I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 556 

To establish a program of research, recovery, and other activities to provide 

for the recovery of the southern sea otter. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 15, 2009 

Mr. FARR (for himself, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. KENNEDY, Ms. LEE

of California, Mr. HONDA, and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish a program of research, recovery, and other 

activities to provide for the recovery of the southern 

sea otter. 

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 ‘‘Southern Sea Otter 

5 Recovery and Research Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SOUTHERN SEA OTTER RECOVERY AND RESEARCH 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior, act9 ing through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 


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1 shall carry out a recovery and research program for south2 ern sea otter populations along the coast of California, in3 formed by the prioritized research recommendations of the 

4 Final Revised Recovery Plan for the southern sea otter 

5 (Enhydra lutris nereis) published by the United States 

6 Fish and Wildlife Service and dated February 24, 2003, 

7 the Research Plan for California Sea Otter Recovery 

8 issued by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service 

9 Southern Sea Otter Recovery Implementation Team and 

10 dated March 2, 2007, and any other recovery or research 

11 plan adopted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv12 ice after the date of enactment of this Act in accordance 

13 with otherwise applicable law. The Recovery and Research 

14 Program shall include the following: 

15 (1) Monitoring, analysis, and assessment of 

16 southern sea otter population demographics, health, 

17 causes of mortality, and life history parameters, in18 cluding range-wide population surveys. 

19 (2) Development and implementation of meas20 ures to reduce or eliminate potential factors limiting 

21 southern sea otter populations that are related to 

22 marine ecosystem health or human activities. 

23 (b) SOUTHERN SEA OTTER RESEARCH AND RECOV24 ERY GRANTS.— 


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1 (1) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall 

2 establish a peer-reviewed, merit-based process to 

3 award competitive grants for research regarding 

4 southern sea otters and for projects assisting the re5 covery of southern sea otter populations. 

6 (2) RESEARCH GRANT SUBJECTS.—Research 

7 funded with grants under this subsection shall be in 

8 accordance with the research goals recommended by 

9 the Committee under section 3, and may include the 

10 following topics: 

11 (A) Causes of sea otter mortality. 

12 (B) Southern sea otter demographics and 

13 natural history. 

14 (C) Effects and sources of pollutants, nu15 trients, and toxicants on southern sea otters 

16 and sequestration of contaminants. 

17 (D) Effects and sources of infectious dis18 eases and parasites affecting southern sea ot19 ters. 

20 (E) Limitations on the availability of food 

21 resources for southern sea otters and the im22 pacts of food limitation on southern sea otter 

23 carrying capacity. 


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1 (F) Interactions between southern sea ot2 ters and coastal fisheries and other human ac3 tivities in the marine environment. 

4 (G) Assessment of the keystone ecological 

5 role of sea otters in southern and central Cali6 fornia’s coastal marine ecosystems, including 

7 both the direct and indirect effects of sea otter 

8 predation, especially as these effects influence 

9 human welfare, resource utilization, and eco10 system services. 

11 (H) Assessment of the adequacy of emer12 gency response and contingency plans. 

13 (3) RECOVERY PROJECT SUBJECTS.—Recovery 

14 projects funded with grants under this subsection 

15 shall be conducted in accordance with recovery goals 

16 recommended by the Southern Sea Otter Scientific 

17 Advisory Committee established under section 3 and 

18 approved by the Secretary, and may include projects 

19 to— 

20 (A) protect and recover southern sea ot21 ters; 

22 (B) reduce, mitigate, or eliminate potential 

23 factors limiting southern sea otter populations 

24 that are related to human activities, including 

25 projects to— 


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1 (i) reduce, mitigate, or eliminate fac2 tors contributing to mortality, adversely af3 fecting health, or restricting distribution 

4 and abundance; and 

5 (ii) reduce, mitigate, or eliminate fac6 tors that harm or reduce the quality of 

7 southern sea otter habitat or the health of 

8 coastal marine ecosystems; and 

9 (C) implement emergency response and 

10 contingency plans. 

11 (4) RECOMMENDATION OF GRANTS BY SOUTH12 ERN SEA OTTER SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COM13 MITTEE.—The Secretary— 

14 (A) shall submit each grant proposal sub15 mitted under this subsection to the Southern 

16 Sea Otter Scientific Advisory Committee estab17 lished under section 3; and 

18 (B) may not make a grant under this sec19 tion unless the grant proposal has been re20 viewed by the Committee. 

