Bill Summary
The "Marine Mammal Research and Response Act of 2019" amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to reauthorize and modify the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program. It establishes a Rapid Response Fund and a Marine Mammal Health Monitoring and Analysis Platform (Health MAP) for data collection, dissemination, and accessibility regarding marine mammal health. The legislation also requires periodic reports to Congress on the status of the Health MAP and data gaps, as well as a study on marine mammal mortality. Appropriations are authorized for fiscal years 2020 through 2025.
Possible Impacts
1. The establishment of the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program and Rapid Response Fund will provide financial assistance for the recovery and treatment of sick and injured marine mammals, as well as for stranding events and scientific research.
2. The Marine Mammal Health Monitoring and Analysis Platform (Health MAP) will improve access to marine mammal health data and promote interdisciplinary research, ultimately contributing to an ocean health index.
3. Through the submission of reports and data gap analyses to Congress, the legislation aims to enhance the response capabilities for sick and injured marine mammals in the Arctic regions of the United States, ensuring the protection and preservation of these animals.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2802 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2802
To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to reauthorize and
modify the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant
Program, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 6, 2019
Ms. Cantwell introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to reauthorize and
modify the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant
Program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Marine Mammal Research and Response
Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. DATA COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION.
Section 402 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C.
1421a) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ``or
entangled'' after ``stranded'';
(B) in paragraph (3)--
(i) by striking ``strandings,'' and
inserting ``strandings and entanglements,
including unusual mortality events,'';
(ii) by inserting ``stranding'' before
``region''; and
(iii) by striking ``marine mammals; and''
and inserting ``marine mammals and entangled
marine mammals to allow comparison of the
causes of illness and deaths in stranded marine
mammals and entangled marine mammals with
physical, chemical, and biological
environmental parameters; and''; and
(C) in paragraph (4), by striking ``analyses, that
would allow comparison of the causes of illness and
deaths in stranded marine mammals with physical,
chemical, and biological environmental parameters.''
and inserting ``analyses.''; and
(2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following:
``(c) Data Availability.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall develop a program to
make information, including any data and metadata collected
under subsection (b), available to researchers, stranding
network participants, and the public--
``(A) to improve real-time coordination of response
to stranding and entanglement events across geographic
areas and between stranding coordinators;
``(B) to identify and quickly disseminate
information on potential public health risks;
``(C) to facilitate integrated interdisciplinary
research;
``(D) to facilitate peer-reviewed publications;
``(E) to archive regional data into 1 national
database for future analyses; and
``(F) for education and outreach activities.
``(2) Public access.--The Secretary shall ensure that--
``(A) all information, including data and metadata,
collected under subsection (b) is archived in a form
that is readily accessible and understandable to, and
can be easily shared with, the public, as appropriate,
through the Marine Mammal Health Monitoring and
Analysis Platform (Health MAP); and
``(B) not later than 60 days after the date on
which any information, including any data and metadata
collected under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of
subsection (b), is collected, that information is made
readily available to stranding network participants,
other qualified scientists, employees of the Federal
Government, and the public through the Health MAP and
the Observation System.
``(d) Data Reporting Requirements.--The Secretary shall require
each stranding network participant to submit to the Administrator of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for inclusion in
the Health MAP--
``(1) NOAA Form 89-864 (OMB #0648-0178) and NOAA Form 89-
878 (OMB #0648-0178), or similar successor forms, not later
than 30 days after the date of a response to a stranding or
entanglement event;
``(2) the information, including any data and metadata
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b), not
later than 30 days after the date on which the information is
available or updated, as applicable; and
``(3) the information, including any data and metadata
described in paragraphs (3) and (4) of subsection (b), not
later than 30 days after the date on which the stranding
network responds to a stranding or entanglement event.''.
SEC. 3. STRANDING OR ENTANGLEMENT RESPONSE AGREEMENTS.
