Great Lakes Mass Marking Program Act of 2025
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Would establish the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, giving the program statutory authority and authorizing $2.7 million per year to tag hatchery-produced fish in the Great Lakes and share the resulting data with federal, state, and tribal fishery managers.
The program aims to help distinguish hatchery fish from wild fish in a basin already stressed by invasive species and food-web disruption, supporting more precise management of stocking rates, species rehabilitation, and habitat restoration.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would formally establish the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), giving statutory footing to a tagging effort the FWS has operated since 2010 on a limited scale. The program uses automated technology to tag large numbers of hatchery-produced fish so managers can distinguish them from wild fish. The bill would authorize the FWS Director to purchase equipment, fish tags, and related data-processing tools, and to hire additional personnel to expand the program's scale. The Director would be required to collaborate 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 would also require the FWS to share collected data with those same management partners to improve understanding of hatchery effectiveness, help balance predators and prey, support tribal and commercial fishery economies, and evaluate habitat restoration efforts. The bill authorizes $2.7 million annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2030 but does not itself appropriate the funds.
Key provisions
- 1Would formally establish the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to tag hatchery-produced fish and support fisheries management in the Great Lakes basin.
- 2Would authorize the FWS Director to purchase equipment, fish tags, data-processing tools, and other items necessary for tagging and tag recovery operations, and to hire additional staff.
- 3Would require the Director to collaborate with federal, state, and tribal fish management agencies, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, and Joint Strategic Plan signatories in carrying out the program.
- 4Would require the Director to make program data available to federal, state, and tribal agencies to inform management decisions, support fishery restoration goals, and evaluate habitat restoration effectiveness.
- 5Would authorize $2,700,000 per year for fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to carry out the program.
Who would be affected
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which would carry out and staff the expanded program; state fish management agencies in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin; Indian Tribes in those states; tribal, recreational, and commercial fishers whose livelihoods depend on Great Lakes fishery management; and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
Why it matters
Without statutory authority and dedicated funding, the existing tagging effort has operated at limited scale — currently marking only 9 to 11 million of the approximately 21 million hatchery fish stocked annually. Codifying and expanding the program would give state and tribal managers more accurate data on hatchery-to-wild fish ratios, enabling better-calibrated stocking decisions in a basin already destabilized by invasive species and prey declines.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Creates Great Lakes Mass Marking Program (FWS administrative program) (Sec. 4)
Establishes the program in statute, expanding its authorized scope and providing a dedicated annual authorization of appropriations.
Agencies directed to act
Funding and costs
- $2,700,000
Annual funding to carry out the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program, including equipment, tags, data processing, and personnel.
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates H.R. 1917 would cost $13 million over the 2025–2030 period in discretionary spending (funds subject to annual appropriation), with no effect on the deficit, direct spending, or revenues.
H.R. 1917 would authorize $2.7 million per year from 2026 through 2030 for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a program to tag and track hatchery-produced fish throughout the Great Lakes Basin. CBO estimates implementing the bill would require $13 million in spending subject to appropriation (discretionary funds that Congress must separately approve each year) over the 2025–2030 period, and about $1 million more after 2030. The bill has no effect on direct (mandatory) spending, revenues, or the deficit. CBO identified no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates in the bill.
How implementation would work
The FWS Director would run the program, purchasing tagging equipment and hiring personnel as needed. The Director is required to collaborate with federal, state, and tribal agencies, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission's Council of Lake Committees, and Joint Strategic Plan signatories in carrying out tagging and tag recovery operations. Data collected would be processed, disseminated, and made available to all applicable management partners. No rulemaking requirement is specified; the program would operate through existing interagency and intergovernmental cooperative relationships. Funding depends on annual appropriations up to $2.7 million per fiscal year.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Official CRS summary
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This bill provides statutory authority for a program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for the mass marking of hatchery-produced fish in the Great Lakes basin. Mass marking is the practice of tagging large numbers of hatchery-produced fish in order to distinguish them from the wild fish population. The FWS initiated the program in 2010 on a limited scale. Under the existing program, the FWS (1) tags hatchery-produced fish stocked in the Great Lakes, and (2) produces data used by state and tribal fish management agencies to make management decisions regarding Great Lakes fisheries.
This bill allows the FWS, in carrying out the program, to (1) purchase items to support and carry out tagging and tag recovery operations on a greater scale, and (2) hire additional personnel.
The FWS must make the data collected under the program available to applicable federal, state, and tribal fish management agencies to
- increase the understanding of the outcomes of management action;
- assist in meeting the restoration objectives of the Great Lakes;
- assist in balancing predators and prey;
- support and improve the economic status of tribal, recreational, and commercial fisheries; and
- assist in evaluating the effectiveness of habitat restoration efforts in the Great Lakes.
Legislative subjects
Aquatic ecology; Environmental Protection; Fishes; Government information and archives; Great Lakes; Marine and coastal resources, fisheries; Wildlife conservation and habitat protection
Committee report
H. Rept. 119-210