21 (c) REPORT.—The Secretary shall— 

22 (1) within 12 months after the date of enact23 ment of this Act, report to Congress on— 

24 (A) the status of southern sea otter popu25 lations; 


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1 (B) implementation of the Recovery and 

2 Research Program and the grant program; and 

3 (C) any relevant formal consultations con4 ducted under section 7 of the Endangered Spe5 cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536) with respect 

6 to the southern sea otter; and 

7 (2) within 24 months after the date of enact8 ment of this Act and every 5 years thereafter, and 

9 in consultation with the Southern Sea Otter Sci10 entific Advisory Committee established under section 

11 3, report to Congress and the public on— 

12 (A) an evaluation of southern sea otter 

13 health, causes of southern sea otter mortality, 

14 and the interactions of southern sea otters with 

15 California’s coastal marine ecosystems; 

16 (B) an evaluation of actions taken to im17 prove southern sea otter health, reduce south18 ern sea otter mortality, and improve southern 

19 sea otter habitat; and 

20 (C) recommendation for actions, pursuant 

21 to current law, to improve southern sea otter 

22 health, reduce the occurrence of human-related 

23 mortality, and improve the health of such coast24 al marine ecosystems. 


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1 SEC. 3. SOUTHERN SEA OTTER SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COM2 MITTEE. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 

4 and appoint the members of a Southern Sea Otter Sci5 entific Advisory Committee in accordance with this sec6 tion. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 App. 

7 U.S.C.) shall not apply to the Committee. 

8 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The Committee shall advise the 

9 Secretary on— 

10 (1) research goals and priorities for the Recov11 ery and Research Program; 

12 (2) overall recovery actions necessary to imple13 ment the Recovery and Research Program; 

14 (3) revisions to the Final Revised Recovery 

15 Plan referred to in section 2(a) as new information 

16 is obtained or unexpected conservation issues requir17 ing additional research arise; 

18 (4) scientific merit and quality of southern sea 

19 otter research proposals submitted for grants under 

20 section 2(b) in response to a request by the Sec21 retary for proposals, based on the research and re22 covery goals and priorities recommended by the 

23 Committee; and 

24 (5) proposals that merit funding with such 

25 grants. 


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1 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—The Secretary shall appoint as 

2 members of the Committee— 

3 (1) the Executive Director of the Marine Mam4 mal Commission (or his or her designee); and 

5 (2) in consultation with the Marine Mammal 

6 Commission, no more than 9 individuals with a doc7 torate, graduate degrees, or knowledge and experi8 ence in marine science; sea otter science; conserva9 tion and management; sea otter veterinary, pathol10 ogy, and husbandry practices; fishing practices; fish11 ery science; nearshore and intertidal ecology; or 

12 other related disciplines or issue areas. 

13 (d) TERMS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para15 graph (2), the term of a member of the Committee 

16 shall be 3 years. 

17 (2) INITIAL APPOINTMENTS.—Of the members 

18 first appointed as members of the Committee— 

19 (A) 3 shall be appointed to an initial term 

20 of 1 year; and 

21 (B) 3 shall be appointed to an initial term 

22 of 2 years. 

23 (e) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—A member of the 

24 Committee who participated in the development of a pro25 posal may not participate in the review and recommendaVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:05 Jan 21, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H556.IH H556

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1 tion, by the Committee under this section, of grants with 

2 respect to the proposal. 

3 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Committee’’ 

6 means the Southern Sea Otter Scientific Advisory 

7 Committee established under section 3. 

8 (2) RECOVERY AND RESEARCH PROGRAM.—The 

9 term ‘‘Recovery and Research Program’’ means the 

10 recovery and research program under section 2(a). 

11 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 

13 United States Fish and Wildlife Service. 

14 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro16 priated to the Secretary to carry out this Act $5,000,000 

17 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2015 of which— 

18 (1) no less than 30 percent shall be for research 

19 grants under section 2(b)(2); and 

20 (2) no less than 30 percent shall be for recovery 

21 projects under section 2(b)(3). 

22 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of amounts avail23 able each fiscal year to carry out this Act, the Secretary 


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1 may expend not more than 7 percent to pay the adminis2 trative expenses necessary to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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