Federal government maps where you can fish and boat in U.S. oceans
S. 759 — Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act · Filed by Ted Cruz (R-TX) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Feb 26, 2025 · Signed
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This bill requires the federal government to create standardized, publicly accessible maps and databases showing where people can and cannot fish, boat, and recreate in U.S. ocean waters (the exclusive economic zone). The Secretary of Commerce must publish this information on a website within 4 years, update it regularly, and ensure it is easy to find and use—while protecting sensitive information like archaeological sites and commercial fishing data.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is standardization and public disclosure of geospatial data on recreational fishing and boating restrictions in federal waters. It is fundamentally an information-access and transparency measure, not a regulatory or appropriations instrument.
What the text implies
- Real-time updates to fishing restriction data may create operational pressure on NOAA/NMFS to maintain continuous data pipelines, potentially requiring sustained IT investment and staffing.
- Exemption for Tribal waters and usual-and-accustomed fishing areas preserves Tribal sovereignty but may create data gaps or inconsistencies in the public map, requiring users to consult separate Tribal sources.
- Public disclosure of marine protected area boundaries and authorized activities may increase recreational pressure on sensitive ecosystems if enforcement capacity does not scale with awareness.
- Requirement to coordinate with private geospatial data companies and technology firms may create dependencies on third-party platforms for data hosting or visualization, raising long-term sustainability and data-ownership questions.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens gain transparent, centralized access to information about where they can legally fish and recreate in federal waters, reducing confusion and enforcement surprises. The bill protects sensitive cultural, archaeological, and commercial data while improving public access to navigation and safety information.
Who stands to gain
- geospatial data technology firms
- GIS software providers
- web hosting and cloud infrastructure vendors
Named in the bill
Secretary of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Office of Science and Technology, Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations — and 2 more
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Independents.
- Feb 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 26, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
- Mar 12, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of…”
- Sep 10, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S6556; text of amendment in the…”
- Sep 14, 2026 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote”
- Sep 14, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Westerman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
- Sep 22, 2026 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
- Sep 25, 2026 — Signed into law · Congress.gov: “Signed by President”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $50,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 35 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Ted Cruz, the sponsor, reported $531,115 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership — $50,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (8,076 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal government maps where you can fish and boat in U.S. oceans” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s759 Report an error
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