Sec. 7. John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program and Rapid Response Fund

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Section 408 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 ( 16 U.S.C. 1421f–1 ) is amended to read as follows: Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary shall conduct a grant program to be known as the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program (hereinafter in this section referred to as the Grant Program ) to award grants to eligible stranding network participants or stranding network collaborators as described in this subsection. The purposes of the Grant Program are to provide for— the recovery or treatment of sick, injured, or entangled marine mammals; marine mammal stranding events that require emergency assistance; the collection of data and samples from living or dead stranded marine mammals for scientific research regarding marine mammal health; facility operating costs that are directly related to activities described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C); and development of Stranding Network capacity, including training for emergency response, where facilities do not exist or are sparse.

The Secretary may enter into a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement with any person, as the Secretary determines appropriate, for the purposes described in paragraph (2). The Secretary shall ensure, to the extent practicable, that funds awarded under the Grant Program are distributed equitably among the stranding regions. The Secretary shall give preference to awarding funds under the Grant Program in each stranding region to any facility with an established record of marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation, or of scientific data collection and research on sick, stranded, or entangled marine mammals where such facilities exist.

In determining priorities among the stranding regions under this paragraph, the Secretary may consider— any episodic stranding, entanglement, or mortality event, except for an unusual mortality event, that occurred in any stranding region in the preceding year; any data regarding average annual stranding, entanglements, and mortality events per stranding region; the size of the marine mammal populations inhabiting a geographic area within a stranding region; and the conservation of threatened or endangered marine mammal species.

To apply for a grant under the Grant Program a stranding network participant shall— submit an application in such form and manner as the Secretary prescribes; and comply with the data reporting requirements of section 402(d). The Secretary shall consult 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 regarding stranded marine mammals to develop criteria for awarding grants under the Grant Program.

No grant made under the Grant Program for a single project may exceed $200,000 in any 12-month period. Any funds awarded under the Grant Program that are unexpended or unobligated at the end a 12-month period— shall remain available until expended; and shall not be taken into account for any other 12-month period for the purposes of subparagraph (A). The non-Federal share of the costs of an activity conducted with funds awarded under the Grant Program shall be 25 percent of such costs.

Of the amounts available each fiscal year to carry out the Grant Program, the Secretary may expend not more than 6 percent or $80,000, whichever is greater, to pay the administrative costs and expenses related to reviewing and awarding grants under the Grant Program. 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 (hereinafter in this section referred to as the Fund ).

Amounts in the Fund shall be available only for use by the Secretary to provide emergency assistance. Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the non-Federal share of the costs of an activity conducted with amounts from the Fund shall be 25 percent of such costs. The Secretary may waive the matching requirement under subparagraph

(A)for activities to provide emergency assistance. The Secretary may apply to the non-Federal share of an activity conducted with amounts from the Fund, the amount of funds and the fair market value of property and services provided by non-Federal sources and used for the activity. In this section: The term emergency assistance means— financial assistance provided for a stranding event or entangling event that— causes an immediate increase in the cost of a response, recovery, or rehabilitation that is greater than the usual or allocated cost of a response, recovery, or rehabilitation; is cyclical or endemic; and involves a marine mammal that is out of the normal habitat for that marine mammal; or financial assistance provided for a stranding event or an entanglement event that the Secretary considers to be an emergency. The term emergency assistance does not include financial assistance to respond to an unusual mortality event. There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out the Grant Program $7,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2017 through 2022, to remain available until expended, of which for each fiscal year— $6,000,000 may be available to the Secretary of Commerce; and $1,000,000 may be available to the Secretary of the Interior. There is authorized to be appropriated to the Fund $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2021. In addition to amounts appropriated pursuant to an authorization of appropriations in subparagraph (A), there shall be deposited into the Fund up to $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. 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. 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. . The table of contents in the first section of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 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. .

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16 USC 1421f–1

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Sec. 7

John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program and Rapid Response Fund

Cite16 USC 1421f–1

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