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“THE INTRODUCTION OF THE MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE ASSISTANCE ACT AMENDMENTS: FEBRUARY, 2007” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E336 on Feb. 13, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE INTRODUCTION OF THE MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE ASSISTANCE ACT AMENDMENTS:
FEBRUARY, 2007
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HON. DON YOUNG
of alaska
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Madam Speaker, Congressman Henry Brown (R-SC) and I are introducing legislation today that will extend the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program. The program was first authorized in 2000 to address the funding needs of facilities assisting the National Marine Fisheries Service with the recovery and rehabilitation of stranded marine mammals. The Prescott Grant Program has been very successful in supporting facilities around the nation volunteering facility space and staff time to rehabilitate marine mammals and return many of them to the wild. For those animals that cannot be returned to the wild, due to illness or other factors, the facilities have taken on the responsibility of caring for those marine mammals.
This legislation will increase the funding for the Department of Commerce from $4.0 million up to $6.0 million a year. The bill will cap administrative costs and roll over any unused funds into the grant program to be issued as grants in the following fiscal year. The Administration is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements to respond at-sea to marine mammals entangled in floating debris. It will create an emergency assistance process through which the agency will be able to enter into cooperative agreements with stranding facilities to facilitate the movement of funds to facilities responding to stranding events. In addition, the legislation will reauthorize funding for the Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Event Fund, which allows the agency to respond to mass stranding events and reimburse facilities that have assisted in the response activity.
I applaud the public display facilities and marine mammal research institutions that have dedicated resources and time toward recovering and rehabilitating marine mammals. This legislation will allow the National Marine Fisheries Service and the stranding facilities to continue their important efforts in the future. I urge support for this important conservation measure.
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