I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1332
To direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish and carry out a program
to sequence the genomes of aquatic species.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mr. M
IN(for himself, Ms. BROWNLEY, and Ms. ELFRETH) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish and carry
out a program to sequence the genomes of aquatic species.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aquatic Biodiversity 4
Preservation Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. AQUATIC SPECIES GENOME SEQUENCING PRO-6
GRAM. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish and 8
carry out a program to sequence the genomes of aquatic 9
species, in coordination with covered entities, to enhance 10
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scientific understanding and conservation, management, 1
and enforcement efforts with respect to such species. 2
(b) P
ROGRAMDUTIES.—In carrying out the Pro-3
gram, the Secretary shall carry out activities that include 4
the following: 5
(1) Identify and catalogue vouchered specimens, 6
verifiably identified by a taxonomist, of aquatic spe-7
cies held by covered entities for the purpose of in-8
cluding such aquatic species in the Program. 9
(2) Obtain genetic samples, including through 10
purchase or field collection, of priority species. 11
(3) Extract and process DNA from samples of 12
aquatic species or the environment through labora-13
tory analysis, including carrying out any labor and 14
acquiring any supplies required for such analysis. 15
(4) Sequence the genomes of aquatic species to 16
accepted completeness and quality standards for ref-17
erence genomes, including, as the Secretary deter-18
mines appropriate, nuclear, mitochondrial, and 19
chloroplast DNA. 20
(5) Collect, catalogue, and store the metadata 21
created by sequencing the genomes of aquatic spe-22
cies under paragraph (4). 23
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(6) Make publicly available the genomes and as-1
sociated metadata of aquatic species that have been 2
sequenced but are not publicly available. 3
(7) Provide funding and technical assistance to 4
covered entities that the Secretary determines appro-5
priate to carry out the activities described in para-6
graphs (1) through (6). 7
(8) Establish principles for the management 8
and sharing of data collected and produced through 9
the Program in accordance with the document titled 10
‘‘The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data 11
management and stewardship’’ (published March 15, 12
2016). 13
(c) P
ROGRAMPARTICIPATION BY COVEREDENTI-14
TIES.—A covered entity may carry out the activities de-15
scribed in paragraphs (1) through (6) of subsection (b) 16
pursuant to the Program. 17
(d) D
ATASHARING.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-19
graph (2), if the Secretary or a covered entity se-20
quences the genome of an aquatic species pursuant 21
to the Program, not later than 360 days after the 22
date on which the sequencing of such genome is 23
completed, the Secretary or the covered entity that 24
sequenced such genome, as applicable, shall submit 25
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to the National Center for Biotechnology Informa-1
tion to make publicly available such sequenced ge-2
nome and any associated raw sequence data and 3
metadata, including— 4
(A) the species of such genome; 5
(B) the location of where the sample that 6
was used to sequence such genome was col-7
lected; 8
(C) the time and date of when such sample 9
was collected; 10
(D) the process by which such genome was 11
sequenced; and 12
(E) any information required pursuant to 13
the principles for the management and sharing 14
of data collected and produced through the Pro-15
gram established under subsection (b)(8). 16
(2) E
XCEPTION FOR TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS .— 17
If, pursuant to the Program, a Tribal Government 18
sequences the genome of an aquatic species or pro-19
vides a sample of an aquatic species to the Secretary 20
that the Secretary uses to sequence the genome of 21
such species, the Tribal Government shall be the 22
only entity with the authority to determine whether 23
and when to submit to the National Center for Bio-24
technology Information to make publicly available 25
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the data collected and produced through such se-1
quencing. 2
(e) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 3
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 4
out the Program $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 5
through 2031. 6
(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
(1) A
QUATIC SPECIES OF GREATEST CONSERVA -8
TION NEED.—The term ‘‘aquatic species of greatest 9
conservation need’’ means an aquatic species that, 10
unless otherwise specified, the Secretary determines 11
requires conservation attention because such spe-12
cies— 13
(A) has a low or declining population; 14
(B) is facing threats; or 15
(C) is considered by a Tribal Government 16
or Native Hawaiian organization to be bio-17
logically or culturally significant for indigenous 18
purposes. 19
(2) C
OVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-20
tity’’ means— 21
(A) a Federal agency; 22
(B) a State Government; 23
(C) a Tribal Government; 24
(D) a Native Hawaiian organization; 25
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(E) a nonprofit organization; and 1
(F) an institution of higher education. 2
(3) H
ARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM .—The term 3
‘‘harmful algal bloom’’ has the meaning given the 4
term in section 609 of the Harmful Algal Bloom and 5
Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 (33 6
U.S.C. 4008). 7
(4) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 8
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 9
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 10
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 11
(5) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 12
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 13
meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 14
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 15
(6) N
ATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION .—The 16
term ‘‘Native Hawaiian organization’’— 17
(A) means an organization that— 18
(i) serves and represents the interests 19
of Native Hawaiians; 20
(ii) has as a primary and stated pur-21
pose the provision of services to Native 22
Hawaiians; and 23
(iii) has expertise in Native Hawaiian 24
affairs; and 25
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(B) includes Native Hawaiian organiza-1
tions registered with the Office of Native Ha-2
waiian Relations of the Department of the Inte-3
rior. 4
(7) N
ONPROFIT ORGANIZATION .—The term 5
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization— 6
(A) described in section 501(c)(3) of the 7
Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and 8
(B) that is exempt from taxation under 9
section 501(a) of that Code. 10
(8) P
RIORITY SPECIES.—The term ‘‘priority 11
species’’ means an aquatic species— 12
(A) the genome of which has not been fully 13
sequenced or is not publicly available; and 14
(B) that is— 15
(i) listed as a threatened species or as 16
an endangered species pursuant to section 17
4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 18
(16 U.S.C. 1533); 19
(ii) included in the Non-indigenous 20
Aquatic Species database of the United 21
States Geological Survey; 22
(iii) listed in 1 of the Appendices of 23
the Convention on International Trade in 24
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Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and 1
Flora; 2
(iv) a macroinvertebrate that acts as a 3
biological indicator of aquatic ecosystem 4
health; 5
(v) a species that contributes to harm-6
ful algal blooms or a foodborne illness de-7
rived from eating seafood; 8
(vi) a species of fish that is managed 9
pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 10
Conservation and Management Act (16 11
U.S.C. 1801); 12
(vii) an aquatic species of greatest 13
conservation need; 14
(viii) a species protected under the 15
Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 16
(16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.); 17
(ix) a species monitored under the 18
Seafood Import Monitoring Program of the 19
National Marine Fisheries Service; or 20
(x) a look-alike species or a species 21
that is morphologically or genetically close-22
ly related to a species described in clauses 23
(i) through (x). 24
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(9) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 1
the program established under subsection (a). 2
(10) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 3
means the Secretary of Commerce. 4
(11) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 5
the several States, the District of Columbia, the 6
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, 7
Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 8
Islands, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and 9
any other territory or possession of the United 10
States. 11
(12) T
RIBAL GOVERNMENT .—The term ‘‘Tribal 12
Government’’ means the recognized governing body 13
of an Indian Tribe. 14
(g) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall take effect 15
on the date that is 180 days after the date of the enact-16
ment of this section. 17
Æ
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