Cormorant Relief Act of 2025

The Cormorant Relief Act of 2025 would require the Department of the Interior to reissue a depredation order that was vacated by court order in 2016. This order would authorize landowners, operators, and employees of aquaculture facilities, fish hatcheries, and licensed private lake and pond managers to capture, kill, or disperse double-crested cormorants without needing a permit when the birds cause or threaten harm to their operations.

The bill would expand the scope of the original order in two key ways. First, it would extend coverage to more states than the previous order, including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, and New Jersey. Second, it would broaden the types of entities eligible to take cormorants, adding licensed private lake and pond managers to those already permitted under the original order.

Under this bill, the Department of the Interior would be required to renew the depredation order every five years to keep it in effect. For citizens involved in aquaculture or fish hatchery operations, this would provide a legal mechanism to protect their facilities from cormorant predation without obtaining individual permits for each bird.

The bill has passed the House and is currently under review in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. If enacted, it would restore and expand protections for aquaculture operations that have faced challenges from cormorant populations since the original depredation order was struck down a decade ago.