Why It Matters: Creating pathways to significantly improve recreational catch information and establishing a Mississippi River Basin Commission, both priorities for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), were the subjects of two of the bills heard before the Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries Subcommittee last week.
Highlights:
- Three CSF-supported fishing and fisheries conservation bills, two of which are top priorities, were recently heard by the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Oceans, providing an opportunity to move the bills for full House consideration prior to adjournment of the first session of the 119th
Last Wednesday, the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries held a legislative hearing on three bills that look to vastly improve recreational catch data, establish a new fisheries commission for the Mississippi River Basin, and stem illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by foreign vessels. CSF submitted written testimony for the record in support of the three bills before the Subcommittee.
- R. 5699, the Fisheries Data Modernization and Accuracy Act of 2025, will address a fundamental shortcoming of federal marine fisheries management, which is the ability to obtain reliable recreational catch estimates. The bill seeks to facilitate the establishment or improvement of more efficient and accurate state-based data collection systems that can effectively supplement or replace MRIP. For coastal states unable to develop their own data collection programs, the bill will establish a mechanism for scientific review of MRIP estimates and methodologies when the quality of recreational catch data fails to meet NOAA’s own data standards
- R. 1514, the Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission Act of 2025, would establish a much-needed and long-overdue fisheries commission under the Department of the Interior to coordinate interjurisdictional fishery resources and management across 31 states and Tribes in the Mississippi River Basin. The Commission would help to ensure that resources to combat invasive species and improve fish habitat are focused where they are needed most.
- R. 3756, the Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvests Act of 2025 (or “FISH Act”) seeks to address the continued challenge of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) commercial fishing that significantly threatens local and global fish stocks. The bill would facilitate the creation of a blacklist of foreign fishing vessels suspected of illegal fishing, prohibit their entry to U.S. ports, and encourage sanctions on listed vessels by other countries.
A recording of the hearing can be found here. CSF looks forward to working with each of the bill sponsors as they move through the process to become law.
