Summary#
This bill creates the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program inside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Program would mass mark hatchery-produced fish in the Great Lakes basin. It is meant to help managers tell hatchery fish from wild fish, support decisions about stocking and habitat work, and improve fishery research.
The Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service may buy equipment and fish tags, pay for data processing and sharing, and hire staff needed to run the Program. The Director must work with Federal, State, and Tribal fish management agencies, the Council of Lake Committees of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, and signatories to the Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries. The bill requires that data collected under the Program be made available to those agencies to help evaluate management actions, restoration goals, predator-prey balance, fishery economic status, and habitat restoration efforts.
The bill authorizes $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to carry out the Program.
What it means for you#
- State and Tribal fish managers: the Program would provide tagged-fish data meant to inform stocking, restoration, and management decisions.
- Hatchery operators: the Program may involve automated mass marking of hatchery-produced fish and could provide equipment or funding support.
- Recreational and commercial fishers and Tribal fisheries: the bill says the Program aims to support and improve the economic status of these fisheries by providing better data for management.
- General public: the Program is described as a collaborative effort among Federal, State, and Tribal partners to provide data about Great Lakes fish stocking and restoration.
Expenses#
- The bill authorizes $5,000,000 per year for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
- Authorized uses in the bill include purchasing capital and expendable equipment, fish tags, other items for tagging and tag recovery, data processing and dissemination, and hiring additional personnel as necessary.
Proponents' View#
The bill's findings describe the following points as reasons for the Program:
- Rapid changes in the Great Lakes from invasive species, food web changes, and declines in prey species justify a science-based, collaborative program.
- Mass marking is described as a precise tool to keep hatchery-produced fish in balance with wild fish and essential for meeting fishery management and research goals.
- The existing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service mass marking effort began in 2010 and currently tags about 9,000,000 to 11,000,000 hatchery fish annually; total annual stocking in the Great Lakes is about 21,000,000 hatchery-produced fish.
- Mass marking using automated technology is called an efficient method to implement a collaborative, science-based fishery program.
- The Great Lakes support a regional economy described in the bill as valued at more than $7,000,000,000.
Opponents' View#
No publicly available information.