Fisheries Modernization Act of 2025

The Fisheries Modernization Act of 2025 would broaden federal fishery disaster relief to include certain freshwater fisheries. It amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to add an "infrastructure-related cause" as a eligible trigger for disaster assistance, alongside existing causes such as natural and anthropogenic factors. The bill defines infrastructure-related causes as events tied to the operation or failure of federal or state infrastructure (like flood control systems, spillways, levees, and diversions) that measurably disrupt commercial or subsistence fishing, aquatic habitat, or water quality. It also expressly extends eligibility to freshwater crawfish fisheries—specifically the red swamp crawfish (Procambarus clarkii) and white river crawfish (Procambarus zonangulus)—and requires information on hydrological conditions and related environmental disruptions for these species. A rule of construction preserves the ongoing eligibility of marine and anadromous fisheries under the existing disaster relief framework.