Sponsors (3)
The bill clarifies and strengthens NOAA's authority and simplifies regulatory language for fishers, improving enforceability and reducing some compliance ambiguity, but it may shift compliance timing and costs for small fishing businesses and create uncertainty about the timing of future whale protections.
NOAA (the Secretary of Commerce) gains clearer statutory authority to set and apply rules protecting the North Atlantic right whale, enabling continued and more defensible regulatory protections.
Commercial fishing operators receive updated, consolidated regulatory language clarifying which rules apply and when, reducing uncertainty about compliance obligations.
Small commercial fishing businesses may face extended or changed compliance deadlines, which could increase costs for gear modifications or operational changes.
Coastal and rural communities and conservation stakeholders face uncertainty because altering statutory timelines for reviews (e.g., 3- and 7-year deadlines) could delay or accelerate protections for the North Atlantic right whale.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Replaces statutory trigger/date language in 16 U.S.C. § 1387 to change the effective timing of regulations protecting the North Atlantic right whale from incidental take in commercial fishing.
Official title: To amend the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 to extend the time period for which certain regulations concerning the North Atlantic right whale are effective.
Introduced April 27, 2026 by Jared Golden · Last progress April 27, 2026
Replaces language in an appropriations-era statute to change the timing/trigger language that governs certain regulations under 16 U.S.C. § 1387 related to incidental taking of marine mammals during commercial fishing. The change alters when or whether specific North Atlantic right whale protections or related regulatory provisions remain in effect. The amendment uses broad "strike-and-insert" wording to remove prior date or trigger text and insert new text, making a substantive change to the statutory rule that controls the applicability or effective period of those regulations. It does not, in the excerpt provided, show the exact inserted text or funding changes; it changes statutory timing/trigger mechanics for regulations aimed at reducing harm to the North Atlantic right whale from commercial fishing operations.