Titled “Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation,” the order cites the outdoor recreation sector’s $1.2 trillion in annual economic activity and more than 5 million supported jobs, framing saltwater anglers, offshore boaters, and charter operators as a driver of that economy. It aligns the policy with the Make America Beautiful Again (MABA) Commission, established under Executive Order 14313, and with the April 2025 Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness order, and directs the Secretary of Commerce to review National Standard 1 (Optimum Yield) and National Standard 2 (Best Scientific Information Available) guidelines under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act within 180 days.
The order extends a string of fisheries-focused directives from the administration, following the Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Atlantic and Restoring American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific proclamations issued earlier in 2026. Together, the actions reflect a sustained push to ease federal fisheries restrictions and shift more management weight toward state-level data.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is directed to phase out mail-in recreational catch-and-effort surveys in favor of standardized mobile reporting applications, feeding a modernized data architecture intended to support real-time stock assessments and quota decisions. Where state-collected data proves more statistically reliable than NOAA’s Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) figures, measured against a percent standard error threshold still to be set, the order directs NOAA to consider substituting state data for federal management decisions affecting Gulf of America and Atlantic Coast fisheries.
The order also targets depleted stocks, including Atlantic striped bass, directing the Secretary of Commerce to launch at least two pilot programs for recreational data collection or management developed with anglers and charter captains. Separate provisions establish a Federal Outer Continental Shelf Reef-in-Place Program, letting the Secretary of the Interior convert decommissioned oil and gas platforms into permanent artificial reefs, and create an interagency task force on shark and pinniped depredation charged with standing up a Real-Time Depredation Reporting protocol within 90 days.
Additional provisions call for multi-year, presumptively renewable permits for boaters and outdoor businesses in good standing, a unified “One-Stop” Special Use Permit portal within a year, and a five-year plan to better account for recreational fishing’s economic value in federal decisions. Implementation runs on staggered deadlines, from 30 days for permitting-rule reviews to 180 days for the National Standard guideline review, with agencies directed to act consistent with existing law and available appropriations.
