User:Wannable0855/sandbox

= U.S. Marine Mammal Commission = The Marine Mammal Commission is an independent federal government agency that came as a result of Congress passing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) with the job of to conserving marine mammals and their environment. Their job is to ensure the restoration marine mammals as well as maintaining the elements that lead to healthy marine ecosystems for those ecosystems in all oceans. They provide science-based oversight of domestic and international policies and actions of federal agencies with mandates to address human impacts on marine mammals and their ecosystems. They are also the only federal government who is able to manage all the science as well as providing scientific insight to make decisions that affect marine mammals.

History
In the early 1970's the American public started to realize the potential loss of marine mammals around the world. Marine mammals were close to being extinct due to human activities such as industrial-scale commercial whaling. In response to the damage being done to marine mammals' populations as well as their environments, Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act which put the United States at the forefront of dealing with these issues that surrounded marine mammals.

Marine Mammal Protection Act
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was the first legislation to mandate an ecosystem-based approach to marine resource management. Under the MMPA, Congress directed that the primary objective of marine mammal management should be to maintain the health and stability of the marine ecosystem and, when consistent with that primary objective, to obtain and maintain optimum sustainable populations of marine mammals.

Functions of Marine Mammal Commission
They are positioned to affect the evolution of policy decisions and help develop consensus among competing interests on controversial issues surrounding marine mammal science and conservation. We review proposed actions by federal agencies and others and provide recommendations to minimize the impacts of such actions on marine mammals and their environment.


 * Reviewing permit and incidental take authorization applications, proposed regulations, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents (e.g., draft environmental assessments and impact statements), and Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing proposals;
 * Developing and/or reviewing marine mammal policy and guidance documents;
 * Producing periodic reports of particular importance to the conservation of marine mammals and maintenance of healthy ecosystems for Congress and relevant agencies;
 * Reviewing results of research, providing funding for research, and identifying significant gaps in research and seeking ways to close such gaps;
 * Participating in scientific and policy organizations and meetings, both domestic and international; and
 * Conducting the Commission’s Annual Meeting and producing reports on an annual basis highlighting the Commission’s performance and accomplishments.

Duties under the Marine Mammal Protection Act
The Commission is charged with the following seven duties, as defined under section 202 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA):


 * 1) Undertake a review and study of the activities of the United States pursuant to existing laws and international conventions relating to marine mammals including, but not limited to, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, the Whaling Convention Act of 1949, the Interim Convention on the Conservation of North Pacific Fur Seals, and the Fur Seal Act of 1966;
 * 2) Conduct a continuing review of the condition of the stocks of marine mammals, of methods for their protection and conservation, of humane means of taking marine mammals, of research programs conducted or proposed to be conducted under the authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and of all applications for permits for scientific research, public display, or enhancing the survival or recovery of a species or stock;
 * 3) Undertake or cause to be undertaken such other studies as it deems necessary or desirable in connection with its assigned duties as to the protection and conservation of marine mammals;
 * 4) Recommend to the Secretary [of Commerce or the Interior] and other federal officials such steps as it deems necessary or desirable for the protection and conservation of marine mammals;
 * 5) Recommend to the Secretary of State appropriate policies regarding existing international arrangements for the protection and conservation of marine mammals, and suggest appropriate international arrangements for the protection and conservation of marine mammals;
 * 6) Recommend to the Secretary [of Commerce or the Interior] such revisions of the endangered species list and threatened species list published pursuant to section 4(c)(1) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 as may be appropriate with regard to marine mammals; and
 * 7) Recommend to the Secretary [of Commerce or the Interior], other appropriate federal officials, and Congress such additional measures as it deems necessary or desirable to further the policies of the Act, including provisions for the protection of the Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts whose livelihood may be adversely affected by actions taken pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Cross-Agency Collaboration
The Commission helps coordinate multi-agency research and management initiatives with each other for helping the conservation and protection of marine mammals, they work most with the agencies that are directly affected by the MMPA. These agencies include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’ s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and National Ocean Service (NOS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) of the Department of Interior, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). We also work closely with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and other branches of the military on their activities that may impact marine mammals and their habitats.

Commission Priorities

 * A central focus of the Marine Mammal Commission is to restore and maintain healthy marine environments for marine mammals. They focus on marine mammal species and populations that are considered to be: most vulnerable to human activities, at greatest risk of extinction, or in greatest conflict with people. A detailed list of the species of concern are listed here.
 * The development of offshore energy resources has the ability to impact multiple components of the marine environment, but because the Marine Mammal Commission understands the impact of offshore energy the Marine Mammal Commission works to mitigate those effects to prevent harm to marine mammals and protect their environments.
 * The Marine Mammal Commission makes it a priority to ensure that threats to marine mammals, particularly those most at risk of extinction, are identified in the United States, in other nations, on the high seas, and virtually anywhere in the world. They support efforts to understand and reduce these threats in specific countries and through regional and multilateral scientific research and conservation. They also work to develop new connections and plans to ensure the protection and conservation of marine mammals worldwide.
 * Marine mammals can also be used as indicators of human health in marine environments due to the fact that they share a lot of similar bodily features with humans.
 * The Marine Mammal Commission is specifically responsible for recommending provisions that protect Alaskan Natives whose subsistence livelihoods depend upon marine mammals. Accordingly, the Marine Mammal Commission has a longstanding commitment to support the assessment and management of risks to marine mammals and subsistence communities in a changing Arctic.
 * The Marine Mammal Commission supports and strives to advance sustainable fisheries practices that minimize the impact to marine mammals and their environment. The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) establishes an extensive research and management framework for assessing and mitigating marine mammal bycatch in commercial fisheries.

Marine Mammal Commission Policies
The Marine Mammal Commission is committed to maintaining the integrity of, and promoting public trust in, the science used to inform policy decisions under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and related statutes. The Commission has established and follows specific measures to meet its commitment to scientific integrity. The MMPA assigns seven major duties to the Commission (16 U.S.C. § 1402(a)), nearly all of which involve gathering, compiling, evaluating, analyzing, interpreting, and/or reporting scientific information. The Commission uses such scientific information to conduct specific reviews and studies, and to formulate recommendations to other agencies, the Administration, and Congress.

The commission is committed to:


 * Ensuring a culture of scientific integrity
 * Strengthening the actual and perceived credibility of government research
 * Facilitating the free flow of scientific and technological information consistent with privacy and classification standards
 * Establishing principles for conveying scientific and technological information to the public