Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission Act
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill establishes the Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission within the Department of the Interior to coordinate the management of interjurisdictional fishery resources across the 31 states that share the Mississippi River watershed. The Commission replaces the voluntary Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA) with a congressionally chartered body that has authority to develop basin-wide fishery management plans, coordinate invasive species control (particularly invasive carp), and administer grant programs for fisheries research and management.
Who Benefits and How
- State fisheries agencies in the 31 Mississippi River Basin states gain access to a formal coordination mechanism and significant federal grant funding ($30-50 million/year) for interjurisdictional fisheries management.
- Federal agencies (USFWS, USGS, Army Corps of Engineers, TVA) gain a structured framework for multi-agency collaboration on basin-wide fishery issues.
- Commercial and recreational fishing industries benefit from improved management of fish populations and coordinated invasive species control across state boundaries.
- Environmental and conservation organizations benefit from the bill's emphasis on science-based management and long-term sustainability of the basin's fishery resources.
- Universities and research institutions become eligible for competitive grants for fisheries research.
Who Bears the Burden and How
- Federal taxpayers fund the Commission's operations and grant programs, with authorized appropriations totaling up to $311.5 million over the 2025-2036 period.
- The Department of the Interior takes on the administrative burden of housing and supporting the new Commission.
- Grant recipients face reporting requirements and must demonstrate how awards enhanced fisheries management.
Key Provisions
- Establishes the Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission in the Department of the Interior (Section 4)
- Creates both competitive and formula grant programs for fisheries management projects (Section 7)
- Authorizes $30M/year (FY2027-2031) and $50M/year (FY2032-2036) plus $1M in startup funding (Section 11)
- Directs the Commission to adopt the existing MICRA Joint Strategic Plan as its management framework (Section 6)
- Mandates coordinated strategies for invasive carp and aquatic invasive species control (Section 6)
- Makes the Commission's authority explicitly nonbinding on state sovereignty (Section 8)
- Exempts the Commission from the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Section 5)
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Establishes the Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission within the Department of the Interior to coordinate interjurisdictional fisheries management and invasive species control across the 31 states in the Mississippi River watershed, replacing the voluntary MICRA with a congressionally chartered body and authorizing up to $311.5 million in federal funding through 2036.
Key Policy Areas
Environment, Natural Resources, Government Operations
Primary Purpose
Establishes the Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission within the Department of the Interior to coordinate interjurisdictional fisheries management and invasive species control across the 31 states in the Mississippi River watershed, replacing the voluntary MICRA with a congressionally chartered body and authorizing up to $311.5 million in federal funding through 2036.
Policy Domains
Whole Bill - Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission Act
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- State fisheries management agencies
- Commercial and recreational fishing industries
- Federal natural resource agencies (USFWS, USGS, Army Corps, TVA)
- Environmental and fisheries research organizations
- Universities and institutions of higher education
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal taxpayers (authorized appropriations totaling up to $311.5M)
- Department of the Interior (houses and supports the Commission)
- Grant recipients (reporting and compliance requirements)
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Wicker (for himself, Ms. Baldwin, and Mr. Boozman) introduced …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior (housing costs), Great Lakes Fishery Commission
Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Indian tribes with Great Lakes fisheries authority, Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission (operational funding), State fisheries agencies (grant funding recipients), State governments in the Mississippi River Basin
Negative-direction: Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior (housing costs)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Interior
- "the_commission"
- → Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A nonindigenous species that threatens native species diversity or abundance, ecological stability, or commercial/agricultural/aquacultural/recreational activities in infested waters.
The Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission established under section 4.
State fishery agencies, Indian Tribes managing basin fisheries, USGS, USFWS, Army Corps of Engineers, its Engineer Research and Development Center, and TVA.
A fishery resource in waters under 2+ state jurisdictions, covered by an interstate management plan, or that migrates between 2+ states' waters.
Aquatic invasive finfish originating from Europe and Asia that spread quickly and damage native fish populations, including bighead carp, black carp, grass carp, and silver carp.
Any of 31 named states whose borders include waters draining into the Mississippi River Basin.
The Secretary of the Interior.
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