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Requires federal land and water agencies to create common geospatial standards and publish digitized GIS data about public access, navigation, and fishing restrictions on federal waterways. Agencies must adopt interoperable standards within 30 months, publish detailed online GIS layers within 5 years, and provide regular progress reports to Congress. The law directs what types of location and restriction data must be included (ramps, portages, closures, seasonal restrictions, no-take zones, vessel rules, bathymetry where feasible), sets update frequencies (at least twice yearly for access/navigation data and real-time for fishing restrictions), authorizes partnerships with states, tribes, and private data providers, and preserves existing regulatory authority over navigable waters and fisheries.
The bill creates standardized, publicly accessible geospatial data and clearer roles to improve safety, coordination, and conservation communication for waterways, but does so with new costs, reporting and implementation burdens, potential constraints on state flexibility and access, and risks to sensitive sites and data privacy.
State, local, tribal, and federal natural-resource managers and the public will be able to share and use standardized, interoperable geospatial data about waterways and fishing restrictions, improving coordination, planning, and reducing duplicated mapping efforts.
Recreational boaters, anglers, charter operators, and small businesses will get timely, searchable maps and real‑time updates of closures, access points, and fishing restrictions, improving trip planning, safety, and reducing inadvertent violations and fines.
Federal land and resource agencies will have clearer statutory definitions and roles (and preserved existing authorities), reducing legal ambiguity and improving enforcement coordination across agencies that manage waterways and fisheries.
Taxpayers, federal, state, and local agencies will bear new and potentially significant costs to implement standards, collect and update GIS datasets (including real‑time feeds), upgrade IT systems, and produce ongoing reports.
Recreational fishers, charter operators, and rural communities could face expanded or more-detectable federal restrictions and enforcement (or reduced access) as standardized and public-facing spatial restrictions make limits clearer and easier to enforce.
State and territorial governments may lose flexibility and the bill’s preservation of the current 'navigable waters' definition could block future reforms, limiting efforts to strengthen or standardize water protections across jurisdictions.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Blake D. Moore · Last progress December 26, 2025