John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant

NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) is authorized under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to facilitate collecting and disseminating reference data on stranded marine mammals (cetaceans and pinnipeds, excluding walrus) and the health trends of marine mammal populations in the wild. The John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program is administered by NMFS to provide federal assistance to eligible members of the U.S. National Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the U.S. National Entanglement Response Network, and their collaborators to provide for: (A) the recovery, care, or treatment of sick, injured, or entangled marine mammals; (B) responses to marine mammal stranding events that require emergency assistance; (C) the collection of data and samples from living or dead stranded marine mammals for scientific research or assessments regarding marine mammal health; (D) facility operating costs that are directly related to activities described in (A), (B), or (C); and (E) development of stranding network capacity, including training for emergency response, where facilities do not exist or are sparse. This document describes how to submit proposals for funding under this competition and how NMFS will review and determine which proposals are selected for funding.