Marine Mammal Research and Response Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2848 To A bill to amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to reauthorize and modify the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 26, 2021 Mrs. MURPHY of Florida (for herself, Mr. MAST, and Ms. STRICKLAND) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To A bill to amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to reauthorize and modify the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marine Mammal Re- 4 search and Response Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. DATA COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION. 6 Section 402 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 7 of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421a) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2848 IH (1) in subsection (b)— 1 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘or 2 entangled’’ after ‘‘stranded’’; 3 (B) in paragraph (3)— 4 (i) by striking ‘‘strandings,’’ and in- 5 serting ‘‘strandings and entanglements, in- 6 cluding unusual mortality events,’’; 7 (ii) by inserting ‘‘stranding’’ before 8 ‘‘region’’; and 9 (iii) by striking ‘‘marine mammals; 10 and’’ and inserting ‘‘marine mammals and 11 entangled marine mammals to allow com- 12 parison of the causes of illness and deaths 13 in stranded marine mammals and entan- 14 gled marine mammals with physical, chem- 15 ical, and biological environmental param- 16 eters; and’’; and 17 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘anal- 18 yses, that would allow comparison of the causes 19 of illness and deaths in stranded marine mam- 20 mals with physical, chemical, and biological en- 21 vironmental parameters.’’ and inserting ‘‘anal- 22 yses.’’; and 23 (2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 24 following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2848 IH ‘‘(c) INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE SUBMITTED 1 AND COLLECTED.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—After each response to a 3 stranding or entanglement event, the Secretary shall 4 collect (including from any staff of the National 5 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that re- 6 spond directly to such an event), and shall require 7 each stranding network participant who responds to 8 that stranding or entanglement to submit to the Ad- 9 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos- 10 pheric Administration— 11 ‘‘(A) data on the stranding event, includ- 12 ing NOAA Form 89–864 (OMB #0648–0178), 13 NOAA Form 89–878 (OMB #0648–0178), 14 similar successor forms, or similar information 15 in an appropriate format required by the 16 United States Fish and Wildlife Service for spe- 17 cies under its management authority; 18 ‘‘(B) supplemental data to the data de- 19 scribed in subparagraph (A), which may in- 20 clude, as available, relevant information 21 about— 22 ‘‘(i) weather and tide conditions; 23 ‘‘(ii) offshore human, predator, or 24 prey activity; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2848 IH ‘‘(iii) morphometrics; 1 ‘‘(iv) behavior; 2 ‘‘(v) health assessments; 3 ‘‘(vi) life history samples; or 4 ‘‘(vii) stomach and intestinal contents; 5 and 6 ‘‘(C) data and results from laboratory 7 analysis of tissues, which may include, as ap- 8 propriate and available— 9 ‘‘(i) histopathology; 10 ‘‘(ii) toxicology; 11 ‘‘(iii) microbiology 12 ‘‘(iv) virology; or 13 ‘‘(v) parasitology. 14 ‘‘(2) TIMELINE.—A stranding network partici- 15 pant shall submit— 16 ‘‘(A) the data described in paragraph 17 (1)(A) not later than 30 days after the date of 18 a response to a stranding or entanglement 19 event; 20 ‘‘(B) the compiled data described in para- 21 graph (1)(B) not later than 30 days after the 22 date on which the data is available to the 23 stranding network participant; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2848 IH ‘‘(C) the compiled data described in para- 1 graph (1)(C) not later than 30 days after the 2 date on which the laboratory analysis has been 3 reported to the stranding network participant. 4 ‘‘(d) AVAILABILITY OF DATA.— 5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop 6 a program to make information, including any data 7 and metadata collected under paragraphs (3) or (4) 8 of subsection (b) or subsection (c), available to re- 9 searchers, stranding network participants, and the 10 public— 11 ‘‘(A) to improve real-time coordination of 12 response to stranding and entanglement events 13 across geographic areas and between stranding 14 coordinators; 15 ‘‘(B) to identify and quickly disseminate 16 information on potential public health risks; 17 ‘‘(C) to facilitate integrated interdiscipli- 18 nary research; 19 ‘‘(D) to facilitate peer-reviewed publica- 20 tions; 21 ‘‘(E) to archive regional data into 1 na- 22 tional database for future analyses; and 23 ‘‘(F) for education and outreach activities. