HB4515 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 34205 JDS 64028 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB4515

Introduced 1/31/2024, by Rep. Ryan Spain - Tony M. McCombie

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

20 ILCS 801/1-38 new

Amends the Department of Natural Resources Act. Makes legislative findings concerning the growth of American white pelican populations and their impacts on recreational fish populations in the Upper Mississippi River System. Directs the Department of Natural Resources to collaborate with an accredited university or college in the State to conduct a study of the American white pelican communities that reside, during their migration, in Pool 13 of the Upper Mississippi River System in order to: (1) evaluate the movements and foraging activities of those communities; (2) assess how the migration of those communities impacts fish populations in the Upper Mississippi River System; and (3) collect the data necessary to develop trophic models of the Upper Mississippi River System that incorporate impacts of piscivorous birds, such as the American white pelican. Requires the Department to report the findings of its study to the General Assembly by no later than December 31, 2025. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning State government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds that:

(1) American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) communities that migrate through the Upper Mississippi River System have grown dramatically in size in recent decades;

(2) the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for example, estimates that approximately 4,000 American white pelicans now forage in Pool 13 of the Mississippi River, which stretches 34.2 miles from Lock and Dam Number 13, near Fulton, Illinois, to Lock and Dam Number 12, near Blanding, Illinois;

(3) this is a ten-fold increase in the size of that population since a breeding colony of American white pelicans was first established;

(4) these foraging pelicans consume between 2.5 and 4 pounds of fish per day, meaning that a population of just 4,000 American white pelicans could consume 10,000 to 16,000 pounds of fish from Pool 13 of the Mississippi River each and every day and potentially millions of pounds during the months of the pelicans' migration;

(5) this foraging impacts not only shad and small schooling fish that are of little value to humans, but also largemouth bass, white bass, bluegills, crappies, northern pike, and other game fish in the Upper Mississippi River System; and

(6) because of the value of recreational fishing to the economy of the State of Illinois, there is a need to conduct a thorough study of the impact of American white pelican communities on the Upper Mississippi River System.

Section 5. The Department of Natural Resources Act is amended by adding Section 1-38 as follows:

(20 ILCS 801/1-38 new)

Sec. 1-38. American white pelican study. The Department shall collaborate with an accredited university or college in the State to conduct a study of the American white pelican communities that reside, during their migration, in Pool 13 of the Upper Mississippi River System in order to: (1) evaluate the movements and foraging activities of those communities; (2) assess how the migration of those communities impacts fish populations in the Upper Mississippi River System; and (3) collect the data necessary to develop trophic models of the Upper Mississippi River System that incorporate impacts of piscivorous birds, such as the American white pelican. The Department shall report the findings of its study to the General Assembly by no later than December 31, 2025.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.