S. 3579 — Bycatch Reduction and Research Act of 2025

This section reconstitutes the Alaska Salmon Research Task Force (established by P.L. 117-328), renaming it the Bycatch Reduction and Research Task Force; adds two academic experts in groundfish ecology and invertebrate ecology appointed by the Secretary of Commerce; assigns it duties to review NOAA research and reports on Alaska salmon bycatch and recommend research priorities in consultation with the NOAA Administrator; and exempts it from the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The section further directs the NOAA Administrator to (1) enter public-private partnerships with state agencies, nonprofits, institutions of higher education, Indian Tribes, and research institutions—including diverse Alaska stakeholders such as Alaska Natives, fishing industry representatives, commercial fishermen, and subsistence users—to conduct salmon tagging research on migration and distributions of Alaska-origin salmon in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska; (2) establish a competitive grant program to improve real-time genetic stock identification and age composition of incidentally caught Alaska salmon in EEZ commercial fisheries; and (3) publish a report within three years of enactment detailing research findings, their implications for salmon stock status, and potential uses of artificial intelligence or machine learning for predictive bycatch avoidance modeling. In addition, the section requires the Administrator to conduct (1) research and modeling on trawl gear impacts on benthic habitats; (2) a review of ecosystem fluctuations (e.g., harmful algal blooms, marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, predator-prey interactions) affecting survivability of commercially or culturally important wild marine and anadromous species; and (3) new research to prioritize data collection for species conservation—all through public-private partnerships involving diverse experts—and to publish interim annual reports.

This section directs the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (1) to enter into a public-private partnership to build a flume tank for NOAA, the fishing industry, and researchers to test technologies and improved fishing gear aimed at reducing bycatch and contact with Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska marine benthic habitats; and (2) to establish the Flume Tank Assistance Fund to provide grants or other financial assistance for entities to test innovative technologies—including prototype development of devices, instruments, sensors, or fishing gear designs and related workforce training programs—aimed at reducing bycatch and benthic habitat contact from non-pelagic trawl and pelagic trawl gear.

This section directs the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to take actions to improve electronic monitoring (EM) and reporting in commercial fisheries, including (1) creating a timeline and process to review and approve exempted fishing permits for innovative fishing gear and technology that reduce bycatch (i.e., unintended catch of non-target species) and marine habitat disturbances, with streamlining for recipients of assistance from the Bycatch Mitigation and Habitat Protection Assistance Fund (established under §322 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act) if such approvals do not interfere with fishery conservation objectives; (2) streamlining approvals for experimental or exempted fishing permits for EM pilot projects under the same condition; (3) facilitating cooperative research programs and regional pilot frameworks; (4) conducting public stakeholder consultations at least every three years—with public notice, listening sessions, and a written comment period of at least 60 days—to solicit input on EM and electronic reporting standards or guidance, cost-effectiveness and usability improvements, and adoption barriers (particularly for small-scale fleets); and (5) providing a data integration strategy to incorporate EM data into regional science center workflows and stock assessment models, align data review and quality control with observer data protocols, reduce data latency, and support interoperable databases for real-time or near-real-time analysis. This section further requires NOAA regional offices of the National Marine Fisheries Service to publish online, in layman's terms, up-to-date observer coverage requirements for high-volume federal fisheries, specifying each fishery and prohibited species bycatch levels by observer program category. (Thus, the publication enhances transparency for fishermen on federal monitoring obligations.) This section requires NOAA to (1) publish a report within three years of enactment on improving integration of observer and EM data to inform spatio-temporal fishing activity and impacts on target and bycatch species while protecting proprietary information; (2) submit to Congress and publish online a report including the data integration strategy under subsection (a)(5); and (3) include in both reports recommendations for technologies to share real-time or near-real-time catch data identifying bycatch hotspots and avoidance areas, and to minimize commercially or culturally important wild marine and anadromous species bycatch (specifically salmon) in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska.

This section (1) authorizes appropriations of $4,000,000 annually for FY2027 through FY2031 for the bycatch reduction engineering program, which develops technologies and conservation engineering changes to minimize bycatch, seabird interactions, bycatch mortality, and post-release mortality in federally managed fisheries; and (2) establishes the Bycatch Mitigation and Habitat Protection Assistance Fund in the Treasury, administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation using solicited donations to provide financial assistance to fishermen and commercial fishing vessel owners and operators for purchasing or modifying gear, equipment, and technology (including prototypes and sensors) to reduce bycatch and marine benthic habitat contact from trawl gear. The Foundation must consult with the Secretary of Commerce (through the NOAA Administrator), regional fishery management councils, and National Marine Fisheries Service science centers on fund use and submit public reports on expenditures not later than three years after enactment and biennially thereafter.