(a) In General.--Section 403 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of
1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421b) is amended--
(1) in the section heading by inserting ``or entanglement''
before ``response''; and
(2) in subsection (a), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``or entanglement.''.
(b) Table of Contents Amendment.--The table of contents in the
first section of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (Public Law
92-522; 86 Stat. 1027) is amended by striking the item related to
section 403 and inserting the following:
``Sec. 403. Stranding or entanglement response agreements.''.
SEC. 4. UNUSUAL MORTALITY EVENT ACTIVITY FUNDING.
Section 405 the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C.
1421d) is amended--
(1) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:
``(b) Uses.--Amounts in the Fund--
``(1) shall be available only for use by the Secretary, in
consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, and dispersed
among claimants based on budgets approved by the Secretary
prior to expenditure--
``(A) to make advance, partial, or progress
payments under contracts or other funding mechanisms
for property, supplies, salaries, services, and travel
costs incurred in acting in accordance with the
contingency plan issued under section 404(b) or under
the direction of an Onsite Coordinator for an unusual
mortality event designated under section
404(a)(2)(B)(iii);
``(B) for reimbursing any stranding network
participant for costs incurred in the collection,
preparation, analysis, and transportation of marine
mammal tissues and samples collected with respect to an
unusual mortality event for the Tissue Bank; and
``(C) for the care and maintenance of a marine
mammal seized under section 104(c)(2)(D); and
``(2) shall remain available until expended.''; and
(2) in subsection (c)--
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' at the
end;
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the
end and inserting a semicolon; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(4) except as provided by section 1000(a)(3) of division
B of the Act entitled ``An Act making consolidated
appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2000,
and for other purposes'', approved November 29, 1999 (16 U.S.C.
1375a), sums collected as fines, penalties, or forfeitures of
property for violations of any provision of this Act;
``(5) sums received from emergency declaration grants for
marine mammal conservation; and
``(6) not more than $750,000 per fiscal year, as determined
by the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the Interior,
from each of the amounts appropriated to the Secretary or the
Secretary of the Interior for carrying out this Act.''.
SEC. 5. LIABILITY.
Section 406(a) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16
U.S.C. 1421e(a)) is amended, in the matter preceding paragraph (1)--
(1) by inserting ``or entanglement'' after ``to a
stranding''; and
(2) by striking ``government'' and inserting
``Government''.
SEC. 6. NATIONAL MARINE MAMMAL TISSUE BANK AND TISSUE ANALYSIS.
Section 407 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C.
1421f) is amended--
(1) in subsection (c)(2)(A), by striking ``the health of
marine mammals and'' and inserting ``marine mammal health and
mortality and the health of''; and
(2) in subsection (d), in the matter preceding paragraph
(1), by inserting ``public'' before ``access''.
SEC. 7. JOHN H. PRESCOTT MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE AND RESPONSE GRANT
PROGRAM AND RAPID RESPONSE FUND.
(a) In General.--Section 408 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of
1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421f-1) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 408. JOHN H. PRESCOTT MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE AND RESPONSE GRANT
PROGRAM AND RAPID RESPONSE FUND.
``(a) Definition of Emergency Assistance.--
``(1) In general.--In this section, the term `emergency
assistance' means--
``(A) financial assistance provided to respond to,
or that results from, a stranding event or entanglement
event that--
``(i) causes an immediate increase in the
cost of a response, recovery, or rehabilitation
that is greater than the usual cost of a
response, recovery, or rehabilitation;
``(ii) is cyclical or endemic; and
``(iii) involves a marine mammal that is
out of the normal range for that marine mammal;
or
``(B) financial assistance provided to respond to,
or that results from, a stranding event or an
entanglement event that the Secretary considers to be
an emergency.
``(2) Exclusions.--The term `emergency assistance' does not
include financial assistance to respond to an unusual mortality
event.
