[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4261 Introduced in House (IH)]






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 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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 marine mammal 
        whose future survival is endangered. The United States Fish and 
        Wildlife Service estimated in 1992 that there were 1,856 
        Florida manatees. The Florida manatee is endangered primarily 
        because of habitat loss, collisions with watercraft, and more 
        recently, poisoning from harmful algae blooms commonly referred 
        to as red tide.
            (2) In 1982, 37 Florida manatees died from ingesting 
        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 Service (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 Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 
        1421c(b)) for responding 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 Protection.
            (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 Marine 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 recommendations of 
                actions to protect the Florida manatee from red tide 
                events.
            (2) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized 
        to be appropriated to the Marine Mammal Commission to carry out 
        this subsection $200,000.
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