YourVoice.Now Summary
Transparency & AccountabilityEnvironmentTargeted & Unrelated ProvisionsWould put federal ocean fishing and boating limits on one public map, due in four years. No water would open or close.
Transparency & Accountability
Section 4 would put mapping data on a public website showing where fishing limits apply, what each limit is, which parts of federal ocean waters are open or closed to recreational boating and diving, and where motor, horsepower, or fuel limits apply. Today a boater has to piece that together from separate agency notices, charts, and rule books. The site would be due four years after passage, the data standards behind it at 31 months, and the duty to build it is qualified — the Secretary must act only to the maximum extent practicable. The bill sets aside no money for the work.
Section 4(f) would bar the site from showing commercial fishing information, including proprietary data, and the nature, location, character, or ownership of historic, cultural, paleontological, or archaeological resources. Both carve-outs are defensible — one keeps fishing grounds and business records out of competitors' hands, the other keeps wreck and artifact locations away from looters. Both also mean the public map would be an incomplete picture of federal waters. Nothing already public would be pulled back; this limits what the new site may add.
Environment
Section 4(a)(3) would require the site to identify federal marine protected areas — National Marine Sanctuaries, ocean national monuments, and other protected waters — and to state which fishing, boating, and other recreational uses are allowed in each. That layer, and the boundaries of fishing restriction areas, would have to be updated in real time, while the broader open-or-closed layer for boating and diving updates only twice a year. The protections themselves would not move. Section 6 states that nothing in the bill increases or diminishes anyone's authority to manage fisheries, and that no water body's legal status changes. Whether clearer maps mostly help people stay inside the limits, or mostly help campaigns to reopen protected water, is not settled.
Targeted & Unrelated Provisions
Section 2(4) would borrow the definition of Native Hawaiian organization from education law (20 U.S.C. 7517), which reaches private nonprofits recognized by the Governor of Hawaii, and then widen it to also include two state bodies: the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Those groups sit inside the mandatory consultation for the data standards in Section 3 and inside the partnership list in Section 5. The change is buried in a definitions section and quietly enlarges who has a seat.
Section 4(g) would keep the mapping powers from reaching any usual or accustomed fishing areas or Tribal waters. Section 6 adds that nothing in the bill satisfies a requirement for government-to-government consultation with Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, and that no treaty or other Tribal right is affected. The practical result cuts both ways: Tribal fishing grounds stay off a federal public map, and the map the public gets would have holes where those waters lie.
More about this bill
Anyone who fishes, boats, or dives offshore would get one federal website that shows where the rules apply. Nothing on the water would change. No area would open, and none would close. What would change is how hard it is to find out. The map would cover federal ocean waters. That zone starts where state waters end, often about 3 miles out, and runs to 200 miles. Tribal waters and traditional fishing grounds would be left off on purpose. The site would show where fishing limits apply and what each one is. It would mark closures for safety, such as harmful algae blooms. It would show areas that limit motor size, fuel, or boat type. It would name marine sanctuaries, ocean monuments, and other protected waters, and say what you may do in each. None of this would arrive soon. The data standards would be due 31 months after passage. The website would be due at four years. After that, two layers would update in real time: fishing limit boundaries, and the rules for protected areas. The rest would update only twice a year. That includes which areas are closed to boating and diving. The promise is a soft one. The site would have to be built only as far as is practicable. No money is set aside for the work. Some data would stay off the map by design: commercial fishing records, and the spots where historic or cultural remains lie. The bill says plainly that it does not change who runs the fisheries. It does not change what counts as navigable waters. It does not stand in for talking with Tribes, and it does not touch treaty rights.
Congressional Summary
Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans ActThis bill directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to publish geospatial data related to public recreational use of federal waterways (e.g., boating and fishing).Under the bill, NOAA must consult with relevant stakeholders (including state and local governments, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations) to develop and adopt standards for the coordination and dissemination of geospatial data relating to fishing restrictions and recreational vessels' use of federal waterways, including the exclusive economic zone of the United States (EEZ). (The EEZ generally includes waters between 3 and 200 miles seaward from the U.S. coastline.)Within four years after the bill is enacted, NOAA must provide geographic information system data on a public website that identifies and describes the locations where and conditions under which certain recreational activities are restricted in federal waterways. Specifically, the website must identify (1) locations where fishing restrictions are imposed, (2) areas in the EEZ with restrictions on specified recreational vessel types, and (3) federally protected areas (e.g., National Marine Sanctuaries). NOAA must also continue to provide digitized navigation information related to the EEZ and make the information available on the website to the extent practicable.The bill allows NOAA to coordinate and partner with nonfederal entities to carry out this bill. It also directs NOAA to work with other federal agencies to ensure compatibility and interoperability among federal databases with respect to collecting and disseminating geospatial data related to the public outdoor recreational use of the EEZ.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Reported to House
- Action Date
- 2026-02-23
- Date Added
- 2026-08-29
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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