[House Report 119-283]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
119th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 119-283
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GREAT LAKES FISHERY RESEARCH
REAUTHORIZATION ACT
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September 15, 2025.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on
the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
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Mr. Westerman, from the Committee on Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 1809]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 1809) to reauthorize funding to monitor, assess,
and research the Great Lakes Basin, having considered the same,
reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that
the bill do pass.
Purpose of the Legislation
The purpose of H.R. 1809 is to reauthorize funding to
monitor, assess, and research the Great Lakes Basin.
Background and Need for Legislation
H.R. 1809 reauthorizes the Great Lakes Fishery Research
Program (Program). Established in 2019, the Program allows the
U.S. Geological Survey to conduct ``monitoring, assessment,
science, and research, in support of the binational fisheries
within the Great Lakes Basin.''\1\ In creating the Program,
Congress found that fisheries management and research requires
sound science and new technologies to support the diverse
ecosystem and economic engine of the Great Lakes.\2\ To inform
fisheries managers, the Program conducts research and
investigations on various topics, including fish movement and
behavior, deepwater ecosystem science, fish habitat, invasive
species science, and leveraging existing and new technology,
vessels, and scientific tools.\3\
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\1\16 U.S.C. 941h(c)(1).
\2\16 U.S.C. 941h(b).
\3\16 U.S.C. 941(h)(c)(3).
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The Program is authorized through Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 at
$15 million per year. H.R. 1809 would extend the authorization
for another five years, until FY 2030, at existing funding
levels.
Committee Action
H.R. 1809 was introduced on March 3, 2025, by
Representative Mike Quigley (D-IL). The bill was referred to
the Committee on Natural Resources and within the Committee to
the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries. On April 8,
2025, the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries held a
hearing on the bill. On July 15, 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. 1809 by unanimous consent. The bill was
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 April 8, 2025.
Section-by-Section Analysis
Section 1. Short title
Section 1 establishes the short title of this act as the
``Great Lakes Fishery Research Reauthorization Act.''
Section 2. Reauthorization of funding to monitor, assess, and research
Great Lakes Basin
Section 2 reauthorizes funding to monitor, assess, and
research the Great Lakes Basin through FY 2030 at existing
funding levels.
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.
With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and (3) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
sections 308(a) and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974, the Committee has received the following estimate for the
bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
H.R. 1809 would reauthorize the appropriation of $15
million each year from 2026 through 2030 for the U.S.
Geological Survey to monitor, assess, and research activities
in support of the binational fisheries within the Great Lakes
Basin. Under current law, that authority expires at the end of
2025. In 2024, the Congress provided $15 million for those
activities.
CBO assumes that the bill will be enacted near the end of
2025 and that the specified amounts will be provided in each
year. Based on historical spending patterns for similar
activities, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost
$70 million over the 2025-2030 period and $5 million after
2030.
The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall
within budget function 300 (natural resources and environment).
TABLE 1.--ESTIMATED SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION UNDER H.R. 1809
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By fiscal year, millions of dollars--
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2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2025-2030
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Authorization............................ 0 15 15 15 15 15 75
Estimated Outlays........................ 0 11 14 15 15 15 70
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The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Emilia Oliva.
The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy
Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel,
Director, Congressional Budget Office.
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 reauthorize funding to monitor,
assess, and research the Great Lakes Basin.
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
According to the Congressional Budget Office, H.R. 1809
contains no unfunded mandates as defined by the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act.
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 Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new
matter is printed in italics, and existing law in which no
change is proposed is shown in roman):
FURTHER CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2020
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DIVISION P--OTHER MATTER
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TITLE II--GREAT LAKES
SEC. 201. GREAT LAKES MONITORING, ASSESSMENT, SCIENCE, AND RESEARCH.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the
Director of the United States Geological Survey.
(2) Great lakes basin.--The term ``Great Lakes
Basin'' means the air, land, water, and living
organisms in the United States within the drainage
basin of the Saint Lawrence River at and upstream from
the point at which such river and the Great Lakes
become the international boundary between Canada and
the United States.
(b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) The Great Lakes support a diverse ecosystem, on
which the vibrant and economically valuable Great Lakes
fisheries depend.
(2) To continue successful fisheries management and
coordination, as has occurred since signing of the
Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries between the United
States and Canada on September 10, 1954, management of
the ecosystem and its fisheries require sound, reliable
science, and the use of modern scientific technologies.
(3) Fisheries research is necessary to support multi-
jurisdictional fishery management decisions and actions
regarding recreational and sport fishing, commercial
fisheries, tribal harvest, allocation decisions, and
fish stocking activities.
(4) President Richard Nixon submitted, and the
Congress approved, Reorganization Plan No. 4 (84 Stat.
2090), conferring science activities and management of
marine fisheries to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
(5) Reorganization Plan No. 4 expressly excluded
fishery research activities within the Great Lakes from
the transfer, retaining management and scientific
research duties within the already-established
jurisdictions under the 1954 Convention on Great Lakes
Fisheries, including those of the Great Lakes Fishery
Commission and the Department of the Interior.
(c) Monitoring, Assessment, Science, and Research.--
(1) In general.--The Director may conduct monitoring,
assessment, science, and research, in support of the
binational fisheries within the Great Lakes Basin.
(2) Specific authorities.--The Director shall, under
paragraph (1)--
(A) execute a comprehensive, multi-lake,
freshwater fisheries science program;
(B) coordinate with and work cooperatively
with regional, State, tribal, and local
governments; and
(C) consult with other interested entities
groups, including academia and relevant
Canadian agencies.
(3) Included research.--To properly serve the needs
of fisheries managers, monitoring, assessment, science,
and research under this section may include--
(A) deepwater ecosystem sciences;
(B) biological and food-web components;
(C) fish movement and behavior
investigations;
(D) fish population structures;
(E) fish habitat investigations;
(F) invasive species science;
(G) use of existing, new, and experimental
biological assessment tools, equipment,
vessels, other scientific instrumentation and
laboratory capabilities necessary to support
fishery management decisions; and
(H) studies to assess impacts on Great Lakes
Fishery resources.
(4) Savings clause.--Nothing in this section is
intended or shall be construed to impede, supersede, or
alter the authority of the Great Lakes Fishery
Commission, States, and Indian tribes under the
Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries between the United
States of America and Canada on September 10, 1954, and
the Great Lakes Fishery Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. 931 et
seq.).
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--For each of fiscal
years 2021 through [2025] 2030, there is authorized to be
appropriated $15,000,000 to carry out this section.
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