Sponsors (7)
The bill shifts U.S. fisheries management toward ecosystem-based protections—prioritizing forage-fish conservation, clearer guidance, and improved monitoring to support long-term stock and community resilience—while imposing short- to medium-term economic and administrative costs on fishers, managers, and taxpayers and creating potential regional uncertainty during implementation.
Coastal and fishing communities (commercial and recreational fishers, bait/processor businesses) will benefit from stronger protections for forage fish and diet-based catch limits that help maintain food webs and more resilient marine ecosystems, supporting longer-term stock stability.
Fisheries managers and councils (NOAA, regional Councils, SSCs, state agencies) gain clearer statutory definitions, science-informed guidance, and deadlines that improve consistency and enable ecosystem-based fisheries management.
Fishing-dependent economies (fishers, processors, coastal towns) stand to gain more predictable, sustainable harvests and job stability over the long run as management explicitly accounts for forage fish roles and prevents sudden expansion of directed forage fisheries until impacts are assessed.
Commercial and recreational fishers, processors, and related coastal businesses face likely short-term reductions in allowable catches, area closures, or limits on new directed forage fisheries that can reduce income and local economic activity.
NOAA, regional Councils, SSCs, taxpayers and industry may bear sizeable increased administrative, analysis, and compliance costs as managers implement new definitions, reporting requirements, inventories, and ecosystem-based assessments—potentially diverting staff and funds from other priorities.
Mid‑water trawl vessel operators and small fishing businesses will face new direct costs and operational changes from mandated observer or electronic monitoring coverage (≥50% of trips) and related compliance requirements; shifting monitoring resources could also create gaps elsewhere.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal definition and management framework for forage fish, mandates ecosystem-based catch limits, adds river herring/shad to Atlantic plans, and raises monitoring on certain trawl trips.
Introduced June 4, 2025 by Debbie Dingell · Last progress June 4, 2025
Defines “forage fish” and requires the Commerce Department and regional fishery management councils to treat those small schooling species differently in science, planning, and catch limits to protect their role in marine food webs. It requires new agency rules and council actions on definitions, management guidelines, and annual catch limits that account for the dietary needs of predators, adds river herring and shad to specific Atlantic management plans, and raises at‑sea monitoring coverage for certain trawl trips.