The "Sustaining America's Fisheries for the Future Act of 2025" reauthorizes and significantly amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. A primary focus is to integrate climate change considerations into all aspects of fisheries management, requiring vulnerability assessments for fish stocks, developing resilience plans, and promoting climate science in research and council training.

The bill addresses shifting fish stocks by revising cross-jurisdictional management and promoting international cooperation, while modernizing the approach to emerging fisheries. To support coastal communities, it defines subsistence fishing and establishes a Working Waterfronts Grant Program and Loan Fund to preserve access for water-dependent businesses.

It enhances community participation in limited access privilege programs (LAPPs) and mandates an audit of existing LAPPs for transparency. Transparency is strengthened through increased Tribal representation on regional Councils, liaison positions for Atlantic Councils, and requirements for webcast and archived recordings of Council meetings. Council accountability is improved by refining membership, prohibiting lobbying with federal funds, and establishing a workplace harassment prevention policy for NOAA personnel and related entities.

The bill mandates a national strategic plan for fisheries data modernization, emphasizing expanding electronic technologies for data collection as a complement or replacement for human observers. Improvements to stock assessments are required, including annual reports and addressing climate change impacts. The Cooperative Research and Management Program is strengthened for climate change, bycatch reduction, and shark populations, while a Recreational Data Improvement Program enhances data consistency. Emergency operating plans for monitoring disruptions are also required.

The legislation strengthens essential fish habitat (EFH) protection, clarifying that Federal agencies must avoid or minimize adverse effects from their actions, and introduces "habitat areas of particular concern." Measures to reduce bycatch are enhanced through a national standardized reporting program and an updated Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program. The bill also revises the process for rebuilding overfished fisheries, setting clearer criteria and requiring prompt action with objective, measurable criteria for progress.

A significant new focus is placed on forage fish conservation, requiring the Secretary to define "forage fish" and Councils to prohibit new directed fisheries until impacts are evaluated and management plans are in place, with specific amendments for river herring and shad. Finally, the bill amends appointment processes for U.S. Commissioners to international tuna conventions and authorizes substantial appropriations for fiscal years 2026 through 2030.