties effective in 2 years and catch‑limit changes in 5 years) and preserves existing State authorities over intrastate waters.
Introduced June 4, 2025 by Debbie Dingell · Last progress June 4, 2025