Presidential DocumentExecutive Order 144302026-19417
Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 22, 2026
Signed
September 17, 2026
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 182 (Tuesday, September 22, 2026)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 182 (Tuesday, September 22, 2026)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 60293-60297]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-19417]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 91, No. 182 / Tuesday, September 22, 2026 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 60293]]
Executive Order 14430 of September 17, 2026
Restoring American Saltwater Angling and
Recreation
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. (a) America's outdoor
recreation sector generates over $1.2 trillion annually
and supports over 5 million jobs. To ensure America's
recreational fishing remains strong, Federal fisheries
management must appropriately prioritize both
recreational and commercial fishing. From saltwater
anglers and offshore boaters to charter operators, the
recreational fishing industry is a strong driver of our
Nation's outdoor economy. Aligning both with the Make
America Beautiful Again (MABA) Commission, established
under Executive Order 14313 of July 3, 2025
(Establishing the President's Make America Beautiful
Again Commission), and with Executive Order 14276 of
April 17, 2025 (Restoring American Seafood
Competitiveness), this order modernizes Federal
management by shifting the Federal posture from
restricting recreational access to fishing to actively
empowering affiliated industries and coastal
communities.
(b) It is the policy of the United States to
elevate the marine recreational fishing industry as an
important consideration in all Federal ocean, coastal,
and public land decision-making.
Sec. 2. Agency Implementation. (a) To effectuate the
policy described in section 1 of this order, all
relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies)
shall partner with States and the private sector to
vigorously rebuild, expand, permit, and modernize data
collection. All such agencies shall eliminate
unnecessary restrictions that harm our coastal
economies, burden charter fishing businesses, and limit
public access to our marine resources. Furthermore, it
is the policy of my Administration to demand accurate
cutting-edge data collection and empower State-Federal
partnerships to produce the information needed for
responsible management.
(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order,
pursuant to 16 U.S.C. 1851, the Secretary of Commerce
(Secretary) shall review targeted National Standards
Guidelines issued under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et
seq.) for consistency with the purpose of this order.
Specifically, the Secretary shall, at a minimum,
consider revising the guidelines for National Standard
1 (Optimum Yield) and National Standard 2 (Best
Scientific Information Available), to ensure they
appropriately account for the unique biological,
economic, and social characteristics of the
recreational fishery, and to facilitate the rapid
integration of State-level data into Federal management
decisions, where appropriate.
Sec. 3. Modernizing Data Collection Infrastructure for
Recreational Catch-and-Effort Estimates. (a) To resolve
chronic inaccuracies and latency in Federal
recreational catch and effort estimates, the Federal
Government must transition away from antiquated data
collection and sampling practices. Accordingly, the
Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
shall to the extent feasible and consistent with
applicable law, take appropriate action, including
through rulemaking pursuant to 16 U.S.C. 1851 and
1855(d), where necessary, to modernize Federal data
collection infrastructure.
(b) The Secretary, acting through the NOAA
Administrator, shall evaluate the statistical
reliability of traditional mail-in survey systems for
recreational
[[Page 60294]]
catch-and-effort data collection and their adequacy for
dynamic fishery management. The results of this
analysis should be considered in determining whether,
and to what extent, such mail-in survey systems shall
be phased out.
(c) The Secretary, acting through the NOAA
Administrator, shall harness existing platforms and
potential successor platforms and technologies to
deploy standardized, user-friendly mobile applications
for mandatory and voluntary electronic reporting by
recreational anglers and for-hire operators.
(d) To the extent feasible and consistent with
applicable law, data collected via mobile applications
described in subsection (c) of this section shall be
securely aggregated into a modernized Federal data
architecture. This data architecture will process real-
time catch, effort, and observational data, serving as
the primary analytical repository for fishery managers
to inform stock assessments, establish seasonal quotas,
and make rapid, data-driven regulatory decisions.
Sec. 4. Restoring Integrity to Fisheries Science and
Data. (a) To further ensure that management decisions
made during the modernization transition outlined in
section 3 of this order are based on improved data
collection practices, I have determined that certain
additional measures are necessary.
(b) Along the Gulf of America and the Atlantic
Coast, recreational access has been improperly
restricted by inaccuracies within NOAA's Marine
Recreational Information Program (MRIP) data. To
ameliorate these data deficiencies, the Secretary,
acting through the NOAA Administrator, shall,
consistent with applicable law, including 16 U.S.C.
1801 et seq., consider establishing a data-replacement
threshold tethered to the Percent Standard Error (PSE)
for MRIP data collected for any seasonal fishery. Where
the PSE for MRIP data for a seasonal fishery meets or
exceeds such specified data-replacement threshold, and
an affected State collects recreational catch-and-
effort data with a lower error rate, NOAA shall then
consider substituting the relevant State's data in
place of MRIP data for management decisions concerning
such fishery. This approach will help ensure that,
consistent with National Standard 2, conservation and
management measures are based upon the best scientific
information available.
(c) To address the decline of iconic recreational
fisheries, such as the Atlantic striped bass and other
depleted stocks, the Secretary shall generate a list of
key species to use in partnership with the recreational
angling community, charter captains, and State agencies
to gather real-time data, deploy advanced tagging
technologies, and improve catch-and-release mortality
estimates. The Secretary shall develop and initiate at
least two new pilot programs for recreational fisheries
data collection or management approaches working with
the angling community that test innovative solutions
for achieving sustainable fisheries management that
maximizes fishing access.
(d) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary shall develop a comprehensive 5-year
strategic plan with clear implementation milestones to
improve the collection, analysis, and application of
recreational fisheries economic data to support
fisheries management. This plan shall ensure that the
economic impact and value of recreational fishing,
including for-hire fisheries and shoreside support
industries, is fully accounted for in Federal fishery
management decisions and harvest opportunities.
