Cooperative research and management

(a) In general Section 318 (16 U.S.C. 1867) is amended— (1) in subsection (a), by inserting fishing communities, after data),; (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as follows: (b) Eligible projects (1) In general The Secretary shall make funds available under the program established under subsection (a) on a competitive basis and based on regional fishery management needs to support cooperative research and management projects to address critical needs identified by the Councils. (2) Submission of critical needs list Each Council shall annually submit a list of critical needs to the Secretary that identifies and prioritizes such needs. (3) Use of data The program established under subsection (a) shall promote and encourage efforts to use sources of data maintained by other Federal agencies, State agencies, local and traditional knowledge, or academia for use in such projects.; (3) by amending subsection (c) to read as follows: (c) Priorities In making funds available under subsection (b), the Secretary shall select projects that form part of a coherent program of cooperative research or management projects focused on addressing priority issues identified by the Councils, and shall give priority to the following types of projects: (1) Projects to collect data to improve, supplement, or enhance stock assessments, including the use of fishing vessels or acoustic or other marine technology. (2) Projects to improve fishery-dependent data collection, intake, use, and access including— (A) to assess the amount and type of bycatch or post-release mortality occurring in a fishery; (B) expanding the use of electronic technology and modernizing data management systems; and (C) improving monitoring coverage through the expanded use of electronic technology. (3) Conservation engineering or management projects designed to reduce bycatch, including avoidance of post-release mortality, reduction of bycatch in high seas fisheries, and transfer of such fishing technologies and methods to other nations, or other regional entities, including fishing communities, regional fishery associations, and fishing sectors. (4) Projects for the identification of habitat areas of particular concern and for habitat conservation. (5) Projects designed to collect and compile economic and social data for which electronic technologies can be added. (6) Projects to test and expand electronic technologies for monitoring, reporting, observer coverage, and other functions. (7) Projects that use electronic technologies to— (A) monitor changing ocean conditions; (B) improve methods; (C) support adaptive management; and (D) enhance climate resilience in fisheries. (8) Projects designed— (A) to identify the impacts of anticipated changing ocean conditions, including climate change, on stocks of fish, fisheries, and fishing communities; or (B) to develop conservation and management strategies to adapt to such impacts. (9) Cooperative management projects that make use of data collected under this section. (10) Projects to better understand— (A) interactions between sharks and humans; (B) what causes increases in such interactions; (C) the status of shark populations; and (D) how to best address such interactions to benefit both sharks and humans.; (4) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections (f) and (g), respectively; (5) by inserting after subsection (d) the following: (e) Cooperative management agreements (1) In general Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act of 2025, the Secretary, in consultation with the Councils and with input from the public, shall issue guidance to facilitate a transparent, timely, uniform, and regionally based process for the development, oversight, and management of cooperative management agreements. (2) Process for approval The Secretary may use the process developed pursuant to subsection (d) to approve cooperative management agreements as if such agreements are cooperative fishing agreements. (3) Performance standards An agreement authorized by this subsection shall be subject to performance standards and accountability measures specified in a fishery management plan or otherwise established by the Secretary, in consultation with the Councils, and shall not allow catch in excess of annual catch limits or bycatch in excess of bycatch caps or limits. (4) Preexisting agreements This subsection shall not apply to a cooperative management agreement submitted to or proposed or approved by the Secretary before the date of the enactment of the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act of 2025.; and (6) by adding at the end the following: (h) Public report of data With respect to any cooperative research project funded or experimental fishing permit issued under this section, the appropriate Council shall publish a report regarding results and data generated by such project or under such permit. (i) Progress report Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act of 2025, the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries shall submit to Congress a report regarding— (1) the progress made by the National Marine Fisheries Service with respect to the implementation of the recommendations of the Cooperative Research and Cooperative Management Working Group report titled NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS–F/SPO–156 (August 2015); and (2) the development and implementation of any subsequent recommendations by such Working Group.. (b) Findings Section 2(a)(8) (16 U.S.C. 1801(a)(8)) is amended by inserting Fisheries management is most effective when it uses the best scientific information available, and incorporates such information from governmental and nongovernmental sources, including State and Federal agency staff, fishermen, fishing communities, universities, nonprofit organizations, local and traditional knowledge from Tribes, Indigenous communities, and subsistence fishermen, and research institutions. Scientific and statistical committees should consider such information when seeking the best scientific information available to form the basis of conservation and management. after States..