Title 16 — Conservation
Chapter 15B — Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration
§ 941h. Great Lakes monitoring, assessment, science, and research
Statutory text
Definitions
In this section:
Director
The term “Director” means the Director of the United States Geological Survey.
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.
Findings
Congress finds the following:
The Great Lakes support a diverse ecosystem, on which the vibrant and economically valuable Great Lakes fisheries depend.
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 , management of the ecosystem and its fisheries require sound, reliable science, and the use of modern scientific technologies.
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.
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.
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.
Monitoring, assessment, science, and research
In general
The Director may conduct monitoring, assessment, science, and research, in support of the binational fisheries within the Great Lakes Basin.
Specific authorities
The Director shall, under paragraph (1)—
execute a comprehensive, multi-lake, freshwater fisheries science program;
coordinate with and work cooperatively with regional, State, tribal, and local governments; and
consult with other interested entities groups, including academia and relevant Canadian agencies.
Included research
To properly serve the needs of fisheries managers, monitoring, assessment, science, and research under this section may include—
deepwater ecosystem sciences;
biological and food-web components;
fish movement and behavior investigations;
fish population structures;
fish habitat investigations;
invasive species science;
use of existing, new, and experimental biological assessment tools, equipment, vessels, other scientific instrumentation and laboratory capabilities necessary to support fishery management decisions; and
studies to assess impacts on Great Lakes Fishery resources.
Savings clause
Nothing in this section 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 , and the Great Lakes Fishery Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. 931 et seq.).
Authorization of appropriations
For each of fiscal years 2021 through 2030, there is authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 to carry out this section.
Legislative history
Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.
Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Act, 2020
Pub. L. 116–94 div. P title II § 201 · 133 Stat. 2534
Enacted · 16 U.S.C. § 941h
Pub. L. 116–94, div. P, title II, § 201, Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 3184
Source evidence
Code source credit
Pub. L. 116–94, div. P, title II, § 201, Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 3184Enacted provision · exact public law section
Sec. 201. Funds appropriated in this title shall be available for not to exceed $50,000 for official reception and representation expenses when specifically approved by the Secretary.Pub. L. 119–67 § 2 · 139 Stat. 1993
Substituted · 16 U.S.C. § 941h(d)
Pub. L. 119–67 substituted “2030” for “2025”
Unresolved: Pub. L. 119–67 was not found in the local Statutes at Large index.
Source evidence
Code amendment note
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 119–67 substituted “2030” for “2025”.
1 of 2 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 1 unresolved
Editorial Notes
References in Text
Reorganization Plan No. 4, referred to in subsec. (b)(4), (5), probably means Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970, which is set out as a note under section 1511 of title 15, Commerce and Trade, and in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
The Great Lakes Fishery Act of 1956, referred to in subsec. (c)(4), is act June 4, 1956, ch. 358, 70 Stat. 242, which is classified generally to chapter 15A (§ 931 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 931 of this title and Tables.
Codification
Section was enacted as part of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, and not as part of the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act of 1990 which comprises this chapter.
Amendments
2025—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 119–67 substituted “2030” for “2025”.
Credits
2019–2025 · 2 acts
- 2019Pub. L. 116–94, div. P, title II, § 201, , 133 Stat. 3184
- 2025Pub. L. 119–67, § 2, , 139 Stat. 1993.
Show as published
(Pub. L. 116–94, div. P, title II, § 201, , 133 Stat. 3184; Pub. L. 119–67, § 2, , 139 Stat. 1993.)