This bill modernizes how the federal government collects and uses data about recreational fishing. Right now, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) runs a program called MRIP that tries to track how many fish people catch for fun, but the data is often unreliable and doesn't work well for all types of fish, especially those that are only available seasonally or unpredictably.

The bill creates several improvements. First, it establishes an independent committee of experts to regularly review how recreational fishing data is collected and suggest better methods. If the federal data becomes too uncertain (reaching a 30% error rate), NOAA must consult this committee about fixing the problem or adjusting fishing rules to account for the bad data. States can also petition NOAA if they think the federal data is wrong. Second, the bill lets individual states develop their own fishing data collection programs instead of relying solely on the federal system. If a state's program works well, NOAA will use that state's data instead of federal data for management decisions. Third, the bill provides $15 million per year through 2031 to help states build or improve their own data collection programs.

The bill also requires NOAA to create a schedule for updating scientific assessments of fish populations and to hire independent researchers to conduct surveys that estimate how many fish are actually in the ocean. Finally, it makes fishery management meetings more transparent by requiring councils to post recordings and transcripts online so the public can see how decisions are made. Overall, the bill aims to give states more control over fishing data, improve the accuracy of that data, and make the process more transparent and science-based.