Wednesday September 23, 2026
Eco Magazine —
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.