I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8795 

To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to direct the Secretary 

of Commerce to establish a climate impact management plan for the 

conservation of certain marine mammal species, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2020 

Ms. BROWNLEY of California introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to 

direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish a climate 

impact management plan for the conservation of certain 

marine mammal species, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marine Mammal Cli5 mate Change Protection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONSERVATION OF MARINE MAMMALS ADVERSELY 

2 AFFECTED BY CLIMATE CHANGE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Marine Mammal Protection 

4 Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) is amended by in5 serting after section 120 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 121. CONSERVATION OF MARINE MAMMALS AD7 VERSELY AFFECTED BY CLIMATE CHANGE. 

8 ‘‘(a) CLIMATE IMPACT MANAGEMENT PLANS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) Within 18 months after the date of enact10 ment of this section, the Secretary, in consultation 

11 with the Marine Mammal Commission, shall publish 

12 in the Federal Register, after notice and opportunity 

13 for public comment, a list of those marine mammal 

14 species and population stocks in waters under the 

15 jurisdiction of the United States for which climate 

16 change, alone or in combination or interaction with 

17 other factors, has more than a remote possibility of 

18 resulting in a decline in population abundance, of 

19 impeding population recovery, or of reducing car20 rying capacity. The list shall identify— 

21 ‘‘(A) any species or population stock for 

22 which such impacts are likely to occur within 

23 20 years; 

24 ‘‘(B) any species or population stock listed 

25 as a threatened species or endangered species 

26 under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 


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1 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) for which such impacts 

2 have more than a remote possibility of occur3 ring within 100 years; and 

4 ‘‘(C) any other species or population stock 

5 for which such impacts have more than a re6 mote possibility of occurring within 100 years. 

7 ‘‘(2)(A) The Secretary, in consultation with the 

8 Marine Mammal Commission, shall review the list 

9 adopted pursuant to paragraph (1) at least once 

10 every 5 years, or more frequently if significant new 

11 information becomes available, and, after notice and 

12 opportunity for public comment, shall publish a re13 vised list in the Federal Register. 

14 ‘‘(B) Within 12 months after receiving the peti15 tion of an interested person under section 553(e) of 

16 title 5, United States Code, to add a marine mam17 mal species or population stock to the list published 

18 under paragraph (1), the Secretary, in consultation 

19 with the Marine Mammal Commission and after no20 tice and opportunity for public comment, shall pub21 lish in the Federal Register its finding of whether 

22 the petitioned action is warranted. If the petitioned 

23 action is deemed warranted, the Secretary shall pub24 lish at the same time the revision adding such spe25 cies or population stock. 


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1 ‘‘(3) The list published under paragraph (1), 

2 and any revisions made in accordance with para3 graph (2), shall include a determination of whether 

4 a climate impact management plan will promote the 

5 conservation of species or stocks listed pursuant to 

6 paragraph (1)(C). 

7 ‘‘(4)(A)(i) The Secretary shall publish in the 

8 Federal Register a draft climate impact management 

9 plan, and proposed regulations implementing the 

10 plan, for each marine mammal species or population 

11 stock— 

12 ‘‘(I) listed under paragraph (1)(A), within 

13 18 months after the listing; 

14 ‘‘(II) listed under paragraph (1)(B), within 

15 30 months after the listing; and 

16 ‘‘(III) listed under paragraph (1)(C) of 

17 this subsection, within 5 years after the listing 

18 if the Secretary determines that such a plan 

19 will promote the conservation of the species or 

20 stock. 

21 ‘‘(ii) Each draft climate impact management 

22 plan shall be developed in consultation with the Ma23 rine Mammal Commission and, as appropriate, other 

24 Federal agencies, and shall be made available for 


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1 public review and comment for a period not to ex2 ceed 90 days. 

3 ‘‘(iii) No later than 120 days after the close of 

4 the comment period required under clause (ii), the 

5 Secretary shall issue a final climate impact manage6 ment plan and implementing regulations that are 

7 consistent with the other provisions of this section 

8 and, to the full extent available under the Sec9 retary’s authorities under this Act and other stat10 utes, implement the conservation and management 

11 measures identified in the plan. 

12 ‘‘(B) Each management plan under subpara13 graph (A) shall include a comprehensive strategy for 

14 mitigating the direct and indirect effects of climate 

15 change and increasing resiliency in the species or 

16 population stock, and shall identify conservation and 

17 management measures to— 

18 ‘‘(i) mitigate to the extent possible the di19 rect adverse effects of climate change on such 

20 species and population stocks and their prey; 

21 ‘‘(ii) monitor, reduce, and prevent inter22 actions with fisheries and other human activi23 ties that may occur as a result of changes in 

24 marine mammal distribution or other indirect 

25 effects of climate change; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) increase resiliency by materially re2 ducing other human impacts on such species 

3 and population stocks, including but not limited 

4 to the reduction of incidental taking of marine 

5 mammals and of the degradation of the habitat 

6 of such species and population stocks, and by 

7 managing prey species to improve the avail8 ability of prey to such species and population 

9 stocks; and 

10 ‘‘(iv) take any other action as may be nec11 essary to implement the strategy set forth in 

12 the plan. 

13 ‘‘(C) Each management plan under subpara14 graph (A) shall include objective, measurable criteria 

15 for evaluating the effectiveness and sufficiency of 

16 such measures to meet the purposes of this Act. 

17 ‘‘(D) All other Federal agencies shall, in con18 sultation with and with the assistance of the Sec19 retary, utilize their authorities in furtherance of the 

20 strategy and conservation and management meas21 ures set forth in climate impact management plans 

22 developed under this subsection and ensure that 

23 their actions do not conflict or interfere with the ob24 jectives of such management plans. The Secretary 

25 shall consult with the Marine Mammal Commission 


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1 and, as may be warranted, other agencies in the im2 plementation of such plans. 

