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U.S. GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION 4
119TH CONGRESS REPORT
2d Session j HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 119-658
FLORIDA SAFE SEAS ACT OF 2025
MAY 20, 2026.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of
the Union and ordered to be printed
Mr. WESTERMAN, from the Committee on Natural Resources,
submitted the following
REPORT
[To accompany H.R. 3831]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the
bill (H.R. 3831) to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conserva-
tion and Management Act to prohibit feeding sharks in the exclu-
sive economic zone off the State of Florida, having considered the
same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and rec-
ommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE LEGISLATION
The purpose of H.R. 3831 is to amend the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act to prohibit feeding
sharks in the exclusive economic zone off the State of Florida.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
In recent years, shark populations have risen in Florida and
much of the United States.1 This increase is in part due to the
Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-263), which pro-
hibits the buying, selling, or transportation of any product con-
taining shark fins.2 While not imposing an outright ban, this stat-
ute creates significant difficulties for commercial fishermen, as the
fins are often the most commercially valuable part of a shark.
H.R. 3831 amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act to prohibit shark feeding in the exclusive eco-
nomic zone off the State of Florida. This legislation aligns federal
law with Florida's state regulations, which provide that feeding
fish, sharks, or other marine species while diving or snorkeling is
1Laurie Mermet, Hooked and stolen: How rebounding shark populations are changing Flor-
ida's fishing, University Press, Florida Atlantic University, April 25, 2025, https://
www.upressonline.com/2025/04/hooked-and-stolen-how-rebounding-shark-populations-are-
changing-floridas-fishing/.
2P.L. 117-263, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-117publ263/html/PLAW-
117publ263.htm.
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