I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6987 

To establish programs to reduce the impacts of vessel traffic and underwater 

noise on marine mammals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2022 

Mr. LARSEN of Washington (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. BROWNLEY, 

Ms. STRICKLAND, and Ms. DELBENE) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Armed 

Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish programs to reduce the impacts of vessel traffic 

and underwater noise on marine mammals, 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. MONITORING OCEAN SOUNDSCAPES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall maintain 

5 and expand an ocean soundscape development program 

6 that includes the Ocean Noise Reference Station Network 

7 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 


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1 and the National Park Service, using and coordinating 

2 with the Integrated Ocean Observing System, and may co3 ordinate as appropriate with Regional Ocean Partner4 ships, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Department 

5 of Defense to— 

6 (1) provide grants to expand the deployment of 

7 Federal and non-Federal observing and data man8 agement systems capable of collecting measurements 

9 of underwater sound in high-priority ocean and 

10 coastal locations for purposes of monitoring and 

11 analyzing baselines and trends in the underwater 

12 soundscape to protect and manage marine life; 

13 (2) continue to develop and apply standardized 

14 forms of measurements to assess sounds produced 

15 by marine animals, physical processes, and anthro16 pogenic activities; and 

17 (3) after coordinating with the Department of 

18 Defense, coordinate and make accessible to the pub19 lic the datasets, modeling and analysis, and user20 driven products and tools, resulting from observa21 tions of underwater sound funded through grants 

22 authorized by this section. 

23 (b) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec24 tion, the Administrator shall consider the geographic diVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:24 Mar 11, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6987.IH H6987

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1 versity of the recipients of such grants as much as prac2 ticable. 

3 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

5 $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026. 

6 (d) ADMINISTRATOR DEFINED.—In this section, the 

7 term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Secretary of Commerce, 

8 acting through the Administrator of the National Oceanic 

9 and Atmospheric Administration. 

10 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR SEAPORTS TO ESTABLISH PROGRAMS 

11 TO REDUCE THE IMPACTS OF VESSEL TRAF12 FIC AND PORT OPERATIONS ON MARINE 

13 MAMMALS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

15 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in 

16 coordination with the Secretary of the department in 

17 which the Coast Guard is operating, shall establish a grant 

18 program to provide assistance to seaports to develop and 

19 implement mitigation measures that will lead to a quan20 tifiable reduction in impacts to marine mammals from ves21 sel traffic, including shipping activities and port oper22 ations. 

23 (b) ELIGIBLE USES.—A grant under this section may 

24 be used to develop, assess, and carry out activities that 


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1 reduce threats and enhance the habitats of marine mam2 mals by— 

3 (1) reducing underwater stressors related to 

4 vessel traffic; 

5 (2) reducing vessel strike mortality, serious in6 jury, and other physical disturbances; 

7 (3) enhancing marine mammal habitat, includ8 ing the habitat for prey of marine mammals; or 

9 (4) monitoring sound, vessel interactions with 

10 marine mammals, or other types of monitoring that 

11 are consistent with reducing the threats to and en12 hancing the habitats of marine mammals. 

13 (c) PRIORITY.—The Administrator shall prioritize as14 sistance under this section for projects that— 

15 (1) are based on the best available science on 

16 methods to reduce threats and enhance habitats of 

17 marine mammals, and collect data on the reduction 

18 of those threats and the impacts of those activities 

19 to assess their effectiveness; 

20 (2) assist ports with higher relative threat levels 

21 to vulnerable marine mammals from vessel traffic; 

22 (3) reduce disturbance from vessel presence, 

23 mortality risk, or serious injury from vessel strikes; 

24 (4) are in close proximity to Usual and Accus25 tomed Fishing Areas, National Marine Sanctuaries, 


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1 Marine National Monuments, National Parks, Na2 tional Wildlife Refuges, and other Federal, State, 

3 Tribal, and local marine protected areas; and 

4 (5) allow eligible entities to conduct risk assess5 ments, and track progress toward threat reduction 

6 and habitat enhancement, including protecting coral 

7 reefs from encroachment by commerce and shipping 

8 lanes. 