3 ‘‘(E) When appropriate, the Secretary may, and 

4 is encouraged to, integrate climate impact manage5 ment plans into conservation plans adopted under 

6 section 115(b) or recovery plans adopted under sec7 tion 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

8 U.S.C. 1533(f)). 

9 ‘‘(F) The Secretary shall review climate impact 

10 management plans and implementing regulations at 

11 least once every 5 years, and shall revise and amend 

12 them as necessary to meet the goals and require13 ments of this section. Any changes shall be subject 

14 to the procedures and requirements applicable to the 

15 adoption of the initial plans and regulations. 

16 ‘‘(5) The Secretary shall report to Congress 4 

17 years after the date of enactment of this section, 

18 and every 2 years thereafter, on— 

19 ‘‘(A) actions taken to implement this sec20 tion; 

21 ‘‘(B) any backlog in meeting the schedule 

22 set forth in this subsection for adopting, review23 ing, and implementing climate impact manage24 ment plans, or additional resources necessary to 

25 address any such backlog; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) the effectiveness of implementation 

2 and sufficiency of the measures adopted in cli3 mate impact management plans, and any rec4 ommendations for improving the process or the 

5 applicable legislation. 

6 ‘‘(b) MONITORING OF CLIMATE IMPACTS.—The Sec7 retary shall establish a program to monitor the adverse 

8 impacts of climate change on marine mammals. The pur9 poses of the monitoring program shall be to— 

10 ‘‘(1) improve models of projected future 

11 changes in marine mammal distribution and den12 sities resulting from climate change; 

13 ‘‘(2) identify and monitor interactions with fish14 eries and other human activities that may occur as 

15 a result of changes in marine mammal distribution 

16 or other effects of climate change; 

17 ‘‘(3) monitor the abundance of species and pop18 ulation stocks, to an extent sufficient to detect a 20 

19 percent population decline over 20 years; 

20 ‘‘(4) improve understanding of the impacts of 

21 climate change on marine mammal species and pop22 ulation stocks; and 

23 ‘‘(5) assess the direct and indirect contributions 

24 of marine mammals to carbon reduction, including 

25 through carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling. 


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1 ‘‘(c) PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS FOR LISTING

2 MARINE MAMMALS ADVERSELY IMPACTED BY CLIMATE

3 CHANGE.—The Secretary shall, within 120 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this section— 

5 ‘‘(1) publish in the Federal Register for public 

6 comment, for a period of not less than 60 days, reg7 ulations for listing marine mammal species and pop8 ulation stocks adversely impacted by climate change, 

9 alone or in combination or interaction with other 

10 factors, as described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of 

11 subsection (a), taking into account both quantitative 

12 and qualitative indicators of adverse impacts of cli13 mate change and human activities on such species 

14 and stocks, including— 

15 ‘‘(A) direct and indirect mortality and seri16 ous injury; 

17 ‘‘(B) loss or degradation of habitat; 

18 ‘‘(C) changes in the distribution or avail19 ability of prey; 

20 ‘‘(D) changes in the distribution of marine 

21 mammal species and population stocks; 

22 ‘‘(E) decreased genetic diversity or repro23 ductive success; 

24 ‘‘(F) increased susceptibility to pathogens; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(G) increased likelihood of interactions 

2 with fisheries and other human activities; and 

3 ‘‘(2) not later than 90 days after the close of 

4 the period for such public comment, publish in the 

5 Federal Register final regulations for listing marine 

6 mammals as required by paragraph (a), to be re7 viewed at least once every three years. 

8 ‘‘(d) LACK OF QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION.—The 

9 lack of quantitative information shall not be a basis for 

10 a determination under subsection (c) that a species or pop11 ulation stock is not adversely impacted by climate change, 

12 alone or in combination or interaction with other factors, 

13 as described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a). 

14 ‘‘(e) ESTIMATION OF POTENTIAL BIOLOGICAL RE15 MOVAL.— 

16 ‘‘(1) The Secretary, in estimating the potential 

17 biological removal level in stock assessments pre18 pared in accordance with section 117, shall take ac19 count of the adverse impacts of climate change in 

20 determining the recovery factor applied to each 

21 stock. 

22 ‘‘(2) The Secretary, in preparing stock assess23 ments in accordance with section 117, shall reexam24 ine the stock definition and geographic range of ma25 rine mammal species and population stocks to idenVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:22 Dec 07, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8795.IH H8795

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1 tify climate-related changes in spatial distribution 

2 and stock definition and to identify how such 

3 changes may affect human impacts to the species. 

4 ‘‘(f) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS.— 

5 The Secretary shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) periodically review the status of agree7 ments with foreign governments under section 

8 108(a) concerning the management of transbound9 ary marine mammal species and population stocks, 

10 and their prey species, that are or may be affected 

11 by climate change; and 

12 ‘‘(2) through the Secretary of State, initiate the 

13 amendment of any such agreement, or negotiations 

14 for the development of bilateral or multinational 

15 agreements, consistent with the goals and policies of 

16 this section. 

17 ‘‘(g) CONSTRUCTION.—This section shall not be con18 strued to limit or restrict any other responsibility of the 

19 Secretary or of any other person under this Act or any 

20 other statute.’’. 

21 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

22 in the first section of such Act is amended by inserting 

23 after the item relating to section 120 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 121. Conservation of marine mammals adversely affected by climate 

change.’’. 

Æ 


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