This bill creates the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program inside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Program will mass-mark hatchery-produced fish in the Great Lakes basin. The Director may buy equipment, fish tags, and other supplies, and hire staff to carry out tagging and tag recovery and to process and share data. The Director must work with Federal, State, and Tribal fish management agencies, the Council of Lake Committees, and signatories to the Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries. The bill requires that data from the Program be made available to those agencies to help understand management outcomes, meet restoration objectives, balance predators and prey, support Tribal, recreational, and commercial fisheries, and evaluate habitat restoration efforts.
The bill authorizes $5,000,000 for each fiscal year 2026 through 2030 to carry out the Program. That authorization totals $25,000,000 across those five years. The Director may use funds to buy equipment and tags and to hire personnel. No publicly available information on costs beyond this authorization.
The bill's findings say mass marking is a precise tool to distinguish hatchery-produced fish from wild fish and to help managers set stocking rates, rehabilitate species, and restore habitat. The findings note an existing, limited mass marking program started in 2010 that tags about 9–11 million hatchery fish annually, and that about 21 million hatchery fish are stocked in the Great Lakes each year. Supporters say data from mass marking will improve understanding of hatchery contributions and the effectiveness of management actions and help support Tribal, recreational, and commercial fisheries.
No publicly available information.