I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4261
To require the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
to expedite issuance of and implement a contingency plan for responding
to red tide events involving Florida manatees, and to authorize the
Director to make grants for research and evaluation of potential methods
of therapeutic intervention for manatees intoxicated by red tide
brevetoxins.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 27, 1996
Mr. MILLER of Florida (for himself, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, and Mr. GOSS)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Re-
sources
A BILL
To require the Director of the United States Fish and Wild-
life Service to expedite issuance of and implement a
contingency plan for responding to red tide events involv-
ing Florida manatees, and to authorize the Director to
make grants for research and evaluation of potential
methods of therapeutic intervention for manatees intoxi-
cated by red tide brevetoxins.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save Manatees and
Alleviate Red Tide Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Florida manatee is a large, gentle ma-
rine mammal whose future survival is endangered.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service esti-
mated in 1992 that there were 1,856 Florida
manatees. The Florida manatee is endangered pri-
marily because of habitat loss, collisions with
watercraft, and more recently, poisoning from harm-
ful algae blooms commonly referred to as red tide.
(2) In 1982, 37 Florida manatees died from in-
gesting accumulations of the toxic dinoflagellate that
composes red tide.
(3) In the spring of 1996, the Florida manatee
population experienced a more severe mortality event
in which 158 otherwise young and healthy manatees
were found dead from a mysterious ailment.
(4) The scientific community discovered that a
prolonged outbreak of red tide in the Gulf of Mexico
was the cause of the unusual spring 1996 deaths.
The manatees were weakened and killed by exposure
to the brevetoxin produced by red tide.
(5) Therapeutic intervention exists for humans
poisoned by brevetoxin. The potential exists for
using antibrevetoxin antibodies to reverse the effects
of red tide on sickened manatees.
(6) The Federal Government has an interest
and an obligation to protect the Florida manatee
pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of
1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) and the Endangered
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO PROTECT FLORIDA MANATEE FROM
RED TIDE.
(a) ACTIONS BY FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE.—
The Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-
ice (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Director’’) shall—
(1) by not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, issue a contingency plan
under section 404(b) of the Marine Mammal Protec-
tion Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421c(b)) for respond-
ing to red tide events involving Florida manatees;
and
(2) implement such plan as part of the Florida
manatee recovery program.
(b) GRANTS
FOR
RESEARCH
OF
THERAPEUTIC
INTERVENTION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director may, subject to
the availability of appropriations, make grants for
research and evaluation of potential methods of
therapeutic intervention for manatees intoxicated by
red tide brevetoxins, including immunotherapy using
antibrevetoxin antibodies. The grants shall be
awarded on a competitive basis and in consultation
with the Marine Mammal Commission, the National
Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, and
the Florida Department of Environmental Protec-
tion.
(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For
grants under this subsection, there are authorized to
be appropriated to the Director $800,000.
(c) REVIEW BY COMMISSION.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ma-
rine Mammal Commission shall—
(A) conduct a comprehensive review of the
scientific findings of investigations into the
spring 1996 Florida manatee red tide mortality
event;
(B) conduct an interdisciplinary conference
to discuss the findings of that review; and
(C) submit to the Congress recommenda-
tions of actions to protect the Florida manatee
from red tide events.
(2) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.—
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Ma-
rine Mammal Commission to carry out this sub-
section $200,000.
Æ