Federal grants for rural fishing communities, workforce training, and coastal ecosystems.
S. 1968 — Working Waterfronts Act of 2025 · Filed by Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 5, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill creates federal grant programs to support rural coastal and maritime economic development across five main areas: (1) seafood and mariculture processing infrastructure in rural coastal communities; (2) preservation of working waterfronts and public access to fishing and boatbuilding areas; (3) maritime workforce training and education; (4) ocean innovation clusters and research centers in coastal regions; and (5) coastal ecosystem mapping and restoration. The bill authorizes $79 million over five fiscal years (2026–2030) distributed across these programs, with at least 50% of processing grants and 25% of maritime workforce grants directed to rural areas.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is competitive federal grants to support infrastructure, workforce training, and ecosystem management in rural coastal regions. It is fundamentally an economic development and public investment bill, not a deregulation or liability shield.
- Section 531 transfers the Coastal Aquatic Invasive Species Mitigation Grant Program from the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act to the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act. This is substantively unrelated to the bill's stated purpose of rural coastal economic development and appears to be a technical/administrative rider.
What the text implies
- The Ocean Innovation Clusters program (Section 502) designates at least 7 regional hubs with federal coordination across multiple agencies (Commerce, NOAA, Sea Grant, Energy, Transportation, EPA, Interior, Agriculture, Coast Guard). This creates a new interagency governance structure for 'Blue Economy' development that may expand federal influence over private ocean-sector industries.
- Section 514 funds coastal natural infrastructure pilot projects in cold climates and the Arctic, potentially positioning the federal government to influence land-use and climate adaptation decisions in remote regions with limited local capacity.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
Rural seafood and mariculture processing companies; Commercial fishing industry operators; For-hire recreational fishing businesses