I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2293
To require the Secretary of the Interior to reissue certain regulations relating
to the taking of double-crested cormorants at aquaculture facilities.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH24, 2025
Mr. E
ZELL(for himself, Mr. GUEST, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, and Mr.
K
ELLYof Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To require the Secretary of the Interior to reissue certain
regulations relating to the taking of double-crested cor-
morants at aquaculture facilities.
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 ‘‘Cormorant Relief Act 4
of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. REGULATIONS RELATING TO TAKING OF DOUBLE- 1
CRESTED CORMORANTS AT AQUACULTURE 2
FACILITIES. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall reissue the 4
original depredation order in accordance with subsection 5
(b). 6
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The depredation order re-7
issued under subsection (a) shall be the same as the origi-8
nal depredation order, except that the depredation order 9
reissued under subsection (a)— 10
(1) shall apply to each of the States of Cali-11
fornia, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, 12
Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Penn-13
sylvania, and Wisconsin in addition to and in the 14
same manner as each of the States to which the 15
original depredation order applied; and 16
(2) shall apply to lake managers and pond man-17
agers in addition to and in the same manner as each 18
of the entities to which the original depredation 19
order applied. 20
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 21
(1) L
AKE MANAGER.—The term ‘‘lake man-22
ager’’ means a person that is licensed by a State 23
regulatory agency to manage a private lake. 24
(2) O
RIGINAL DEPREDATION ORDER .—The 25
term ‘‘original depredation order’’ means the depre-26
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•HR 2293 IH
dation order for double-crested cormorants at aqua-1
culture facilities contained in section 21.47 of title 2
50, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 3
January 1, 2016). 4
(3) P
OND MANAGER.—The term ‘‘pond man-5
ager’’ means a person that is licensed by a State 6
regulatory agency to manage a private pond. 7
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-9
rector of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-10
ice. 11
Æ
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