Commerce and the districts, in consultation with the 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service, shall jointly de-
velop and conduct a nonnative predator fish removal pilot 
program to remove nonnative striped bass, smallmouth 
bass, largemouth bass, black bass, and other nonnative 
predator fishes from the Stanislaus River, California. The 
pilot program shall— 
(1) be scientifically based; 
(2) include methods to quantify the number and 
size of predator fishes removed each year, the im-
pact of such removal on the overall abundance of 
predator fishes, and the impact of such removal on 
the populations of juvenile anadromous fish found in 
the Stanislaus River by, among other things, evalu-
ating the number of juvenile anadromous fish that 
migrate past the rotary screw trap located at 
Caswell; 
(3) among other methods, use wire fyke trap-
ping, portable resistance board weirs, and boat 
electrofishing; 
(4) be developed, including the application for 
all necessary scientific research and species enhance-
ment permits under section 10(a)(1) of the Endan-
gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)) 
for the performance of the pilot program, not later 
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than 6 months after the date of the enactment of 
this Act; 
(5) be implemented as quickly as possible fol-
lowing the issuance of all necessary scientific re-
search and species enhancement permits needed to 
begin the pilot program; and 
(6) be implemented for a period of 7 consecu-
tive calendar years. 
(b) MANAGEMENT.—The management of the pilot 
program shall be the joint responsibility of the Secretary 
and the districts. Such parties shall work collaboratively 
to ensure the performance of the pilot program, and shall 
discuss and agree upon, among other things, changes in 
the structure, management, personnel, techniques, strat-
egy, data collection, reporting, and conduct of the pilot 
program. 
(c) CONDUCT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—By agreement between the 
Secretary and the districts, the pilot program may 
be conducted by their own personnel, qualified pri-
vate contractors hired by the districts, personnel of, 
on loan to, or otherwise assigned to the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, or a combination thereof. 
(2) PARTICIPATION BY THE NATIONAL MARINE 
FISHERIES SERVICE.—If the districts elect to con-
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duct the program using their own personnel or quali-
fied private contractors hired by them in accordance 
with paragraph (1), the Secretary may assign an 
employee of, on loan to, or otherwise assigned to the 
National Marine Fisheries Service, to be present for 
all activities performed in the field. Such presence 
shall ensure compliance with the agreed-upon ele-
ments specified in subsection (b). The districts shall 
pay the cost of such participation in accordance with 
subsection (d). 
(3) TIMING OF ELECTION.—The districts shall 
notify the Secretary of their election on or before 
October 15 of each calendar year of the pilot pro-
gram. Such an election shall apply to the work per-
formed in the subsequent calendar year. 
(d) FUNDING.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The districts shall be re-
sponsible for 100 percent of the cost of the pilot pro-
gram. 
(2) CONTRIBUTED FUNDS.—The Secretary may 
accept and use contributions of funds from the dis-
tricts to carry out activities under the pilot program. 
(3) ESTIMATION OF COST.—On or before De-
cember 1 of each year of the pilot program, the Sec-
retary shall submit to the districts an estimate of 
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the cost to be incurred by the National Marine Fish-
eries Service for the pilot program in the following 
calendar year, if any, including the cost of any data 
collection and posting under subsection (e). If an 
amount equal to the estimate is not provided 
through contributions pursuant to paragraph (2) be-
fore December 31 of that year— 
(A) the Secretary shall have no obligation 
to conduct the pilot program activities other-
wise scheduled for such following calendar year 
until such amount is contributed by the dis-
tricts; and 
(B) the districts may not conduct any as-
pect of the pilot program until such amount is 
contributed by the districts. 
(4) ACCOUNTING.—On or before September 1 
of each year, the Secretary shall provide to the dis-
tricts an accounting of the costs incurred by the Sec-
retary for the pilot program in the preceding cal-
endar year. If the amount contributed by the dis-
tricts pursuant to paragraph (2) for that year was 
greater than the costs incurred by the Secretary, the 
Secretary shall— 
(A) apply the excess contributions to costs 
of activities to be performed by the Secretary 
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under the pilot program, if any, in the next cal-
endar year; or 
(B) if no such activities are to be per-
formed, repay the excess contribution to the 
districts. 
(e) REPORTING AND EVALUATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—On or before the 15th day 
of each month, the Secretary shall post on the Inter-
net website of the National Marine Fisheries Service 
a tabular summary of the raw data collected under 
the pilot program in the preceding month. 
(2) REPORT.—On or before June 30 of the year 
following the completion of the pilot program, the 
Secretary and the districts shall jointly submit for 
peer review a report that— 
(A) discusses the findings and conclusions 
of the pilot program; 
(B) synthesizes the data collected under 
paragraph (1); and 
(C) makes recommendations for further 
study and action. 
(f) PERMITS PROCESS.— 
(1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 180 days 
after the filing by the Secretary and the districts of 
an application for scientific research and species en-
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