# H.R. 4294 (119th): Mitigation Action and Watermen Support Act of 2026 or the MAWS Act of 2026

Mitigation Action and Watermen Support Act of 2026 or the MAWS Act of 2026 This bill requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a pilot program to facilitate the purchase of blue catfish caught within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. (Blue catfish are considered an invasive species in the Chesapeake Bay.) Under the program, NOAA must enter into cooperative agreements with manufacturers or processors of pet food, animal feed, or aquaculture feed for the purchase of blue catfish from watermen and seafood processors. NOAA must determine the minimum price per pound after considering market factors; feedback from watermen, seafood processors, and participants in the program; and differentiation of price points for fillet and byproduct. The bill also requires NOAA to enter into a memorandum of understanding with nonfederal partners to develop abundance estimates of blue catfish in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. NOAA must make the first abundance estimate publicly available before beginning the pilot program.

## How this bill is scored

Tier: no Tier 1 record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Lane: agriculture_commerce. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: chesapeake_bay. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: fisheries. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: invasive_species. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: procedural_motion. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Tier 1 sign-off: no record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Stored polarity: mixed. Only tags the rules mark scoreable on a mixed bill are scored. A yea can draw a penalty or a credit according to the tag. A nay on a tag scored as good can draw a penalty.
Roll 88: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended. Vote type: final_passage.
Polarity rationale: Reviewed enrichment (llm_import) polarity: The summary gives enough information for a prudent high-level judgment. It combines ordinary goods (invasive species management, support for working watermen, public availability of abundance data) with a prudential question about whether a federal purchase program is the right tool. No direct moral evil is advanced, and no clear moral good is defended against a named wrong.
Theological note: The bill raises ordinary stewardship concerns about managing an invasive species in a shared watershed, along with fair dealing and livelihood for watermen and processors. These are prudential matters of resource management and commerce. The measure does not directly advance or restrain a named moral harm, so it has no clear doctrine lane under this framework.

## Recorded votes

Roll 88: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended. Yea 320 · Nay 66 · Other 45.

HTML: https://justmeasure.org/bill/hr-4294-119/