Fisheries Science Modernization Act of 2026

(a) In general. The Administrator shall expand the workforce and field capacity of the National Marine Fisheries Service, in coordination with other Line Offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to support the sampling and integration of eDNA into fishery stock assessments.

(b) Activities. In carrying out subsection (a), the Administrator shall—

(1) train and deploy survey technicians to collect eDNA samples during fishery-independent surveys;

(2) expand cooperative research partnerships with fishermen to broaden spatial and temporal coverage of sample collection and analysis, where feasible;

(3) develop field protocols aligned with the national standards developed by the National Aquatic Biomolecular Coordination Network under section 201(d);

(4) coordinate with the partners described in section 101(d) for cost-effective processing and sample analysis;

(5) support training for personnel of the National Marine Fisheries Service in eDNA sample collection, handling, quality assurance and quality control procedures, and modeling to maintain core expertise in producing, interpreting, and translating eDNA data into information useful for stock assessments; and

(6) evaluate emerging technologies, including autonomous eDNA samplers or processing platforms, to increase methodological efficiencies.