MAWS Act of 2026

What this does

This bill directs the Secretary of Commerce, acting through NOAA, to run a pilot program that pays to remove blue catfish, an invasive species, from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Under the program the Secretary enters into cooperative agreements with companies that make pet food, animal feed, or aquaculture feed, and those companies use the awarded money to buy blue catfish from local watermen and seafood processors. The Secretary sets a minimum price per pound the fish must be bought for, and companies may spend up to 15 percent of their award to cover transporting the fish to processing facilities. The Secretary must also build an estimate of how many blue catfish are in the watershed, publish it annually through fiscal year 2032, and report the program's results to Congress after it ends. The pilot runs for two years once the first abundance estimate is published and program guidance is issued.