Sponsors (16)
Requires NOAA to set data standards and publish public GIS layers for EEZ fishing restrictions, recreational vessel access, and navigation, with timelines for delivery.
The bill standardizes and makes marine geospatial data more transparent—improving navigation, safety, and tribal consultation—while creating new administrative costs, privacy risks for commercial location data, and potential jurisdictional and implementation frictions.
Recreational boaters, mariners, and coastal communities get standardized, publicly accessible geospatial maps and navigation data (including bathymetry and depth charts) that improve navigation safety, help recreational planning, and reduce accidental violations.
Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations are explicitly recognized in definitions and consultations and keep existing treaty rights, preserving tribal sovereignty and government-to-government consultation in marine resource decisions.
NOAA must provide public, FAIR-organized data with a comment/update process and interoperable datasets, increasing transparency and enabling researchers, startups, and app developers to build better marine services and tools.
Taxpayers, NOAA, states, and tribes will face increased administrative, implementation, and ongoing maintenance costs to build and operate FAIR-compliant, real-time GIS systems and to align datasets across jurisdictions.
Making detailed EEZ activity and location data public risks exposing sensitive commercial fishing or proprietary location information, harming small commercial operators' competitiveness and raising privacy concerns for private partners.
Broad 'Secretary-determined' language gives the agency discretion to define what counts as fishing restrictions, which could allow new limits on fishing activity without additional legislative approval.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To provide for the standardization, publication, and accessibility of data relating to public outdoor recreational use of Federal waterways, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 13, 2025 by Russell Fry · Last progress May 13, 2025
Creates a federal program at NOAA Fisheries to set standards and publish public, interoperable GIS data about fishing restrictions, recreational vessel use, navigation, and marine protected areas in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). It requires the Commerce Secretary to develop data coordination standards within 31 months, publish specified GIS layers within 4 years, maintain and update the data publicly (with some sensitive information withheld), and to partner with state, tribal, local, nonprofit, academic, and private entities to implement the work. The Act clarifies definitions, directs interagency coordination and third‑party partnerships, excludes Tribal waters and usual/accustomed areas from the new authorities, and contains rules of construction explicitly preserving existing agency authorities, Tribal rights, and navigable-waters definitions.