Sponsors (6)
Requires DOI/FWS to issue regional management frameworks and recurring surveys to govern authorized take of double‑crested cormorants and to coordinate with States, Tribes, and Flyway Councils.
Official title: To require the Secretary of the Interior to develop regional management frameworks for the take of double-crested cormorants.
Introduced April 2, 2026 by Tim Walberg · Last progress April 2, 2026
The bill gives States, Tribes, and local managers greater authority and regional coordination to control double‑crested cormorant damage and requires regular monitoring, trading off potential costs and enforcement burdens for subnational authorities and localized impacts on birdwatching and conflicts with endangered species protections.
States, Tribes, and authorized managers can legally control double‑crested cormorant damage to fisheries and vegetation under coordinated regional plans, enabling more direct protection of local fisheries and aquatic vegetation.
State and Tribal wildlife agencies, Regional Flyway Councils, and Refuge managers will coordinate management actions, promoting consistent regional approaches and reducing conflicts between conservation and refuge missions.
State and Tribal agencies will conduct regular population surveys every 5 years to provide data for keeping cormorant populations at sustainable levels under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
State agencies and private lake/pond managers may bear new operational and enforcement costs and responsibilities for cormorant control that were previously handled at other levels.
State wildlife control actions could be delayed or restricted where they intersect with ESA-listed species protections, complicating or limiting cormorant control in some areas.
Rural communities and tourism businesses that rely on birdwatching may see reduced wildlife viewing opportunities and economic losses if authorized lethal or other 'take' reduces local cormorant numbers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Secretary of the Interior, through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and in coordination with Regional Flyway Councils, to create regional management frameworks that govern the authorized take of double‑crested cormorants within 180 days of enactment. Frameworks must use existing information, maintain sustainable breeding populations consistent with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, specify allowed methods and seasons of take, identify authorized takers (States, Tribes, licensed hunters, lake and pond managers), and account for effects on fisheries, vegetation, other migratory birds, human health and safety, water quality, and ESA-listed species. Directs the Secretary to coordinate management on National Wildlife Refuge lands, conduct population surveys of double‑crested cormorants within five years and every five years thereafter, and review and update the frameworks on the same five‑year cycle. The bill also provides definitions for key terms used in the frameworks (including the species, take, Regional Flyway Councils, Indian Tribe, and lake/pond managers).