Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-110

§1421f–3 Reports to Congress

Title 16 › CHAPTER 31 — MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION › SUBCHAPTER V — MARINE MAMMAL HEALTH AND STRANDING RESPONSE › § 1421f–3

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Appropriate congressional committees are the Senate Committees on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and on Environment and Public Works, and the House Committees on Natural Resources and on Science, Space, and Technology. NOAA’s Administrator, working with the Marine Mammal Commission, the Secretary of the Interior, and the National Ocean Research Leadership Council, must send a report on the Health MAP no later than 2 years after December 23, 2022. The report must review the public Health MAP data, list data gaps and why they exist, suggest fixes, evaluate using the Observation System website as the platform, list related publications or products, note new marine mammal health concerns and any links to human health, study whether the Observation System could serve as an alert tool for strandings, entanglements, or unusual mortality events, assess whether Health MAP data can help predict broader ecosystem changes, and give recommendations on filling gaps, data standards, sharing, other improvements, and needed funding. Within 5 years after that Health MAP report is submitted, and every 10 years after, NOAA (with the Marine Mammal Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) must publish and brief Congress on a public data-gap analysis covering who participates in the stranding network, coverage and participant gaps, data and reporting gaps, and how data are shared. Separately, no later than 1 year after December 23, 2022, NOAA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey (with the Marine Mammal Commission) must publish and brief Congress on U.S. Arctic response capabilities for sick or injured marine mammals (Arctic as defined in 15 U.S.C. 4111), including agreements, trained agencies, local partners (including Alaska Native communities), trends tied to environmental change, training and resource needs, oiled-animal response capacity, and recommendations.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §1421f–3

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(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 Environment and Public Works of the Senate;

(3)the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives; and

(4)the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives.

(b)Health MAP status report

(1)In general

Not later than 2 years after December 23, 2022, 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 10 years thereafter, 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—

(A)make publicly available a report on the data gap analysis described in paragraph (2); and

(B)provide a briefing to the appropriate committees of Congress concerning that data gap analysis.

(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)Marine mammal response capabilities in the Arctic

(1)In general

Not later than 1 year after December 23, 2022, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Director of the United States Geologic Survey, in consultation with the Marine Mammal Commission, shall—

(A)make publicly available a report describing the response capabilities for sick and injured marine mammals in the Arctic regions of the United States; and

(B)provide a briefing to the appropriate committees of Congress on that report.

(2)Arctic

The term “Arctic” has the meaning given the term in section 4111 of title 15.

(3)Requirements

The report under paragraph (1) shall include—

(A)a description, developed in consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, of all marine mammal stranding agreements in place for the Arctic region of the United States, including species covered, response capabilities, facilities and equipment, and data collection and analysis capabilities;

(B)a list of State and local government agencies that have personnel trained to respond to marine mammal strandings in the Arctic region 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 marine mammal strandings and unusual mortality events that are correlated with changing environmental conditions in the Arctic region of the United States;

(E)a description of training and other resource needs to meet emerging response requirements in the Arctic region of the United States;

(F)an analysis of oiled marine mammal response and rehabilitation capabilities in the Arctic region of the United States, including personnel, equipment, facilities, training, and husbandry capabilities, and an assessment of factors that affect response and rehabilitation success rates; and

(G)recommendations to address future stranding response needs for marine mammals in the Arctic region of the United States.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 1421f–3

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110