[House Report 119-210]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
119th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 119-210
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GREAT LAKES MASS MARKING PROGRAM ACT OF 2025
_______
July 21, 2025.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Westerman, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 1917]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 1917) to establish the Great Lakes Mass Marking
Program, and for other purposes, having considered the same,
reports favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that
the bill as amended do pass.
The amendment is as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Great Lakes Mass Marking Program Act
of 2025''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the Great Lakes have experienced rapid changes in recent
years due to--
(A) the introduction of multiple aquatic invasive
species;
(B) alterations in the food web; and
(C) decreases in the abundance of prey species;
(2) due to rapid biological change in the Great Lakes, the
Great Lakes need a collaborative, science-based program to
assist in making management actions regarding fish stocking
rates, the rehabilitation of important fish species, and
habitat restoration;
(3) the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin and Indian Tribes
in those States, working through the Council of Lake Committees
of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, have identified that
mass marking is--
(A) a precise tool to keep hatchery-produced fish in
balance with wild fish; and
(B) essential to achieving fishery management and
research objectives through producing a better
understanding of--
(i) the quantity of hatchery produced fish
compared to wild fish in the Great Lakes;
(ii) the effectiveness of hatchery
operations; and
(iii) the effectiveness of fishery management
actions;
(4) the mass marking program of the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes--
(A) was initiated in 2010 on a limited scale;
(B) annually tags approximately 9,000,000 to
11,000,000 of the hatchery-produced fish stocked in the
Great Lakes;
(C) is a basinwide cooperative effort among the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Indian Tribes,
and State management agencies; and
(D) produces data used by State and Tribal fish
management agencies to make management decisions
regarding Great Lakes fisheries;
(5) annually, Federal, State, and Tribal agencies stock
approximately 21,000,000 hatchery-produced fish in the Great
Lakes to support--
(A) native species recovery; and
(B) recreational and commercial fishing;
(6) mass marking of hatchery-produced fish, using automated
technology, is an efficient method of implementing a
collaborative, science-based fishery program; and
(7) the Great Lakes are an important and valued resource
that--
(A) supports a robust regional economy valued at more
than $7,000,000,000; and
(B) provides stability to the economy of the United
States.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
(2) Program.--The term ``Program'' means the Great Lakes Mass
Marking Program established by section 4(a).
SEC. 4. GREAT LAKES MASS MARKING PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--To assist in determining the effectiveness of
hatchery operations and fisheries management actions and to support
Great Lakes fisheries, there is established within the United States
Fish and Wildlife Service a program for the mass marking of hatchery-
produced fish in the Great Lakes basin, to be known as the ``Great
Lakes Mass Marking Program''.
(b) Authorized Actions.--In carrying out the Program, the Director
may--
(1) purchase capital and expendable equipment, fish tags, and
other items necessary to support and carry out tagging and tag
recovery operations, including data processing and data
dissemination relating to those operations; and
(2) hire additional personnel, as necessary.
(c) Required Collaboration.--In carrying out the Program, the
Director shall collaborate with applicable 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.
(d) Availability of Data.--The Director shall make the data collected
under the Program available to applicable Federal, State, and Tribal
fish management agencies--
(1) to increase the understanding of the outcomes of
management action;
(2) to assist in meeting the restoration objectives of the
Great Lakes, including the fish community objectives and fish
management plans described in the Joint Strategic Plan for
Management of Great Lakes Fisheries;
(3) to assist in balancing predators and prey;
(4) to support and improve the economic status of Tribal,
recreational, and commercial fisheries; and
(5) to assist in evaluating the effectiveness of habitat
restoration efforts in the Great Lakes.
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out the Program
$2,700,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
PURPOSE OF THE LEGISLATION
The purpose of H.R. 1917 is to establish the Great Lakes
Mass Marking Program, and for other purposes.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
According to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the
tribal, commercial, and recreational fisheries in the five
Great Lakes are home to 177 different species of fish,
including 139 native species.\1\ These tribal, commercial, and
recreational fisheries have an economic value of more than $7
billion annually\2\ and support up to 75,000 jobs.\3\
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\1\Great Lakes Fishery Commission. The Great Lakes Fishery: A
world-class resource! http://www.glfc.org/the-fishery.php.
\2\Id.
\3\Id.
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One of the challenges that the Great Lakes' fisheries have
faced is the prominence of invasive species that place pressure
on native fish populations and their ecosystems.\4\ One
species, the Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), is native to the
Atlantic Ocean but first entered the Great Lakes in the 1920s
and 1930s.\5\ In the roughly 100 years since sea lampreys first
reached this region, Canada and the United States went from
harvesting roughly 15 million pounds of lake trout annually in
the upper Great Lakes in the 1940s to roughly 300,000 pounds in
the 1960s.\6\ Four carp species--grass, black, bighead, and
silver carp--also threaten the Great Lakes' fisheries.\7\
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\4\Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Invasive Species. https://
www.glfc.org/invasive-species.php.
\5\Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Sea Lamprey: A Great Lakes
Invader. https://www.glfc.org/sea-lamprey.php.
