Sponsors (7)
The bill shifts U.S. fisheries management toward ecosystem-based protection of forage fish—improving long-term fishery sustainability and ecosystem health—but does so with new administrative requirements, monitoring obligations, phased delays, and likely short-term economic costs for fishers, small businesses, and agencies.
Coastal fishing communities and seafood consumers benefit from stronger, ecosystem-based forage fish protections that help sustain predator species and long-term commercial and recreational catches.
Marine ecosystems and biodiversity are better protected because fisheries management must account for forage fish as key energy-transfer species, reducing risk of food-web disruption and supporting predator recovery.
Regional fishery councils and NOAA get clearer statutory definitions, standardized guidance, workshops, and regular reporting, improving consistency, scientific basis, and transparency of management decisions.
Commercial and recreational fishers, vessel operators, and coastal communities face likely short-term revenue losses from tighter catch limits, restrictions, or delayed development of new forage fisheries.
NOAA, regional councils, and scientific bodies will face substantial new administrative, monitoring, and analytical burdens (and associated costs) to implement ecosystem-based rules, potentially requiring new staff/funding and diverting resources from other programs.
Greater regulatory complexity and broader ecosystem/social criteria could slow decisionmaking or complicate setting catch limits, creating short-term uncertainty for fishermen, processors, and seafood markets.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Creates a legal definition of forage fish, strengthens council/SSC duties, requires predator‑based catch limits, adds river herring and shad to Atlantic FMPs, and increases monitoring for certain trawl trips.
Official title: To improve the management of forage fish.
Introduced June 4, 2025 by Debbie Dingell · Last progress June 4, 2025
Requires the Secretary of Commerce and regional fishery management councils to define and manage “forage fish” as a distinct category, strengthen scientific advice and council duties, and add specific river herring and shad stocks to Atlantic fishery management plans. It phases in new definitions, council responsibilities, catch-limit rules that account for predators’ dietary needs, regulatory guidance, observer/monitoring requirements for certain mid-water trawl trips, and timelines for implementation. The bill aims to conserve forage fish populations by changing Magnuson‑Stevens Act definitions, expanding Scientific and Statistical Committee guidance, delaying new directed forage fisheries until ecological and socioeconomic impacts are evaluated, and requiring greater monitoring and management actions for specified Atlantic species.