Saltwater Fishing Order Targets Catch Data, Artificial Reefs and Depredation

A September 17 executive order directs federal agencies to modernize recreational saltwater fishing data and pursue changes to access, permitting and habitat programs. The American Sportfishing Association detailed the action September 18. The White House text, Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation, sets agency assignments; it does not itself publish new species-specific seasons or bag limits.

The Commerce Department must review selected fisheries management guidelines within 180 days, including those addressing optimum yield and the best scientific information available. NOAA is also directed to evaluate traditional mail-in survey methods and develop electronic reporting tools. The order calls for consideration of replacing certain federal catch-and-effort estimates with lower-error state data, not automatic substitution of every state estimate.

For depleted fisheries, including Atlantic striped bass, the order calls for work with anglers, charter captains and states on real-time data, tagging and catch-and-release mortality estimates. It also directs at least two new pilot programs testing recreational fisheries data collection or management approaches. Those projects will still have to be developed and carried out.

Habitat provisions include a federal Reef-in-Place Program for qualifying decommissioned offshore structures, with environmental, navigation and safety requirements retained. The order also calls for an interagency shark and pinniped depredation task force and a standardized reporting protocol for depredation events. Neither directive gives anglers a new authorization to take protected wildlife.

The practical follow-through will be agency rules, reporting instructions, permitting decisions and project work. Anglers and for-hire operators should continue checking current fishing regulations rather than treating the announcement as an immediate increase in legal harvest. The complete order is available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/09/restoring-american-saltwater-angling-and-recreation/.