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2848 IH ‘‘(2) ACCESS TO DATA.—The Secretary shall 1 ensure that any data or metadata collected under 2 subsection (c)— 3 ‘‘(A) by staff of the National Oceanic and 4 Atmospheric Administration that responded di- 5 rectly to a stranding or entanglement event is 6 available to the public through the Health MAP 7 and the Observation System not later than 30 8 days after that data or metadata is collected by, 9 available to, or reported to the Secretary; and 10 ‘‘(B) by a stranding network participant 11 that responded directly to a stranding or entan- 12 glement event is made available to the public 13 through the Health MAP and the Observation 14 System 2 years after the date on which that 15 data is submitted to the Secretary under sub- 16 section (c). 17 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTIONS.— 18 ‘‘(A) WRITTEN RELEASE.—Notwith- 19 standing paragraph (2)(B), the Secretary may 20 make data described in paragraph (2)(B) pub- 21 licly available earlier than 2 years after the date 22 on which that data is submitted to the Sec- 23 retary under subsection (c), if the stranding 24 network participant has completed a written re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2848 IH lease stating that such data may be made pub- 1 licly available. 2 ‘‘(B) LAW ENFORCEMENT.—Notwith- 3 standing paragraph (2), the Secretary may 4 withhold data for a longer period than the pe- 5 riod of time described in paragraph (2) in the 6 event of a law enforcement action or legal ac- 7 tion that may be related to that data. 8 ‘‘(e) STANDARDS.—The Secretary, in consultation 9 with the marine mammal stranding community, shall— 10 ‘‘(1) make publicly available guidance about 11 uniform data and metadata standards to ensure that 12 data collected in accordance with this section can be 13 archived in a form that is readily accessible and un- 14 derstandable to the public through the Health MAP 15 and the Observation System; and 16 ‘‘(2) periodically update such guidance. 17 ‘‘(f) MANAGEMENT POLICY.—In collaboration with 18 the regional stranding networks, the Secretary shall de- 19 velop, and periodically update, a data management and 20 public outreach collaboration policy for stranding or en- 21 tanglement events.’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2848 IH SEC. 3. STRANDING OR ENTANGLEMENT RESPONSE AGREE- 1 MENTS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 403 of the Marine Mam- 3 mal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421b) is amend- 4 ed— 5 (1) in the section heading by inserting ‘‘OR EN- 6 TANGLEMENT’’ before ‘‘RESPONSE’’; 7 (2) in subsection (a), by striking the period at 8 the end and inserting ‘‘or entanglement.’’; and 9 (3) in subsection (b)— 10 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ 11 after the semicolon; 12 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe- 13 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘(3) include a description of the data manage- 16 ment and public outreach policy established under 17 section 402(f).’’. 18 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 19 of contents in the first section of the Marine Mammal Pro- 20 tection Act of 1972 (Public Law 92–522; 86 Stat. 1027) 21 is amended by striking the item related to section 403 and 22 inserting the following: 23 ‘‘Sec. 403. Stranding or entanglement response agreements.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2848 IH SEC. 4. UNUSUAL MORTALITY EVENT ACTIVITY FUNDING. 1 Section 405 the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 2 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421d) is amended— 3 (1) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(b) USES.