Sec. 5. Rescission of Regulations that Restrict Marine
Infrastructure and Access. (a) Within 30 days of the
date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior, the
Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce,
and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works
shall, consistent with applicable law, take steps to
initiate action to suspend, revise, or rescind
regulations that overly burden boaters, anglers, and
outdoor businesses.
(b) Accordingly, the Secretary shall, to the extent
feasible and consistent with applicable law, make use
of technological advancements for marine mammal
avoidance. In so doing, the Secretary, acting through
the NOAA Administrator and, where necessary, in
consultation with the Commandant
[[Page 60295]]
of the United States Coast Guard, shall facilitate
coordination with the private sector to integrate key
technologies.
(c) To reduce administrative burdens, within 60
days of the date of this order, relevant agencies shall
evaluate existing agency permitting authorities to
effectuate a transition to multi-year permit terms
(minimum of 3 years) that include, to the extent
permitted by applicable law, a standard presumption of
renewal. To implement this presumption of renewal
without creating new information collection burdens,
these agencies shall, to the extent feasible and
consistent with applicable law, rely on interagency
data sharing agreements and internal database
verification rather than new applicant submissions.
Agencies shall consider whether this presumption of
renewal should apply exclusively to permittees in
``good standing,'' which may be defined as permittees
about which agency records confirm:
(i) are in full compliance with United States Coast Guard safety
regulations;
(ii) have incurred no major environmental or fisheries violations; and
(iii) maintain a 100-percent compliance rate with the mandatory electronic
catch-reporting requirements established in section 3 of this order.
(d) To minimize duplicative applications across
Federal agencies, relevant agencies shall, to the
extent feasible and consistent with applicable law,
establish the infrastructure necessary to develop a
single, unified interagency Special Use Permit (SUP)
application, with the aim of deploying a unified ``One-
Stop'' joint permit portal within 1 year of the date of
this order.
Sec. 6. Fast-Tracking Artificial Reefs and Habitat
Creation. (a) Within 60 days of the date of this order,
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the
Marine Minerals Administration, shall establish a
Federal Outer Continental Shelf Reef-in-Place Program
(Program) to facilitate the conversion of
decommissioned offshore oil and gas and other-use
structures, with the exception of infrastructure
associated with offshore wind energy facilities, into
permanent artificial reefs through reef-in-place,
topple-in-place, or other approved reefing methods,
where consistent with applicable law.
(b) The Program shall be available to qualifying
offshore structures and leaseholders that satisfy all
applicable statutory, regulatory, environmental,
navigational, and safety requirements. The Secretary of
the Interior shall establish criteria and standards for
the program that ensure protection of navigation and
national security interests.
(c) In establishing the Program, the Secretary of
the Interior shall coordinate with the Secretary of
Commerce, the Secretary of War, the Commandant of the
United States Coast Guard, and the heads of other
appropriate agencies to streamline interagency review
and permitting to the maximum extent permitted by law,
reduce unnecessary administrative delays, and promote
timely decisions for qualifying reef projects.
(d) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary, acting through the NOAA Administrator, in
coordination with the Secretary of the Interior, shall
review and, as appropriate and consistent with
applicable law, revise policies and procedures
governing SUPs and other applicable authorizations for
the placement and management of artificial reefs within
National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine National
Monuments. Such revisions shall seek to establish
transparent and efficient permitting pathways, identify
areas suitable for artificial reef development and
other national interest uses, and enhance fisheries,
recreational fishing, diving, and other compatible
public uses.
Sec. 7. Managing Predators. (a) To address the rising
rates of shark and pinniped depredation, the Secretary
shall establish an Interagency Shark and Pinniped
Depredation Task Force. The Secretary of State, the
Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of
Commerce, along with the United States Trade
Representative, shall actively address international
and domestic barriers to sustainable shark fisheries to
the extent permitted by applicable law. Such actions
shall include assessing listings under the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species, directing
the United States
[[Page 60296]]
Fish and Wildlife Service to expedite Non-Detriment
Findings for global export, and reviewing all regional
fisheries management organizations, conventions,
treaties, and agreements to ensure that their measures
and actions promote robust commercial and recreational
harvests.
(b) To reduce the economic and ecological impact of
shark depredation on the recreational angling sector,
the Secretary shall, to the extent permitted by law:
(i) Pursuant to the Secretary's grant-making authority, including under 15
U.S.C. 713c-3(c), give priority to partnerships involving charter boat
captains and recreational angling organizations.
(ii) Within 90 days of the date of this order, develop and implement,
including through rulemaking as necessary, a standardized ``Real-Time
Depredation Reporting'' protocol. Consistent with applicable law, the
Secretary shall integrate this protocol into existing Federal and State-
linked mobile data collection platforms to enable the rapid mapping of
depredation events and support dynamic fishery management decisions.
Sec. 8. Projects for Increasing Fish Abundance. (a) The
Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service shall identify
regulatory and administrative hurdles that delay the
disbursement from the Sport Fish Restoration and
Boating Trust Fund and shall, to the extent consistent
with applicable law, remove such hurdles.
(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the
MABA Commission shall convene a Restoration
Coordination Working Group to develop a shared
framework to identify and reduce duplicative
restoration efforts within the same watersheds,
ensuring that Federal resources are used effectively
across agencies. Agencies are encouraged to transition
habitat restoration metrics toward production-based
goals.
Sec. 9. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
[[Page 60297]]
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall
be borne by the Department of Commerce.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 17, 2026.
[FR Doc. 2026-19417
Filed 9-21-26; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3510-DT-P
</pre></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 22, 2026.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.