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Union Calendar No. 92 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 556 

[Report No. 111–175] 

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 

JUNE 23, 2009 

Additional sponsors: Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Ms. 

HIRONO, Mr. FILNER, Mr. HODES, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. ROTHMAN of 

New Jersey, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. 

WAXMAN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. 

MCDERMOTT, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. NADLER of New York, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. 

SESTAK, Mr. HOLT, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of 

California, and Ms. HARMAN

JUNE 23, 2009 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 15, 2009] 

A BILL 

To establish a program of research, recovery, and other 


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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 Re5 covery 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 

10 and the United States Geological Survey, shall carry out 

11 a recovery and research program for southern sea otter pop12 ulations along the coast of California, informed by the 

13 prioritized research recommendations of the Final Revised 

14 Recovery Plan for the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris 

15 nereis) published by the United States Fish and Wildlife 

16 Service and dated February 24, 2003, the Research Plan 

17 for California Sea Otter Recovery issued by the United 

18 States Fish and Wildlife Service Southern Sea Otter Recov19 ery Implementation Team and dated March 2, 2007, and 

20 any other recovery, research, or conservation plan adopted 

21 by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service after the 

22 date of enactment of this Act in accordance with otherwise 

23 applicable law. The Recovery and Research Program shall 

24 include the following: 


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1 (1) Monitoring, analysis, and assessment of 

2 southern sea otter population demographics, health, 

3 causes of mortality, and life history parameters, in4 cluding range-wide population surveys. 

5 (2) Development and implementation of meas6 ures to reduce or eliminate potential factors limiting 

7 southern sea otter populations that are related to ma8 rine ecosystem health or human activities. 

9 (b) REAPPOINTMENT OF RECOVERY IMPLEMENTATION

10 TEAM.—Not later than one year after the date of enactment 

11 of this Act, the Secretary shall appoint persons to a south12 ern sea otter recovery implementation team as authorized 

13 under section 4(f)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 

14 (16 U.S.C. 1533(f)(2)). 

15 (c) SOUTHERN SEA OTTER RESEARCH AND RECOVERY

16 GRANTS.— 

17 (1) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall es18 tablish a peer-reviewed, merit-based process to award 

19 competitive grants for research regarding southern sea 

20 otters and for projects assisting the recovery of south21 ern sea otter populations. 

22 (2) PEER REVIEW PANEL.—The Secretary shall 

23 establish as necessary a peer review panel to provide 

24 scientific advice and guidance to prioritize proposals 

25 for grants under this subsection. 


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1 (3) RESEARCH GRANT SUBJECTS.—Research 

2 funded with grants under this subsection shall be in 

3 accordance with the research recommendations of any 

4 plan referred to in subsection (a), and may include 

5 the following topics: 

6 (A) Causes of sea otter mortality. 

7 (B) Southern sea otter demographics and 

8 natural history. 

9 (C) Effects and sources of pollutants, nutri10 ents, and toxicants on southern sea otters and se11 questration of contaminants. 

12 (D) Effects and sources of infectious diseases 

13 and parasites affecting southern sea otters. 

14 (E) Limitations on the availability of food 

15 resources for southern sea otters and the impacts 

16 of food limitation on southern sea otter carrying 

17 capacity. 

18 (F) Interactions between southern sea otters 

19 and coastal fisheries and other human activities 

20 in the marine environment. 

21 (G) Assessment of the keystone ecological 

22 role of sea otters in southern and central Califor23 nia’s coastal marine ecosystems, including both 

24 the direct and indirect effects of sea otter preda25 tion, especially as these effects influence human 


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1 welfare, resource utilization, and ecosystem serv2 ices. 

3 (H) Assessment of the adequacy of emer4 gency response and contingency plans. 

5 (4) RECOVERY PROJECT SUBJECTS.—Recovery 

6 projects funded with grants under this subsection 

7 shall be conducted in accordance with recovery rec8 ommendations of any plan referred to in subsection 

9 (a), and may include projects to— 

10 (A) protect and recover southern sea otters; 

11 (B) reduce, mitigate, or eliminate potential 

12 factors limiting southern sea otter populations 

13 that are related to human activities, including 

14 projects to— 

15 (i) reduce, mitigate, or eliminate fac16 tors contributing to mortality, adversely af17 fecting health, or restricting distribution 

18 and abundance; and 

19 (ii) reduce, mitigate, or eliminate fac20 tors that harm or reduce the quality of 

21 southern sea otter habitat or the health of 

22 coastal marine ecosystems; and 

23 (C) implement emergency response and con24 tingency plans. 

25 (d) REPORT.—The Secretary shall— 


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1 (1) within 12 months after the date of enactment 

2 of this Act, report to Congress on— 

3 (A) the status of southern sea otter popu4 lations; 

5 (B) implementation of the Recovery and 

6 Research Program and the grant program; and 

7 (C) any relevant formal consultations con8 ducted under section 7 of the Endangered Species 

9 Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536) with respect to the 

10 southern sea otter; and 

11 (2) within 24 months after the date of enactment 

12 of this Act and every 5 years thereafter, and in con13 sultation with a southern sea otter recovery imple14 mentation team (if any) that is otherwise being uti15 lized by the Secretary under section 4(f) of the En16 dangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(f)), re17 port to Congress and the public on— 

18 (A) an evaluation of southern sea otter 

19 health, causes of southern sea otter mortality, 

20 and the interactions of southern sea otters with 

21 California’s coastal marine ecosystems; 

22 (B) an evaluation of actions taken to im23 prove southern sea otter health, reduce southern 

24 sea otter mortality, and improve southern sea 

25 otter habitat; 


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1 (C) recommendation for actions, pursuant 

2 to current law, to improve southern sea otter 

3 health, reduce the occurrence of human-related 

4 mortality, and improve the health of such coastal 

5 marine ecosystems; and 

6 (D) recommendations for funding to carry 

7 out this Act. 

8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) RECOVERY AND RESEARCH PROGRAM.—The 

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

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

13 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

14 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 

15 United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the 

16 United States Geological Survey. 

17 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro19 priated to the Secretary to carry out this Act $5,000,000 

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

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

22 grants under section 2(c)(3); and 

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

24 projects under section 2(c)(4). 


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1 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of amounts avail2 able each fiscal year to carry out this Act, the Secretary 

3 may expend not more than 7 percent to pay the administra4 tive expenses necessary to carry out this Act. 

5 SEC. 5. TERMINATION. 

6 This Act shall have no force or effect on and after the 

7 date the Secretary (as that term is used in section 4(c)(2) 

8 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 

9 1533(c)(2)) publishes a determination that the southern sea 

10 otter should be removed from the lists published under sec11 tion 4(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 

12 1533(c)). 


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Union Calendar No. 92 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 556 

[Report No. 111–175] 

A BILL 

To establish a program of research, recovery, and 

southern sea otter. other activities to provide for the recovery of the 

JUNE 23, 2009 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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