—Amounts in the Fund— 6 ‘‘(1) shall be available only for use by the Sec- 7 retary, in consultation with the Secretary of the In- 8 terior, and dispersed among claimants based on 9 budgets approved by the Secretary prior to expendi- 10 ture— 11 ‘‘(A) to make advance, partial, or progress 12 payments under contracts or other funding 13 mechanisms for property, supplies, salaries, 14 services, and travel costs incurred in acting in 15 accordance with the contingency plan issued 16 under section 404(b) or under the direction of 17 an Onsite Coordinator for an unusual mortality 18 event designated under section 19 404(a)(2)(B)(iii); 20 ‘‘(B) for reimbursing any stranding net- 21 work participant for costs incurred in the collec- 22 tion, preparation, analysis, and transportation 23 of marine mammal tissues and samples col- 24 lected with respect to an unusual mortality 25 event for the Tissue Bank; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2848 IH ‘‘(C) for the care and maintenance of a 1 marine mammal seized under section 2 104(c)(2)(D); and 3 ‘‘(2) shall remain available until expended.’’; 4 and 5 (2) in subsection (c)— 6 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 7 the end; 8 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe- 9 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 10 (C) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(4) not more than $250,000 per year, as de- 12 termined by the Secretary of Commerce, from sums 13 collected as fines, penalties, or forfeitures of prop- 14 erty by the Secretary of Commerce for violations of 15 any provision of this Act; and 16 ‘‘(5) sums received from emergency declaration 17 grants for marine mammal conservation.’’. 18 SEC. 5. LIABILITY. 19 Section 406(a) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 20 of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421e(a)) is amended, in the matter 21 preceding paragraph (1)— 22 (1) by inserting ‘‘or entanglement’’ after ‘‘to a 23 stranding’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2848 IH (2) by striking ‘‘government’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘Government’’. 2 SEC. 6. NATIONAL MARINE MAMMAL TISSUE BANK AND TIS- 3 SUE ANALYSIS. 4 Section 407 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 5 of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421f) is amended— 6 (1) in subsection (c)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘the 7 health of marine mammals and’’ and inserting ‘‘ma- 8 rine mammal health and mortality and the health 9 of’’; and 10 (2) in subsection (d), in the matter preceding 11 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘public’’ before ‘‘ac- 12 cess’’. 13 SEC. 7. MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE AND RESPONSE GRANT 14 PROGRAM AND RAPID RESPONSE FUND. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 408 of the Marine Mam- 16 mal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421f–1) is 17 amended— 18 (1) by striking the section heading and insert- 19 ing ‘‘MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE AND RESPONSE 20 GRANT PROGRAM AND RAPID RESPONSE 21 FUND’’; 22 (2) by striking subsections (a) through (d) and 23 subsections (f) through (h); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2848 IH (3) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub- 1 section (f); and 2 (4) by inserting before subsection (f), as redes- 3 ignated by paragraph (3), the following: 4 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 ‘‘(1) EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘emergency 7 assistance’ means— 8 ‘‘(i) financial assistance provided to 9 respond to, or that results from, a strand- 10 ing event or entanglement event that— 11 ‘‘(I) causes an immediate in- 12 crease in the cost of a response, recov- 13 ery, or rehabilitation that is greater 14 than the usual cost of a response, re- 15 covery, or rehabilitation; 16 ‘‘(II) is cyclical or endemic; or 17 ‘‘(III) involves a marine mammal 18 that is out of the normal range for 19 that marine mammal; or 20 ‘‘(ii) financial assistance provided to 21 respond to, or that results from, a strand- 22 ing event or an entanglement event that 23 the appropriate Secretary or State or Trib- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2848.IH H2848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 2848 IH al government considers to be an emer- 1 gency. 2 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘emergency 3 assistance’ does not include financial assistance 4 to respond to an unusual mortality event. 5 ‘‘(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ has 6 the meaning given that term in section 3(12)(A). 7 ‘‘(3) STRANDING REGION.—The term ‘strand- 8 ing region’ means a geographic region designated by 9 the applicable Secretary for purposes of administra- 10 tion of this title. 11 ‘‘(b) JOHN H. PRESCOTT MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE 12 AND RESPONSE GRANT PROGRAM.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability 14 of appropriations or other funding, the applicable 15 Secretary shall carry out a grant program, to be 16 known as the ‘John H. Prescott Marine Mammal 17 Rescue and Response Grant Program’ (referred to 18 in this section as the ‘grant program’), to award 19 grants to eligib [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]