Great Lakes Mass Marking Program Act of 2025

What this does

This bill creates the Great Lakes Mass Marking Program inside the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to tag hatchery-raised fish that are stocked in the Great Lakes. Marking these fish lets agencies tell hatchery fish apart from wild fish and measure how well hatchery operations and fishery management are working. The Fish and Wildlife Service Director could buy tagging equipment and fish tags and hire staff to run the tagging and tag-recovery work. The Director would have to work with federal, state, and tribal fish agencies and with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission's Council of Lake Committees, and would have to share the data collected. The bill authorizes $2.7 million a year from fiscal year 2026 through 2030 to run the program.