9 (d) OUTREACH.—The Administrator shall conduct 

10 outreach to seaports to provide information on how to 

11 apply for assistance under this section, the benefits of the 

12 program under this section, and facilitation of adoption 

13 of best practices and identification of lessons learned. 

14 (e) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity shall be eligible 

15 for assistance under this section if the entity is— 

16 (1) a port authority for a seaport; 

17 (2) a State, regional, local, or Tribal govern18 ment that has jurisdiction over a maritime port au19 thority or a seaport; or 

20 (3) a private entity or government entity, apply21 ing for a grant awarded under this section in col22 laboration with another entity described in para23 graph (1) or (2), that owns or operates a maritime 

24 terminal. 


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1 (f) BRIEFING.—The Administrator shall provide to 

2 the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Rep3 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

4 and Transportation of the Senate, an annual briefing that 

5 includes the following: 

6 (1) The name and location of each entity receiv7 ing a grant under this section. 

8 (2) Amount of each such grant. 

9 (3) The name and location of the seaport in 

10 which activities carried out with such grant took 

11 place. 

12 (4) A description of the activities carried out 

13 with the grant funds. 

14 (5) An estimate of the impact of the project to 

15 reduce threats or enhance habitat of marine mam16 mals. 

17 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

18 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

19 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, 

20 to remain available until expended. 

21 (h) ADMINISTRATOR DEFINED.—In this section, the 

22 term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Secretary of Commerce, 

23 acting through the Administrator of the National Oceanic 

24 and Atmospheric Administration. 


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1 SEC. 3. NEAR REAL-TIME MONITORING AND MITIGATION 

2 PROGRAM FOR LARGE WHALES. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator, in coordi4 nation with the Secretary of the department in which the 

5 Coast Guard is operating, the Secretary of Defense, and 

6 the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agen7 cies, shall design and deploy a near real-time large whale 

8 monitoring and mitigation program (in this section re9 ferred to as the ‘‘Program’’). 

10 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Program is to re11 duce the risk to large whales of vessel collisions and to 

12 minimize other impacts to such whales. 

13 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—The Program shall— 

14 (1) prioritize species of large whales for which 

15 vessel collision impacts are of particular concern; 

16 (2) prioritize areas where vessel impacts are of 

17 particular concern; 

18 (3) be capable of detecting and alerting ocean 

19 users and enforcement agencies of the probable loca20 tion of large whales on an actionable real-time basis, 

21 including real time data whenever possible; 

22 (4) inform sector-specific mitigation protocols 

23 to effectively reduce takes of large whales; 

24 (5) integrate technology improvements that will 

25 improve as appropriate; and 


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1 (6) be informed by the technologies, monitoring 

2 methods, and mitigation protocols developed pursu3 ant to the pilot program required in subsection (b). 

4 (d) PILOT PROJECT.— 

5 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—In carrying out sub6 section (a), the Administrator shall first establish a 

7 pilot monitoring and mitigation project for North 

8 Atlantic right whales for the purposes of informing 

9 a cost-effective, efficient, and results-oriented near 

10 real-time monitoring and mitigation program for 

11 large whales. 

12 (2) PILOT PROJECT REQUIREMENTS.—In de13 signing and deploying the pilot project under para14 graph (1), the Administrator and the Secretary of 

15 the department in which the Coast Guard is oper16 ating, in coordination with the heads of other rel17 evant Federal departments and agencies, shall, using 

18 best available scientific information, identify and en19 sure coverage of— 

20 (A) core foraging habitats of North Atlan21 tic right whales, including— 

22 (i) the South of the Islands core for23 aging habitat; 

24 (ii) the Cape Cod Bay Area core for25 aging habitat; 


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1 (iii) the Great South Channel core 

2 foraging habitat; and 

3 (iv) the Gulf of Maine; and 

4 (B) important feeding, breeding, calving, 

5 rearing, or migratory habitats of North Atlantic 

6 right whales that co-occur with areas of high 

7 risk of mortality, serious injury or other im8 pacts to such whales including from vessels or 

9 vessel strikes. 

