H.R. 4800 — Fisheries Modernization Act of 2025

This section expands allowable causes for fishery resource disasters under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to include infrastructure-related causes (i.e., events caused by the operation or failure of federal or state infrastructure such as flood control systems, spillways, levees, and diversions that disrupt commercial or subsistence fishery activity, aquatic habitat, or water quality). It further (1) explicitly includes the red swamp crawfish (Procambarus clarkii) and white river crawfish (Procambarus zonangulus) fisheries in eligibility for disaster relief determinations, (2) requires disaster assessments for those fisheries to consider hydrological conditions, water quality degradation, extreme flooding or drought, or other environmental disruptions impacting viability, and (3) authorizes relief for disasters affecting those crawfish fisheries. (A rule of construction clarifies that these changes do not limit eligibility for marine or anadromous fisheries.)