\6\Id.
\7\Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Invasive Carps. https://
www.glfc.org/invasive-carps.php.
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To counter the threat of these invasive species, tribal,
federal, and state agencies introduce hatchery fish to
encourage native species recovery. For example, in 2018, the
Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced that they
had introduced more than 21 million fish into the state's
waters, including the Great Lakes.\8\ More recently, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) ten hatcheries that support
the Great Lakes region introduced more than 4.7 million
hatchery fish in all five Great Lakes in 2024.\9\ To gather
data on the success of hatchery fish, wildlife managers tag
large numbers of these fish through a practice known as mass
marking. This practice allows them to easily distinguish
hatchery fish from wild fish populations.
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\8\Manistee News Advocate. DNR: More than 21 million fish stocked
in 2018. October 22, 2018.
\9\U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Hatchery Statistics. Prepared
For: House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water,
Wildlife, and Fisheries. March 14, 2025. https://
naturalresources.house.gov/uploadedfiles/final-great-lakes-hatchery-
stocking-fac-march-2025.pdf.
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H.R. 1917 would codify the FWS's existing Great Lakes Mass
Marking Program, which began in 2010. The activities carried
out by this program include tagging hatchery fish stocked in
the great lakes and assisting in cooperative fisheries
management decisions with states and tribes by producing data
on the health of the fishery.\10\ An amendment was adopted at
markup to lower the authorization level to $2.7 million from
Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 through FY 2030 to carry out this
program, which is what the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program
currently receives in funding.
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\10\``Restoring the Great Lakes: Success stories from a decade of
the Great Lakes Restora-
tion Initiative.'' Charlie Wooley and Wendi Weber. U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. March
2020. https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/GLRI-Restoring-
Great-Lakes-Decade-
Retrospective.pdf.
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COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 1917 was introduced on March 6, 2025, by
Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI). The bill was referred to
the Committee on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to
the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries. On March 25,
2025, the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries held a
hearing on the bill. On June 25, 2025, the Committee on Natural
Resources met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee on Water,
Wildlife and Fisheries was discharged from further
consideration of H.R. 1917 by unanimous consent. Chairman Bruce
Westerman (R-AR) offered an amendment designated Westerman #1.
The amendment was agreed to by unanimous consent. The bill, as
amended, was then ordered favorably reported to the House of
Representatives by unanimous consent.
HEARINGS
For the purposes of clause 3(c)(6) of House rule XIII, the
following hearing was used to develop or consider this measure:
hearing by the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries
held on March 25, 2025.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1. Short title
Section 1 establishes that this Act may be cited as the
``Great Lakes Mass Marking Program Act of 2025''.
Section 2. Findings
Section 2 lists Congress's findings that rapid biological
change in the Great Lakes requires a collaborative, science-
based program to assist in making management actions regarding
fish stocking rates, the rehabilitation of important fish
species, and habitat restoration; that various Great Lakes
states and tribes have identified mass marking as a precise
tool to keep hatchery-produced fish in balance with wild fish,
as being essential to achieving fishery management and research
objectives, and as an efficient method of implementing a
collaborative, science-based fishery program; and that the
Great Lakes are an important and valued resource that provide
substantial economic benefits.
Section 3. Definitions
Section 3 defines ``Director'' to mean the Director of the
FWS and ``Program'' to mean the Great Lakes Mass Marking
Program.
Section 4. Great Lakes Mass Marking Program
Section 4 authorizes a Great Lakes Mass Marking Program
(the Program) within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It
requires collaboration with applicable Federal, State, and
Tribal fish management agencies, the Great Lakes Fisheries
Commission, and signatories to the Joint Strategic Plan for
Management of Great Lakes Fisheries. Section 4 also requires
the Program to make all data it collects available to
applicable Federal, State, and Tribal fish management agencies.
Section 5. Authorization of appropriations
Section 5 authorizes $2.7 million per year from FY 2026 to
FY 2030.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII AND
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT
1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act.
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(2) of House rule XIII and section
308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and pursuant to
clause 3(c)(3) of House rule XIII and section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has requested
but not received from the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office a budgetary analysis and a cost estimate of this bill.
2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to establish the Great Lakes Mass
Marking Program, and for other purposes.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
UNFUNDED MANDATES REFORM ACT STATEMENT
An estimate of federal mandates prepared by the Director of
the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 423 of the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act was not made available to the
Committee in time for the filing of this report. The Chair of
the Committee shall cause such estimate to be printed in the
Congressional Record upon its receipt by the Committee, if such
estimate is not publicly available on the Congressional Budget
Office website.
EXISTING PROGRAMS
Directed Rule Making. This bill does not contain any
directed rule makings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
APPLICABILITY TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
The Committee finds that the legislation does not relate to
the terms and conditions of employment or access to public
services or accommodations within the meaning of section
102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
Any preemptive effect of this bill over state, local, or
tribal law is intended to be consistent with the bill's
purposes and text and the Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the
U.S. Constitution.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
As ordered reported by the Committee on Natural Resources,
H.R. 1917 would make no changes in existing law.