10 (3) PILOT PROJECT COMPONENTS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

13 Administrator, in consultation with the Sec14 retary of the department in which the Coast 

15 Guard is operating and with relevant Federal 

16 agencies, Tribal governments, and with input 

17 from affected stakeholders, shall design and de18 ploy a near real-time monitoring system for 

19 North Atlantic right whales that— 

20 (i) comprises the best available detec21 tion power, spatial coverage, and survey ef22 fort to detect and localize North Atlantic 

23 right whales within core foraging habitats; 


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1 (ii) is capable of detecting North At2 lantic right whales, including visually or 

3 acoustically; 

4 (iii) uses dynamic habitat suitability 

5 models to inform the likelihood of North 

6 Atlantic right whale occurrence in core for7 aging habitat at any given time; 

8 (iv) coordinates with the Integrated 

9 Ocean Observing System and Coast Guard 

10 vessel traffic service centers, and may co11 ordinate with Regional Ocean Partnerships 

12 to leverage monitoring assets; 

13 (v) integrates historical data; 

14 (vi) integrates new near real-time 

15 monitoring methods and technologies as 

16 they become available; 

17 (vii) accurately verifies and rapidly 

18 communicates detection data; 

19 (viii) creates standards for and allows 

20 ocean users to contribute data to the moni21 toring system using comparable near real22 time monitoring methods and technologies; 

23 and 

24 (ix) communicates the risks of injury 

25 to large whales to ocean users in a way 


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1 that is most likely to result in informed de2 cision making regarding the mitigation of 

3 those risks. 

4 (B) NATIONAL SECURITY CONSIDER5 ATIONS.—All monitoring methods, technologies, 

6 and protocols under this section shall be con7 sistent with national security considerations and 

8 interests. 

9 (4) MITIGATION PROTOCOLS.—The Adminis10 trator shall, in consultation with the Secretary of the 

11 department in which the Coast Guard is operating, 

12 the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Transpor13 tation, and the Secretary of the Interior, and with 

14 input from affected stakeholders, develop and deploy 

15 mitigation protocols that make use of the near real16 time monitoring system to direct sector-specific miti17 gation measures that avoid and significantly reduce 

18 risk of serious injury and mortality to North Atlan19 tic right whales. 

20 (5) ACCESS TO DATA.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

22 subparagraph (B), the Administrator shall pro23 vide access to data generated by the monitoring 

24 system for purposes of scientific research and 

25 evaluation, and public awareness and education, 


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1 including through the NOAA Right Whale 

2 Sighting Advisory System and WhaleMap or 

3 other successive public web portals. 

4 (B) NATIONAL SECURITY RELATED INFOR5 MATION.—The Administrator may not provide 

6 access to any data under subparagraph (A) that 

7 the Secretary of Defense determines should be 

8 withheld for national security reasons. 

9 (6) PILOT PROGRAM REPORTING.— 

10 (A) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—Not later 

11 than 2 years after the date of the enactment of 

12 this Act, the Administrator, in consultation 

13 with the secretary of the department in which 

14 the Coast Guard is operating, shall submit to 

15 the appropriate congressional committees, and 

16 make available to the public, a preliminary re17 port on the pilot project established under para18 graph (1), which shall include— 

19 (i) a description of the monitoring 

20 methods and technology in use or planned 

21 for deployment; 

22 (ii) analyses of the efficacy of the 

23 methods and technology in use or planned 

24 for deployment for detecting North Atlan25 tic right whales; 


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1 (iii) how the monitoring system is di2 rectly informing and improving North 

3 American right whale management, health, 

4 and survival; 

5 (iv) a prioritized identification of tech6 nology or research gaps; 

7 (v) a plan to communicate the risks of 

8 injury to large whales to ocean users in a 

9 way that is most likely to result in in10 formed decision making regarding the miti11 gation of those risks; and 

12 (vi) additional information on the po13 tential benefits and efficacy of the pro14 gram, as appropriate. 

15 (B) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 6 

16 years after the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act, the Administrator, in coordination with the 

18 Secretary of Defense and the heads of other rel19 evant Federal departments and agencies, shall 

20 submit to the appropriate congressional com21 mittees, and make available to the public, a 

22 final report on the pilot project established 

23 under paragraph (1), that addresses the infor24 mation described in subparagraph (A) and in25 cludes the following: 


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1 (i) An assessment of the benefits and 

2 efficacy of the near real-time monitoring 

3 and mitigation program. 