``(b) John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant
Program.--
``(1) In general.--Subject to the availability of
appropriations or other funding, the Secretary shall carry out
a grant program, to be known as the `John H. Prescott Marine
Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program' (referred to in this
section as the `grant program'), to award grants to eligible
stranding network participants or stranding network
collaborators, as described in this subsection.
``(2) Purposes.--The purposes of the grant program are to
provide for--
``(A) the recovery, care, or treatment of sick,
injured, or entangled marine mammals;
``(B) responses to marine mammal stranding events
that require emergency assistance;
``(C) the collection of data and samples from
living or dead stranded marine mammals for scientific
research or assessments regarding marine mammal health;
``(D) facility operating costs that are directly
related to activities described in subparagraph (A),
(B), or (C); and
``(E) development of stranding network capacity,
including training for emergency response, where
facilities do not exist or are sparse.
``(3) Contract, grant, and cooperative agreement
authority.--The Secretary may enter into a contract, grant, or
cooperative agreement with any eligible stranding network
participant or stranding network collaborator, as the Secretary
determines to be appropriate, for the purposes described in
paragraph (2).
``(4) Equitable distribution of funds.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall ensure, to
the extent practicable, that funds awarded under the
grant program are distributed equitably among the
stranding regions.
``(B) Considerations.--In determining priorities
among the stranding regions under this paragraph, the
Secretary may consider--
``(i) any episodic stranding, entanglement,
or mortality events, except for unusual
mortality events, that occurred in any
stranding region in the preceding year;
``(ii) any data with respect to average
annual stranding, entanglements, and mortality
events per stranding region;
``(iii) the size of the marine mammal
populations inhabiting a stranding region; and
``(iv) the conservation of protected,
depleted, threatened, or endangered marine
mammal species.
``(5) Application.--To be eligible for a grant under the
grant program, a stranding network participant shall--
``(A) submit an application in such form and manner
as the Secretary prescribes; and
``(B) be in compliance with the data reporting
requirements under section 402(d).
``(6) Grant criteria.--The Secretary and the Secretary of
the Interior shall, in consultation with the Marine Mammal
Commission, a representative from each of the stranding
regions, and other individuals who represent public and private
organizations that are actively involved in rescue,
rehabilitation, release, scientific research, marine
conservation, and forensic science with respect to stranded
marine mammals, develop criteria for awarding grants under the
grant program.
``(7) Limitations.--
``(A) Maximum grant amount.--No grant made under
the grant program for a single project may exceed
$150,000 in any 12-month period.
``(B) Unexpended funds.--Any funds that have been
awarded under the grant program but that are unexpended
at the end of the 12-month period described in
subparagraph (A) shall remain available until expended.
``(C) Limitation.--A new grant may not be awarded
to a project until the funds of a previous grant are
expended.
``(8) Matching requirement.--The non-Federal share of the
costs of a project conducted with funds awarded under the grant
program shall be not less than 25 percent of the costs of that
project.
``(9) Administrative costs and expenses.--The Secretary's
administrative costs and expenses related to reviewing and
awarding grants under the grant program, in any fiscal year may
not exceed the greater of--
``(A) 6 percent of the amounts made available each
fiscal year to carry out the grant program; or
``(B) $80,000.
``(c) John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Rapid Response
Fund.--
``(1) In general.--There is established in the Treasury of
the United States an interest-bearing fund, to be known as the
`John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Rapid Response Fund'
(referred to in this section as the `Rapid Response Fund').
``(2) Use of funds.--Amounts in the Rapid Response Fund
shall be available only for use by the Secretary to provide
emergency assistance.
``(3) Matching requirement.--
``(A) In general.--Except as provided in
subparagraph (B), the non-Federal share of the costs of
an activity conducted with amounts from the Rapid
Response Fund shall be not less than 25 percent of the
costs.
``(B) Waiver.--The Secretary may waive the matching
requirement under subparagraph (A) for emergency
assistance.
