PRIA Logo™
HR6939119th CongressWALLET

Bycatch Reduction and Research Act of 2026

Sponsored By: Representative Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large]

Introduced

Summary

Reduce bycatch and habitat contact from trawl gear. This bill would create a coordinated set of research, testing, and grant programs focused on the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska. It would reconstitute the Alaska Salmon Research Task Force into a NOAA Bycatch Reduction and Research Task Force and add two academic experts to guide priorities.

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to download

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

Grants and testing for gear makers

This bill would fund testing and grants to help develop gear and technology that reduce salmon bycatch. NOAA would enter public‑private partnerships and build a flume tank for testing trawl gear and sensors. A Flume Tank Assistance Fund would pay for prototypes, instruments, sensors, and training. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation would run a donation-based Bycatch Mitigation and Habitat Protection Assistance Fund to give grants to buy or modify gear and technology. The bill would also authorize $4,000,000 per year for the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program for fiscal years 2027–2031. NOAA would fund competitive grants to speed near-real-time genetic stock ID and age estimates of Alaska-origin salmon caught incidentally.

New rules and pilots for monitoring

This bill would make it easier for NOAA to run electronic monitoring pilots and to streamline experimental or exempted fishing permits for testing new gear. NOAA would produce a data integration plan to fold electronic monitoring into stock assessments and reduce data delays. NMFS regional offices would publish observer coverage rules for high-volume fisheries. The bill would require stakeholder consultation at least once every three years with a 60-day written comment period and a report within three years on data integration and bycatch hotspots.

Reform and reconstitute task force

This bill would re-form the Alaska Salmon Research Task Force as the Bycatch Reduction and Research Task Force. The Secretary of Commerce would add two academic experts in groundfish and invertebrate ecology. The Task Force would be exempt from the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The Task Force would give interim annual reports and a final report within three years to guide research and management priorities.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large]

AK • R

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

View on Congress.gov
Back to Legislation