(f) BRIEFING.—The Administrator shall provide to 
the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation of the Senate, an annual briefing that 
includes the following: 
(1) The name and location of each entity receiv-
ing a grant under this section. 
(2) Amount of each such grant. 
(3) The name and location of the seaport in 
which activities carried out with such grant took 
place. 
(4) A description of the activities carried out 
with the grant funds. 
(5) An estimate of the impact of the project to 
reduce threats or enhance habitat of marine mam-
mals. 
(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, 
to remain available until expended. 
(h) ADMINISTRATOR DEFINED.—In this section, the 
term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Secretary of Commerce, 
acting through the Administrator of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration. 
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SEC. 3. NEAR REAL-TIME MONITORING AND MITIGATION 
PROGRAM FOR LARGE WHALES. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator, in coordi-
nation with the Secretary of the department in which the 
Coast Guard is operating, the Secretary of Defense, and 
the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agen-
cies, shall design and deploy a near real-time large whale 
monitoring and mitigation program (in this section re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Program’’). 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Program is to re-
duce the risk to large whales of vessel collisions and to 
minimize other impacts to such whales. 
(c) REQUIREMENTS.—The Program shall— 
(1) prioritize species of large whales for which 
vessel collision impacts are of particular concern; 
(2) prioritize areas where vessel impacts are of 
particular concern; 
(3) be capable of detecting and alerting ocean 
users and enforcement agencies of the probable loca-
tion of large whales on an actionable real-time basis, 
including real time data whenever possible; 
(4) inform sector-specific mitigation protocols 
to effectively reduce takes of large whales; 
(5) integrate technology improvements that will 
improve as appropriate; and 
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(6) be informed by the technologies, monitoring 
methods, and mitigation protocols developed pursu-
ant to the pilot program required in subsection (b). 
(d) PILOT PROJECT.— 
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—In carrying out sub-
section (a), the Administrator shall first establish a 
pilot monitoring and mitigation project for North 
Atlantic right whales for the purposes of informing 
a cost-effective, efficient, and results-oriented near 
real-time monitoring and mitigation program for 
large whales. 
(2) PILOT
PROJECT
REQUIREMENTS.—In de-
signing and deploying the pilot project under para-
graph (1), the Administrator and the Secretary of 
the department in which the Coast Guard is oper-
ating, in coordination with the heads of other rel-
evant Federal departments and agencies, shall, using 
best available scientific information, identify and en-
sure coverage of— 
(A) core foraging habitats of North Atlan-
tic right whales, including— 
(i) the South of the Islands core for-
aging habitat; 
(ii) the Cape Cod Bay Area core for-
aging habitat; 
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(iii) the Great South Channel core 
foraging habitat; and 
(iv) the Gulf of Maine; and 
(B) important feeding, breeding, calving, 
rearing, or migratory habitats of North Atlantic 
right whales that co-occur with areas of high 
risk of mortality, serious injury or other im-
pacts to such whales including from vessels or 
vessel strikes. 
(3) PILOT PROJECT COMPONENTS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Administrator, in consultation with the Sec-
retary of the department in which the Coast 
Guard is operating and with relevant Federal 
agencies, Tribal governments, and with input 
from affected stakeholders, shall design and de-
ploy a near real-time monitoring system for 
North Atlantic right whales that— 
(i) comprises the best available detec-
tion power, spatial coverage, and survey ef-
fort to detect and localize North Atlantic 
right whales within core foraging habitats; 
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