Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill defines key terms for the Act including 'exclusive economic zone', 'fishing restriction', 'Indian Tribe', 'Tribal organization', 'Native Hawaiian organization', 'nonprofit organization', 'recreational vessel', requires the Secretary of Commerce to develop and adopt standards for coordinating and disseminating geospatial data on fishing restrictions, EEZ use by recreational vessels, and access to Federal waters within 31, and mandates the Secretary to publish GIS data on fishing restrictions, recreational boating zones, and marine protected areas on a public website within 4 years. It relies on reporting requirements, compliance mandates, definition changes, and product standards. The main policy areas are Natural Resources, Science & Space, Technology, and Agriculture.
Who Benefits and How
Recreational boaters and anglers could see lower costs, Recreational divers could see lower costs, and Indian Tribes with fishing rights would be affected.
Who Bears the Burden and How
National Marine Fisheries Service would take on compliance duties and Federal agencies coordinating databases would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Defines key terms for the Act including 'exclusive economic zone', 'fishing restriction', 'Indian Tribe', 'Tribal organization', 'Native Hawaiian organization', 'nonprofit organization', 'recreational vessel'...
- Requires the Secretary of Commerce to develop and adopt standards for coordinating and disseminating geospatial data on fishing restrictions, EEZ use by recreational vessels, and access to Federal waters within 31...
- Mandates the Secretary to publish GIS data on fishing restrictions, recreational boating zones, and marine protected areas on a public website within 4 years.
- Authorizes the Secretary to partner with non-Federal entities (states, tribes, interstate commissions, regional ocean partnerships, data science experts, private sector, nonprofits, universities) and enter into...
- Creates preserves existing authorities: does not modify 'navigable waters' definition, does not affect federal/state jurisdiction over navigable waters, does not change fisheries management authority, does not satisfy...
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill defines key terms for the Act including 'exclusive economic zone', 'fishing restriction', 'Indian Tribe', 'Tribal organization', 'Native Hawaiian organization', 'nonprofit organization', 'recreational vessel', requires the Secretary of Commerce to develop and adopt standards for coordinating and disseminating geospatial data on fishing restrictions, EEZ use by recreational vessels, and access to Federal waters within 31, and mandates the Secretary to publish GIS data on fishing restrictions, recreational boating zones, and marine protected areas on a public website within 4 years.
Key Policy Areas
Natural Resources, Science & Space, Technology, Agriculture
Primary Purpose
The bill defines key terms for the Act including 'exclusive economic zone', 'fishing restriction', 'Indian Tribe', 'Tribal organization', 'Native Hawaiian organization', 'nonprofit organization', 'recreational vessel', requires the Secretary of Commerce to develop and adopt standards for coordinating and disseminating geospatial data on fishing restrictions, EEZ use by recreational vessels, and access to Federal waters within 31, and mandates the Secretary to publish GIS data on fishing restrictions, recreational boating zones, and marine protected areas on a public website within 4 years.
Policy Domains
Whole bill
Identified Gains
- Recreational boaters and anglers
- Recreational divers
- Indian Tribes with fishing rights
- Indian Tribes
- Geospatial data and marine technology companies
Identified Costs
- National Marine Fisheries Service
- Federal agencies coordinating databases
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedPlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 438.
Reported by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 119-512.
Additional sponsors: Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Case, Mr. Garbarino, …
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 438.
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Ordered to be Reported by Unanimous Consent.
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Mr. Fry (for himself, Mr. Levin, and Mr. Panetta) introduced …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Federal agencies coordinating databases, Federal agencies with navigable waters jurisdiction, National Marine Fisheries Service
Recreational boaters and anglers, Recreational divers
Indian Tribes, Indian Tribes with fishing rights
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology