| 1 | 1 | | II |
|---|
| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
|---|
| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
|---|
| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 1255 |
|---|
| 5 | 5 | | To require the Secretary of the Interior to reissue certain regulations relating |
|---|
| 6 | 6 | | to the taking of double-crested cormorants at aquaculture facilities, and |
|---|
| 7 | 7 | | for other purposes. |
|---|
| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
|---|
| 9 | 9 | | APRIL2, 2025 |
|---|
| 10 | 10 | | Mr. C |
|---|
| 11 | 11 | | OTTON(for himself, Mr. TUBERVILLE, Mrs. BRITT, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, |
|---|
| 12 | 12 | | and Mr. W |
|---|
| 13 | 13 | | ICKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and |
|---|
| 14 | 14 | | referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works |
|---|
| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
|---|
| 16 | 16 | | To require the Secretary of the Interior to reissue certain |
|---|
| 17 | 17 | | regulations relating to the taking of double-crested cor- |
|---|
| 18 | 18 | | morants at aquaculture facilities, and for other purposes. |
|---|
| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
|---|
| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
|---|
| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
|---|
| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cormorant Relief Act 4 |
|---|
| 23 | 23 | | of 2025’’. 5 |
|---|
| 24 | 24 | | SEC. 2. REGULATIONS RELATING TO TAKING OF DOUBLE- 6 |
|---|
| 25 | 25 | | CRESTED CORMORANTS AT AQUACULTURE 7 |
|---|
| 26 | 26 | | FACILITIES. 8 |
|---|
| 27 | 27 | | (a) D |
|---|
| 28 | 28 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 |
|---|
| 29 | 29 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:26 Apr 05, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1255.IS S1255 |
|---|
| 30 | 30 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
|---|
| 31 | 31 | | •S 1255 IS |
|---|
| 32 | 32 | | (1) LAKE MANAGER.—The term ‘‘lake man-1 |
|---|
| 33 | 33 | | ager’’ means a person that is licensed by a State 2 |
|---|
| 34 | 34 | | regulatory agency to manage a private lake. 3 |
|---|
| 35 | 35 | | (2) O |
|---|
| 36 | 36 | | RIGINAL DEPREDATION ORDER .—The 4 |
|---|
| 37 | 37 | | term ‘‘original depredation order’’ means the depre-5 |
|---|
| 38 | 38 | | dation order for double-crested cormorants at aqua-6 |
|---|
| 39 | 39 | | culture facilities contained in section 21.47 of title 7 |
|---|
| 40 | 40 | | 50, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 8 |
|---|
| 41 | 41 | | January 1, 2016). 9 |
|---|
| 42 | 42 | | (3) P |
|---|
| 43 | 43 | | OND MANAGER.—The term ‘‘pond man-10 |
|---|
| 44 | 44 | | ager’’ means a person that is licensed by a State 11 |
|---|
| 45 | 45 | | regulatory agency to manage a private pond. 12 |
|---|
| 46 | 46 | | (4) S |
|---|
| 47 | 47 | | ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 13 |
|---|
| 48 | 48 | | the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-14 |
|---|
| 49 | 49 | | rector of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-15 |
|---|
| 50 | 50 | | ice. 16 |
|---|
| 51 | 51 | | (b) R |
|---|
| 52 | 52 | | EISSUANCEREQUIRED.—Not later than 1 year 17 |
|---|
| 53 | 53 | | after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 18 |
|---|
| 54 | 54 | | reissue the original depredation order in accordance with 19 |
|---|
| 55 | 55 | | subsection (c). 20 |
|---|
| 56 | 56 | | (c) R |
|---|
| 57 | 57 | | EQUIREMENTS.—The depredation order re-21 |
|---|
| 58 | 58 | | issued under subsection (b) shall be the same as the origi-22 |
|---|
| 59 | 59 | | nal depredation order, except that the depredation order 23 |
|---|
| 60 | 60 | | reissued under that subsection shall apply— 24 |
|---|
| 61 | 61 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:26 Apr 05, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1255.IS S1255 |
|---|
| 62 | 62 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
|---|
| 63 | 63 | | •S 1255 IS |
|---|
| 64 | 64 | | (1) to each of the States of California, Colo-1 |
|---|
| 65 | 65 | | rado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, 2 |
|---|
| 66 | 66 | | Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wis-3 |
|---|
| 67 | 67 | | consin in addition to, and in the same manner as, 4 |
|---|
| 68 | 68 | | each of the States to which the original depredation 5 |
|---|
| 69 | 69 | | order applied; and 6 |
|---|
| 70 | 70 | | (2) to lake managers and pond managers in ad-7 |
|---|
| 71 | 71 | | dition to, and in the same manner as, each of the 8 |
|---|
| 72 | 72 | | entities to which the original depredation order ap-9 |
|---|
| 73 | 73 | | plied. 10 |
|---|
| 74 | 74 | | Æ |
|---|
| 75 | 75 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:26 Apr 05, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1255.IS S1255 |
|---|
| 76 | 76 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
|---|