§1421f–3 Reports to Congress

Summary

NOAA must send a report to Congress about the Health MAP within 2 years after December 23, 2022. NOAA works with the Marine Mammal Commission, the Interior Department, and the National Ocean Research Leadership Council on the report. The report must evaluate the public Health MAP data, list any data gaps with reasons and fixes, assess using the Observation System website as the data platform, list related publications or presentations, describe new marine mammal health problems and any links to human health, study whether the Observation System could act as an alert system for strandings, entanglements, and unusual deaths, show how Health MAP data might predict wider ecosystem changes with examples, and give recommendations on closing gaps, data standards and sharing, other improvements, and the funding needed. Within 5 years after that first report is sent, and every 10 years after, NOAA (with the Marine Mammal Commission and the Fish and Wildlife Service) must publish a data-gap analysis and brief the same Congressional committees. That analysis must cover who is in the stranding network, where coverage or participant gaps exist, what data and reporting are missing, and how data are shared with scientists, governments, tribes, and the public. NOAA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey must publish a report about Arctic response capabilities within 1 year after December 23, 2022, working with the Marine Mammal Commission, and brief Congress. "Appropriate committees of Congress" means the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; the House Natural Resources Committee; and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. The Arctic report must list current stranding agreements (species covered, response tools, facilities, and data abilities), state and local agencies with trained responders, possible local partners including Alaska Native communities, trends tied to changing Arctic conditions, training and resource needs, oiled-mammal response and rehab capabilities and factors affecting success, and recommendations for future needs.