``(C) In-kind contributions.--In determining
whether the requirement under subparagraph (A) is met,
the Secretary may apply to the non-Federal share of an
activity conducted with amounts from the Rapid Response
Fund the amount of funds and the fair market value of
property and services provided by non-Federal sources
and used for the activity.
``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--
``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated
to carry out the grant program $7,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2020 through 2025, to remain available until expended, of
which for each fiscal year--
``(A) $6,000,000 shall be made available to the
Secretary of Commerce; and
``(B) $1,000,000 shall be made available to the
Secretary of the Interior.
``(2) John h. prescott marine mammal rescue and rapid
response fund.--
``(A) Authorization of appropriations.--There is
authorized to be appropriated to the Rapid Response
Fund $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through
2025.
``(B) Transfer of funds.--In addition to amounts
appropriated pursuant to an authorization of
appropriations under subparagraph (A), there shall be
deposited into the Fund not more than $500,000 for each
fiscal year (as determined by the Secretary) from
amounts appropriated to the Secretary for carrying out
this title and other titles of this Act.
``(C) Availability of funds.--Amounts in the Fund
shall remain available until expended, without regard
to any law related to the negotiation, award, or
administration of any contract, grant, or cooperative
agreement.
``(e) Acceptance of Donations.--For the purposes of carrying out
this section, the Secretary may solicit, accept, receive, hold,
administer, and use gifts, devises, and bequests without any further
approval or administrative action.''.
(b) Table of Contents Amendment.--The table of contents in the
first section of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (Public Law
92-522; 86 Stat. 1027) (as amended by section 3(b)) is amended by
striking the item related to section 408 and inserting the following:
``Sec. 408. John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant
Program and Rapid Response Fund.''.
SEC. 8. HEALTH MAP.
(a) In General.--Title IV of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of
1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 408
the following:
``SEC. 408A. MARINE MAMMAL HEALTH MONITORING AND ANALYSIS PLATFORM
(HEALTH MAP).
``(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of the Marine Mammal Research and Response Act of 2019, the
Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, in consultation with the Secretary of the
Interior and the Marine Mammal Commission, shall--
``(1) establish a marine mammal health monitoring and
analysis platform (referred to in this Act as the `Health
MAP');
``(2) incorporate the Health MAP into the Observation
System; and
``(3) make the Health MAP--
``(A) publicly accessible through the web portal of
the Observation System; and
``(B) interoperable with other national data
systems or other data systems for management or
research purposes, as practicable.
``(b) Purposes.--The purposes of the Health MAP are--
``(1) to promote--
``(A) interdisciplinary research among individuals
with knowledge and experience in marine mammal science,
marine mammal veterinary and husbandry practices,
medical science, and oceanography, and with other
marine scientists;
``(B) timely and sustained dissemination and
availability of marine mammal health, stranding,
entanglement, and mortality data;
``(C) identification of spatial and temporal
patterns of marine mammal mortality, disease, and
stranding;
``(D) evaluation of marine mammal health in terms
of mortality, as well as sublethal marine mammal health
impacts;
``(E) improved collaboration and forecasting of
marine mammal and larger ecosystem health events;
``(F) rapid communication and dissemination of
information regarding marine mammal strandings that may
have implications for human health, such as those
caused by harmful algal blooms; and
``(G) increased accessibility of data in a user
friendly visual interface for public education and
outreach; and
``(2) to contribute to an ocean health index that
incorporates marine mammal health data.
``(c) Requirements.--The Health MAP shall--
``(1) integrate in situ, remote, and other marine mammal
health, stranding, and mortality data, including visualizations
and metadata, collected by marine mammal stranding networks,
Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments, private
partners, and academia; and
``(2) be designed--
``(A) to enhance data and information availability,
including data sharing among stranding network
participants, scientists, and the public within and
across stranding network regions;
``(B) to facilitate data and information access
across scientific disciplines, scientists, and
managers;
``(C) to facilitate public access to national and
regional marine mammal health, stranding, entanglement,
and mortality data, including visualizations and
metadata, through the national and regional data
portals of the Observation System; and
``(D) in collaboration with, and with input from,
States and stranding network participants.
