Sport Fish Restoration, Recreational Boating Safety, and Wildlife Restoration Act of 2025

This bill updates federal programs that fund sport fish restoration and recreational boating. It adjusts how yearly funds are divided, sets a new way to fund interstate fisheries commissions using the greater of a small percentage of program funds or a set minimum, and makes clean-fuel boating projects a priority for grants. It also lowers the federal excise tax on certain bait containers used by anglers.

Key points:

• Who is affected: state fish and wildlife agencies, interstate fisheries commissions, marina and boating facility operators, recreational boaters, and makers/importers of portable, electronically aerated bait containers.
• What changes:
  • Updates how annual sport fish and boating safety funds are split among programs.
  • Lets grants support building, upgrading, or maintaining alternative marine fuel stations for transient recreational boats; defines eligible fuels (for example, fuels made from used cooking oil, animal fats, or plants that work in standard marine engines, plus renewable diesel up to 100%, biodiesel blends up to 5%, and gasoline with at least 12.5% renewable content).
  • Sets interstate fisheries commission funding as the greater of 0.0375% of program funds or a fixed minimum amount.
  • Lowers the federal excise tax on portable, electronically aerated bait containers from 10% to 3%.
• When: The lower tax rate applies to these bait containers sold by manufacturers or importers after the law takes effect.