Title: Great Lakes Fishery Research Authorization Act of 2017
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources

Summary:
Great Lakes Fishery Research Authorization Act of 2017
This bill authorizes the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct critical monitoring, scientific assessments, and research in support of fisheries within the Great Lakes Basin between the United States and Canada.
In support of the fisheries within the Great Lakes Basin, the USGS Great Lakes Science Center shall: (1) execute a comprehensive, multi-lake, freshwater fisheries science program; (2) work cooperatively with regional, state, tribal, and local governments; and (3) consult with interested groups, including academia and Canadian agencies.
To protect and improve the Great Lakes, the USGS Great Lakes Science Center may provide:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 859 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 859

  To authorize the Director of the United States Geological Survey to 
 conduct monitoring, assessment, science, and research, in support of 
 the binational fisheries within the Great Lakes Basin, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                April 5 (legislative day, April 4), 2017

Mr. Peters (for himself, Mr. Portman, and Ms. Stabenow) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                      Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Director of the United States Geological Survey to 
 conduct monitoring, assessment, science, and research, in support of 
 the binational fisheries within the Great Lakes Basin, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Great Lakes Fishery Research 
Authorization Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the United States Geological Survey.
            (2) Great lakes basin.--The term ``Great Lakes Basin'' 
        means the air, land, water, and living organisms in the United 
        States within the drainage basin of the Saint Lawrence River at 
        and upstream from the point at which such river and the Great 
        Lakes become the international boundary between Canada and the 
        United States.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Great Lakes support a diverse ecosystem, on which 
        the vibrant and economically valuable Great Lakes fisheries 
        depend.
            (2) To continue successful fisheries management and 
        coordination, as has occurred since signing of the Convention 
        on Great Lakes Fisheries between the United States and Canada 
        on September 10, 1954, management of the ecosystem and its 
        fisheries require sound, reliable science, and the use of 
        modern scientific technologies.
            (3) Fisheries research is necessary to support multi-
        jurisdictional fishery management decisions and actions 
        regarding recreational and sport fishing, commercial fisheries, 
        tribal harvest, allocation decisions, and fish stocking 
        activities.
            (4) President Richard Nixon submitted, and the Congress 
        approved, Reorganization Plan No. 4 (84 Stat. 2090), conferring 
        science activities and management of marine fisheries to the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
            (5) Reorganization Plan No. 4 expressly excluded fishery 
        research activities within the Great Lakes from the transfer, 
        retaining management and scientific research duties within the 
        already-established jurisdictions under the 1954 Convention on 
        Great Lakes Fisheries, including those of the Great Lakes 
        Fishery Commission and the Department of the Interior.

SEC. 4. GREAT LAKES MONITORING, ASSESSMENT, SCIENCE, AND RESEARCH.

    (a) In General.--The Director may conduct monitoring, assessment, 
science, and research, in support of the binational fisheries within 
the Great Lakes Basin.
    (b) Specific Authorities.--The Director shall, under subsection 
(a)--
            (1) execute a comprehensive, multi-lake, freshwater 
        fisheries science program;
            (2) coordinate with and work cooperatively with regional, 
        State, tribal, and local governments; and
            (3) consult with other interested entities groups, 
        including academia and relevant Canadian agencies.
    (c) Included Research.--To properly serve the needs of fisheries 
managers, monitoring, assessment, science, and research under this 
section may include--
            (1) deepwater ecosystem sciences;
            (2) biological and food-web components;
            (3) fish movement and behavior investigations;
            (4) fish population structures;
            (5) fish habitat investigations;
            (6) invasive species science;
            (7) use of existing, new, and experimental biological 
        assessment tools, equipment, vessels, other scientific 
        instrumentation and laboratory capabilities necessary to 
        support fishery management decisions; and
            (8) studies to assess impacts on Great Lakes Fishery 
        resources.
    (d) Savings Clause.--Nothing in this Act is intended or shall be 
construed to impede, supersede, or alter the authority of the Great 
Lakes Fishery Commission, States, and Indian tribes under the 
Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries between the United States of 
America and Canada on September 10, 1954, and the Great Lakes Fishery 
Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. 931 et seq.).

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    For each of fiscal years 2018 through 2027, there is authorized to 
be appropriated $17,500,000 to carry out this Act.
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