4 (ii) A strategic plan to expand the 

5 pilot program to provide near real-time 

6 monitoring and mitigation measures to— 

7 (I) additional large whale species 

8 of concern for which such measures 

9 would reduce risk of serious injury or 

10 death; and 

11 (II) important feeding, breeding, 

12 calving, rearing, or migratory habitats 

13 of whales that co-occur with areas of 

14 high risk of mortality or serious in15 jury of such whales from vessel strikes 

16 or disturbance. 

17 (iii) A prioritized plan for acquisition, 

18 deployment, and maintenance of moni19 toring technologies. 

20 (iv) The locations or species for which 

21 such plan would apply. 

22 (v) A budget and description of funds 

23 necessary to carry out the strategic plan. 

24 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Secretary of Commerce, acting 

3 through the Administrator of the National Oceanic 

4 and Atmospheric Administration. 

5 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT6 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com7 mittees’’ means the Committees on Natural Re8 sources and Transportation and Infrastructure of 

9 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

10 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen11 ate. 

12 (3) CORE FORAGING HABITATS.—The term 

13 ‘‘core foraging habitats’’ means areas with biological 

14 and physical oceanographic features that aggregate 

15 Calanus finmarchicus and where North Atlantic 

16 right whales foraging aggregations have been well 

17 documented. 

18 (4) LARGE WHALE.—The term ‘‘large whale’’ 

19 means all Mysticeti species and species within the 

20 genera Physeter and Orcinus. 

21 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

22 authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 

23 carry out this section $17,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

24 2022 through 2026. 


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1 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY THAT RE2 DUCES UNDERWATER NOISE FROM VESSELS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

5 Maritime Administration shall establish a grant program, 

6 to be administered in consultation with the heads of other 

7 appropriate Federal departments and agencies, to provide 

8 assistance for the development and implementation of new 

9 or improved technologies that quantifiably reduce under10 water noise from marine vessels including noise produced 

11 incidental to the propulsion of marine vessels. 

12 (b) ELIGIBLE USES.—Grants provided under this 

13 section may be used to develop, assess, and implement new 

14 or improved technologies that materially reduce under15 water noise from marine vessels including noise produced 

16 incidental to the propulsion of marine vessels. 

17 (c) OUTREACH.—The Administrator shall conduct 

18 outreach to eligible entities to provide information on how 

19 to apply for assistance under this section, the benefits of 

20 the program established under this section, and facilita21 tion of best practices and lessons learned. 

22 (d) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—A person shall be eligible 

23 for assistance under this section if the person is— 

24 (1) an academic or research institution; 

25 (2) an individual, partnership, association, or26 ganization or any other combination of individuals, 


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1 provided, however, that each such individual shall be 

2 a citizen of the United States, a lawful permanent 

3 resident of the United States, or a protected indi4 vidual (as such term is defined in section 

5 274B(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

6 (8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3))); 

7 (3) a corporation established under the laws of 

8 the United States; or 

9 (4) a State or Tribal government. 

10 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

11 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

12 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, 

13 to remain available until expended. 

14 SEC. 5. TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT FOR QUIETING UNITED 

15 STATES GOVERNMENT VESSELS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 

17 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

18 the Maritime Administration, in consultation with the Ad19 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad20 ministration, Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of 

21 the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, 

22 shall submit to the committees identified under subsection 

23 (b), and make available to the public, a report— 


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1 (1) identifying existing, at the time of submis2 sion, non-classified naval technologies that reduce 

3 underwater noise; and 

4 (2) evaluating the effectiveness and feasibility 

5 of incorporating such technologies in the design, pro6 curement, and construction of non-combatant vessels 

7 of the United States. 

8 (b) COMMITTEES.—The report required under sub9 section (a) shall be submitted to the Committees on Com10 merce, Science, and Transportation and Armed Services 

11 of the Senate and the Committees on Armed Services, 

12 Natural Resources, and Transportation and Infrastruc13 ture of the House of Representatives. 

14 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

15 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

16 $100,000 for fiscal year 2022, to remain available until 

17 expended. 

Æ 


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