Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1917 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1917
5	5	To establish the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program, and for other purposes.
6	6	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
7	7	MARCH6, 2025
8	8	Mrs. D
9	9	INGELL(for herself, Mr. HUIZENGA, and Mr. WALBERG) introduced
10	10	the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
11	11	A BILL
12	12	To establish the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program, and
13	13	for other purposes.
14	14	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
15	15	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
16	16	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
17	17	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Great Lakes Mass 4
18	18	Marking Program Act of 2025’’. 5
19	19	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
20	20	Congress finds that— 7
21	21	(1) the Great Lakes have experienced rapid 8
22	22	changes in recent years due to— 9
23	23	(A) the introduction of multiple aquatic 10
24	24	invasive species; 11
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28	28	(B) alterations in the food web; and 1
29	29	(C) decreases in the abundance of prey 2
30	30	species; 3
31	31	(2) due to rapid biological change in the Great 4
32	32	Lakes, the Great Lakes need a collaborative, science- 5
33	33	based program to assist in making management ac-6
34	34	tions regarding fish stocking rates, the rehabilitation 7
35	35	of important fish species, and habitat restoration; 8
36	36	(3) the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, 9
37	37	Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wis-10
38	38	consin and Indian Tribes in those States, working 11
39	39	through the Council of Lake Committees of the 12
40	40	Great Lakes Fishery Commission, have identified 13
41	41	that mass marking is— 14
42	42	(A) a precise tool to keep hatchery-pro-15
43	43	duced fish in balance with wild fish; and 16
44	44	(B) essential to achieving fishery manage-17
45	45	ment and research objectives through producing 18
46	46	a better understanding of— 19
47	47	(i) the quantity of hatchery produced 20
48	48	fish compared to wild fish in the Great 21
49	49	Lakes; 22
50	50	(ii) the effectiveness of hatchery oper-23
51	51	ations; and 24
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55	55	(iii) the effectiveness of fishery man-1
56	56	agement actions; 2
57	57	(4) the mass marking program of the United 3
58	58	States Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great 4
59	59	Lakes— 5
60	60	(A) was initiated in 2010 on a limited 6
61	61	scale; 7
62	62	(B) annually tags approximately 9,000,000 8
63	63	to 11,000,000 of the hatchery-produced fish 9
64	64	stocked in the Great Lakes; 10
65	65	(C) is a basinwide cooperative effort 11
66	66	among the United States Fish and Wildlife 12
67	67	Service, Indian Tribes, and State management 13
68	68	agencies; and 14
69	69	(D) produces data used by State and Trib-15
70	70	al fish management agencies to make manage-16
71	71	ment decisions regarding Great Lakes fisheries; 17
72	72	(5) annually, Federal, State, and Tribal agen-18
73	73	cies stock approximately 21,000,000 hatchery-pro-19
74	74	duced fish in the Great Lakes to support— 20
75	75	(A) native species recovery; and 21
76	76	(B) recreational and commercial fishing; 22
77	77	(6) mass marking of hatchery-produced fish, 23
78	78	using automated technology, is an efficient method 24
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82	82	of implementing a collaborative, science-based fish-1
83	83	ery program; and 2
84	84	(7) the Great Lakes are an important and val-3
85	85	ued resource that— 4
86	86	(A) supports a robust regional economy 5
87	87	valued at more than $7,000,000,000; and 6
88	88	(B) provides stability to the economy of 7
89	89	the United States. 8
90	90	SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 9
91	91	In this Act: 10
92	92	(1) D
93	93	IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 11
94	94	the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 12
95	95	Service. 13
96	96	(2) P
97	97	ROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 14
98	98	the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program established 15
99	99	by section 4(a). 16
100	100	SEC. 4. GREAT LAKES MASS MARKING PROGRAM. 17
101	101	(a) I
102	102	NGENERAL.—To assist in determining the effec-18
103	103	tiveness of hatchery operations and fisheries management 19
104	104	actions and to support Great Lakes fisheries, there is es-20
105	105	tablished within the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-21
106	106	ice a program for the mass marking of hatchery-produced 22
107	107	fish in the Great Lakes basin, to be known as the ‘‘Great 23
108	108	Lakes Mass Marking Program’’. 24
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112	112	(b) AUTHORIZEDACTIONS.—In carrying out the Pro-1
113	113	gram, the Director may— 2
114	114	(1) purchase capital and expendable equipment, 3
115	115	fish tags, and other items necessary to support and 4
116	116	carry out tagging and tag recovery operations, in-5
117	117	cluding data processing and data dissemination re-6
118	118	lating to those operations; and 7
119	119	(2) hire additional personnel, as necessary. 8
120	120	(c) R
121	121	EQUIREDCOLLABORATION.—In carrying out 9
122	122	the Program, the Director shall collaborate with applicable 10
123	123	Federal, State, and Tribal fish management agencies, the 11
124	124	Council of Lake Committees of the Great Lakes Fishery 12
125	125	Commission, and signatories to the Joint Strategic Plan 13
126	126	for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries. 14
127	127	(d) A
128	128	VAILABILITY OFDATA.—The Director shall 15
129	129	make the data collected under the Program available to 16
130	130	applicable Federal, State, and Tribal fish management 17
131	131	agencies— 18
132	132	(1) to increase the understanding of the out-19
133	133	comes of management action; 20
134	134	(2) to assist in meeting the restoration objec-21
135	135	tives of the Great Lakes, including the fish commu-22
136	136	nity objectives and fish management plans described 23
137	137	in the Joint Strategic Plan for Management of 24
138	138	Great Lakes Fisheries; 25
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142	142	(3) to assist in balancing predators and prey; 1
143	143	(4) to support and improve the economic status 2
144	144	of Tribal, recreational, and commercial fisheries; and 3
145	145	(5) to assist in evaluating the effectiveness of 4
146	146	habitat restoration efforts in the Great Lakes. 5
147	147	SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 6
148	148	There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 7
149	149	the Program $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 8
150	150	through 2030. 9
151	151	Æ
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