MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1992 
Legislation 
On 4 November 1992 the Oceans Act of 1992 
(Pub. L. 102-587) was signed into law. Title III of 
that Act, the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding 
Response Act, added a new title to the Marine Mam- 
mal Protection Act. In large part, Congress passed 
the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response 
Act for two main reasons: (1) the concern that the 
understanding of the connection between marine 
mammal health and the various components of the 
marine environment is currently insufficient to allow 
an adequate understanding of the causes of unusual 
marine mammal mortality events, and (2) the concern 
that responses to unusual marine mammal mortality 
events are often uncoordinated due to insufficient 
contingency planning. 
To address these problems, the Act requires the 
Secretary of Commerce to establish a “Marine Mam- 
mal Health and Stranding Response Program.” The 
program has three primary purposes: (1) to facilitate 
the collection and dissemination of data on the health 
and health trends of marine mammals in the wild; 
(2) to correlate the data on marine mammal health 
with available data on physical, chemical, and biologi- 
cal environmental parameters; and (3) to coordinate 
effective responses to unusual mortality events. 
Among other things, the Secretary is directed to 
collect and update information on procedures for 
rescuing and rehabilitating stranded marine mammals 
and for collecting, preserving, and ensuring the 
integrity of marine mammal tissue specimens. In 
consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, the 
Marine Mammal Commission, and others knowl- 
edgeable about marine mammals, the Secretary is also 
required to develop objective criteria for determining 
the point at which a rehabilitated marine mammal can 
be returned to the wild. 
Other duties of the Secretary include compiling and 
analyzing, on a regional basis, information on strand- 
ed marine mammals, including the species and num- 
bers involved, the condition of the animals, and the 
causes of any illnesses or deaths. Most, if not all of 
the Secretary’s responsibilities under the program, are 
expected to be carried out by the National Marine 
Fisheries Service’s Office of Protected Resources. 
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To improve responses to unusual marine mammal 
mortalities, the Act directs the Secretary of Com- 
merce, in consultation with the Secretary of the 
Interior, to establish an expert working group. The 
working group is expected to provide advice and 
guidance for determining when unusual mortality 
events are occurring, for developing a contingency 
plan to respond to such events, and for determining 
when actions taken in response to unusual mortalities 
are no longer needed. Based upon the advice of the 
working group, the Secretary is to publish by 4 May 
1994 a proposed contingency plan for responding to 
unusual marine mammal mortalities for public review 
and comment. A final plan is to be completed by 4 
November 1994. 
The plan shall include a list of those persons who 
can assist in implementing a coordinated response to 
an unusual mortality event; the types of tissues to be 
collected and the analyses to be done to assist in 
diagnosing the cause or causes of the unusual mortali- 
ty event; procedures for training, mobilizing, and 
using personnel to provide for a rapid and effective 
response to unusual mortalities; and those actions 
needed to respond to an unusual mortality event, 
including actions designed to minimize the deaths of 
marine mammals, to identify the cause or causes of 
the event, and to determine the effects of the event on 
the affected populations. 
In the event of an unusual marine mammal mor- 
tality event, the Secretary is to designate one or more 
on-site coordinators to direct and coordinate the 
response. In general, the response is to be carried out 
in accordance with the contingency plan, and the on- 
site coordinator is expected to use his or her best 
professional judgment with respect to matters not 
covered in the contingency plan. 
The Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Re- 
sponse Act also formalizes the establishment of a 
National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank. The tissue 
bank, which the National Marine Fisheries Service 
began developing after the 1987-1988 east coast die- 
off of bottlenose dolphins, is to contain representative 
tissue samples collected from marine mammals 
involved in unusual mortality events, taken incidental 
to commercial fisheries, or taken by Alaska Natives 
for subsistence purposes. The Secretary of Commerce 
