I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1917
To establish the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH6, 2025
Mrs. D
INGELL(for herself, Mr. HUIZENGA, and Mr. WALBERG) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To establish the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program, and
for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Great Lakes Mass 4
Marking Program Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds that— 7
(1) the Great Lakes have experienced rapid 8
changes in recent years due to— 9
(A) the introduction of multiple aquatic 10
invasive species; 11
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(B) alterations in the food web; and 1
(C) decreases in the abundance of prey 2
species; 3
(2) due to rapid biological change in the Great 4
Lakes, the Great Lakes need a collaborative, science- 5
based program to assist in making management ac-6
tions regarding fish stocking rates, the rehabilitation 7
of important fish species, and habitat restoration; 8
(3) the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, 9
Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wis-10
consin and Indian Tribes in those States, working 11
through the Council of Lake Committees of the 12
Great Lakes Fishery Commission, have identified 13
that mass marking is— 14
(A) a precise tool to keep hatchery-pro-15
duced fish in balance with wild fish; and 16
(B) essential to achieving fishery manage-17
ment and research objectives through producing 18
a better understanding of— 19
(i) the quantity of hatchery produced 20
fish compared to wild fish in the Great 21
Lakes; 22
(ii) the effectiveness of hatchery oper-23
ations; and 24
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(iii) the effectiveness of fishery man-1
agement actions; 2
(4) the mass marking program of the United 3
States Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great 4
Lakes— 5
(A) was initiated in 2010 on a limited 6
scale; 7
(B) annually tags approximately 9,000,000 8
to 11,000,000 of the hatchery-produced fish 9
stocked in the Great Lakes; 10
(C) is a basinwide cooperative effort 11
among the United States Fish and Wildlife 12
Service, Indian Tribes, and State management 13
agencies; and 14
(D) produces data used by State and Trib-15
al fish management agencies to make manage-16
ment decisions regarding Great Lakes fisheries; 17
(5) annually, Federal, State, and Tribal agen-18
cies stock approximately 21,000,000 hatchery-pro-19
duced fish in the Great Lakes to support— 20
(A) native species recovery; and 21
(B) recreational and commercial fishing; 22
(6) mass marking of hatchery-produced fish, 23
using automated technology, is an efficient method 24
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of implementing a collaborative, science-based fish-1
ery program; and 2
(7) the Great Lakes are an important and val-3
ued resource that— 4
(A) supports a robust regional economy 5
valued at more than $7,000,000,000; and 6
(B) provides stability to the economy of 7
the United States. 8
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 9
In this Act: 10
(1) D
IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 11
the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 12
Service. 13
(2) P
ROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 14
the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program established 15
by section 4(a). 16
SEC. 4. GREAT LAKES MASS MARKING PROGRAM. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—To assist in determining the effec-18
tiveness of hatchery operations and fisheries management 19
actions and to support Great Lakes fisheries, there is es-20
tablished within the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-21
ice a program for the mass marking of hatchery-produced 22
fish in the Great Lakes basin, to be known as the ‘‘Great 23
Lakes Mass Marking Program’’. 24
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(b) AUTHORIZEDACTIONS.—In carrying out the Pro-1
gram, the Director may— 2
(1) purchase capital and expendable equipment, 3
fish tags, and other items necessary to support and 4
carry out tagging and tag recovery operations, in-5
cluding data processing and data dissemination re-6
lating to those operations; and 7
(2) hire additional personnel, as necessary. 8
(c) R
EQUIREDCOLLABORATION.—In carrying out 9
the Program, the Director shall collaborate with applicable 10
Federal, State, and Tribal fish management agencies, the 11
Council of Lake Committees of the Great Lakes Fishery 12
Commission, and signatories to the Joint Strategic Plan 13
for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries. 14
(d) A
VAILABILITY OFDATA.—The Director shall 15
make the data collected under the Program available to 16
applicable Federal, State, and Tribal fish management 17
agencies— 18
(1) to increase the understanding of the out-19
comes of management action; 20
(2) to assist in meeting the restoration objec-21
tives of the Great Lakes, including the fish commu-22
nity objectives and fish management plans described 23
in the Joint Strategic Plan for Management of 24
Great Lakes Fisheries; 25
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(3) to assist in balancing predators and prey; 1
(4) to support and improve the economic status 2
of Tribal, recreational, and commercial fisheries; and 3
(5) to assist in evaluating the effectiveness of 4
habitat restoration efforts in the Great Lakes. 5
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 6
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 7
the Program $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 8
through 2030. 9
Æ
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