``(d) Procedures and Guidelines.--The Secretary shall establish and
implement policies, protocols, and standards for--
``(1) reporting marine mammal health data collected by
stranding networks consistent with subsections (c) and (d) of
section 402;
``(2) promptly transmitting health data from the stranding
networks and other appropriate data providers to the Health
MAP;
``(3) disseminating and making publicly available data on
marine mammal health, stranding, entanglement, and mortality
data in a timely and sustained manner; and
``(4) integrating additional marine mammal health,
stranding, or other relevant data as the Secretary determines
appropriate.
``(e) Consultation.--The Administrator of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration shall maintain and update the Health MAP in
consultation with the Secretary of the Interior and the Marine Mammal
Commission.
``(f) Contributions.--For purposes of carrying out this section,
the Secretary may solicit, accept, receive, hold, administer, and use
gifts, devises, and bequests without any further approval or
administrative action.''.
(b) Table of Contents Amendment.--The table of contents in the
first section of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (Public Law
92-522; 86 Stat. 1027) (as amended by section 7(b)) is amended by
inserting after the item related to section 408 the following:
``Sec. 408A. Health MAP.''.
SEC. 9. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.
(a) In General.--Title IV of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of
1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.) (as amended by section 8(a)) is amended
by inserting after section 408A the following:
``SEC. 408B. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.
``(a) Definition of Appropriate Committees of Congress.--In this
section, the term `appropriate committees of Congress' means--
``(1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate;
``(2) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of
Representatives; and
``(3) the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of
the House of Representatives.
``(b) Health MAP Status Report.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 2 year after the date of
enactment of the Marine Mammal Research and Response Act of
2019, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, in consultation with the Marine Mammal
Commission, the Secretary of the Interior, and the National
Ocean Research Leadership Council, shall submit to the
appropriate committees of Congress a report describing the
status of the Health MAP.
``(2) Requirements.--The report under paragraph (1) shall
include--
``(A) a detailed evaluation of the data made
publicly available through the Health MAP;
``(B) a detailed list of any gaps in data collected
pursuant to the Health MAP, a description of the
reasons for those gaps, and recommended actions to
close those gaps;
``(C) an analysis of the effectiveness of using the
website of the Observation System as the platform to
collect, organize, visualize, archive, and disseminate
marine mammal stranding and health data;
``(D) a list of publications, presentations, or
other relevant work product resulting from, or produced
in collaboration with, the Health MAP;
``(E) a description of emerging marine mammal
health concerns and the applicability of those concerns
to human health;
``(F) an analysis of the feasibility of the
Observation System being used as an alert system during
stranding events, entanglement events, and unusual
mortality events for the stranding network, Observation
System partners, Health MAP partners, Federal and State
agencies, and local and Tribal governments;
``(G) an evaluation of the use of Health MAP data
to predict broader ecosystem events and changes that
may impact marine mammal or human health and specific
examples of proven or potential uses of Observation
System data for those purposes; and
``(H) recommendations for the Health MAP with
respect to--
``(i) filling any identified data gaps;
``(ii) standards that could be used to
improve data quality, accessibility,
transmission, interoperability, and sharing;
``(iii) any other strategies that would
contribute to the effectiveness and usefulness
of the Health MAP; and
``(iv) the funding levels needed to
maintain and improve the Health MAP.
``(c) Data Gap Analysis.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 5 years after the date on
which the report required under subsection (b)(1) is submitted,
and every 5 years thereafter, the Administrator of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in consultation with
the Marine Mammal Commission and the Secretary of the Interior,
shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a data
gap analysis, as described in paragraph (2).
``(2) Requirements.--The data gap analysis under paragraph
(1) shall include--
``(A) an overview of existing participants within a
marine mammal stranding network;
``(B) an identification of coverage needs and
participant gaps within a network;
``(C) an identification of data and reporting gaps
from members of a network; and
``(D) an analysis of how stranding and health data
are shared and made available to scientists, academics,
State, local, and Tribal governments, and the public.
