I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 207
To direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish a task force regarding
shark depredation, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. W
ITTMAN(for himself, Mr. WEBSTERof Florida, Mr. SOTO, and Mr.
V
EASEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish a task
force regarding shark depredation, 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 ‘‘Supporting the Health 4
of Aquatic systems through Research Knowledge and En-5
hanced Dialogue Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘SHARKED Act 6
of 2025’’. 7
SEC. 2. SHARK DEPREDATION TASK FORCE AND RESEARCH 8
PROJECTS. 9
(a) S
HARKDEPREDATIONTASKFORCE.— 10
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•HR 207 IH
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce 1
shall establish a task force (referred to in this sub-2
section as the ‘‘task force’’) to identify and address 3
critical needs with respect to shark depredation. 4
(2) M
EMBERSHIP.—The Secretary of Com-5
merce shall appoint individuals to the task force, in-6
cluding— 7
(A) 1 representative from— 8
(i) each Regional Fishery Manage-9
ment Council established under section 10
302(a)(1) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fish-11
ery Conservation and Management Act (16 12
U.S.C. 1852(a)(1)); 13
(ii) each Marine Fisheries Commis-14
sion, as such term is defined in section 3 15
of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Con-16
servation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 17
1802); 18
(iii) the fish and wildlife agency of a 19
coastal State from each Regional Fishery 20
Management Council established under 21
section 302(a)(1) of the Magnuson-Stevens 22
Fishery Conservation and Management Act 23
(16 U.S.C. 1852(a)(1)); and 24
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•HR 207 IH
(iv) the National Marine Fisheries 1
Service; 2
(B) an individual with expertise in the 3
management of highly migratory species; 4
(C) a researcher with expertise in shark 5
management and behavior; and 6
(D) a researcher with expertise in shark 7
ecology. 8
(3) R
ESPONSIBILITIES.—The task force shall— 9
(A) develop ways to improve coordination 10
and communication across the fisheries man-11
agement community and shark research com-12
munity to address shark depredation; 13
(B) identify research priorities and funding 14
opportunities for such priorities, including— 15
(i) identifying shark species involved 16
in interactions; 17
(ii) shark stock assessments; 18
(iii) how sharks become habituated to 19
humans and thus lead to more interactions 20
between sharks and humans; 21
(iv) how angler behavior and fishery 22
regulatory frameworks may influence shark 23
interactions; 24
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•HR 207 IH
(v) techniques and strategies to re-1
duce harmful interactions between sharks 2
and humans, including the development 3
and use of non-lethal deterrents; 4
(vi) the role of healthy shark popu-5
lations in the ocean food web; and 6
(vii) climate change impacts on shift-7
ing shark populations, prey, and shark be-8
havior; 9
(C) develop recommended management 10
strategies to address shark depredation; and 11
(D) coordinate the development and dis-12
tribution of educational materials to help the 13
fishing community minimize shark interactions 14
including through changed angler behavior and 15
expectations. 16
(4) R
EPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 17
date of the enactment of this section, and every 2 18
years thereafter until the termination of the task 19
force in accordance with paragraph (5), the task 20
force shall submit to Congress a report regarding 21
the findings of the task force. 22
(5) S
UNSET.—The task force shall terminate 23
not later than 7 years after the date on which the 24
Secretary of Commerce establishes the task force. 25
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•HR 207 IH
(6) COASTAL STATE DEFINED .—In this sub-1
section, the term ‘‘coastal State’’— 2
(A) means a State of the United States in, 3
or bordering on, the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific 4
Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, or Long 5
Island Sound; and 6
(B) includes Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is-7
lands of the United States, Guam, the Com-8
monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 9
and American Samoa. 10
(b) S
HARKDEPREDATIONRESEARCHPROJECTS.— 11
Section 318(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Con-12
servation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1867(c)) is 13
amended by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(6) Projects to better understand shark depre-15
dation, including identifying what causes increases 16
in shark depredation and determining how to best 17
address shark depredation.’’. 18
(c) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this section shall be con-19
strued to affect the authority and responsibility of the Sec-20
retary of Commerce in carrying out the Endangered Spe-21
cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1351 et seq.) or the Magnu-22
son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 23
(16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). 24
Æ
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