The Fisheries Modernization Act of 2025 expands disaster relief eligibility under federal fisheries law to include freshwater fisheries, particularly crawfish operations in Louisiana. Currently, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act limits disaster assistance to marine fisheries, but this bill adds freshwater fisheries—specifically red swamp and white river crawfish—as eligible for federal resource disaster relief. The bill broadens the definition of qualifying disasters to include "infrastructure-related" events, meaning disruptions caused by the failure or operation of federal or state infrastructure like dams, levees, and spillways that harm fisheries and water quality. The legislation preserves existing protections for marine and anadromous fisheries while creating new pathways for freshwater fishing communities to access disaster assistance when infrastructure problems damage their operations. The bill does not specify new funding amounts or implementation timelines in the text provided.
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