``(d) Rescue and Response Capabilities in the Arctic.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of the Marine Mammal Research and Response Act of
2019, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, in consultation with the Marine Mammal
Commission and the Director of the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service, shall submit to the appropriate committees of
Congress a report describing the response capabilities for sick
and injured marine mammals in the Arctic regions of the United
States.
``(2) Requirements.--The report under paragraph (1) shall
include--
``(A) a description of all stranding agreements in
place in the Arctic regions of the United States,
including species covered, response capabilities,
facilities, and data collection and analysis
capabilities;
``(B) a list of State and local government agencies
that have personnel trained to respond to strandings in
the Arctic regions of the United States;
``(C) an assessment of potential response and data
collection partners and sources of local information
and knowledge, including Alaska Native people and
villages;
``(D) an analysis of spatial and temporal trends in
strandings in response to changing environmental
conditions in the Arctic regions of the United States
and the relationships to unusual mortality events
involving other species, including birds and fish;
``(E) a description of training and other resource
needs to meet emerging response requirements in the
Arctic regions of the United States;
``(F) an analysis of oiled marine mammal and bird
response and rehabilitation capabilities in the Arctic
regions of the United States, including equipment,
facilities, training, and husbandry capabilities, and
an assessment of likely success rates; and
``(G) recommendations to address future stranding
response needs in the Arctic regions of the United
States.''.
(b) Table of Contents Amendment.--The table of contents in the
first section of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (Public Law
92-522; 86 Stat. 1027) (as amended by section 8(b)) is amended by
inserting after the item related to section 408A the following:
``Sec. 408B. Reports to Congress.''.
SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
Section 409 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C.
1421g) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``1993 and 1994;'' and
inserting ``2020 through 2025;'';
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``1993 and 1994;'' and
inserting ``2020 through 2025;''; and
(3) in paragraph (3), by striking ``fiscal year 1993.'' and
inserting ``for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2025.''.
SEC. 11. DEFINITIONS.
Section 410 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C.
1421h) is amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (6) as
paragraphs (2), (5), (6), (7), (9), and (10), respectively;
(2) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so redesignated)
the following:
``(1) The term `entangle' or `entanglement' means an event
in the wild in which a living or dead marine mammal has gear,
rope, line, net, or other material wrapped around or attached
to the marine mammal and is--
``(A) on a beach or shore of the United States; or
``(B) in navigable waters of the United States.'';
(3) in paragraph (2) (as so redesignated) by striking ``The
term'' and inserting ``Except as used in section 408, the
term'';
(4) by inserting after paragraph (2) (as so redesignated)
the following:
``(3) The term `Health MAP' means the Marine Mammal Health
Monitoring and Analysis Platform established under section
408A(a)(1).
``(4) The term `Observation System' means the National
Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System established
under section 12304 of the Integrated Coastal and Ocean
Observation System Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3603).''; and
(5) by inserting after paragraph (7) (as so redesignated)
the following:
``(8) The term `stranding region' means a geographic region
designated by the Secretary for purposes of administration of
this Act.''.
SEC. 12. STUDY ON MARINE MAMMAL MORTALITY.
(a) In General.--Not later than 6 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall make appropriate
arrangements with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and
Medicine under which the National Academies shall conduct a study
regarding the connection between marine heat waves, harmful algal
blooms, prey availability, habitat degradation, and marine mammal
mortality. The study shall evaluate how ocean heat waves impact harmful
algae blooms, availability of prey, and habitat degradation.
(b) Report.--In entering into an arrangement under subsection (a),
the Secretary of Commerce shall request that the National Academies
transmit to Congress a report containing the results of the study
described in subsection (a). The report shall include recommendations
for policies needed to mitigate and respond to mortality events.
<all>