Sponsors (9)
Requires NOAA to list marine mammals harmed by climate change, create management plans with monitoring and interagency coordination, and provides multi-year funding.
The bill strengthens climate-informed protection and monitoring for at-risk marine mammals with dedicated funding and interagency coordination, but does so at added federal cost and with potential burdens on fishers, coastal development, agency capacity, and stakeholder legal clarity.
Coastal and rural communities and marine species: NOAA must identify marine mammal stocks most at risk from climate change and integrate climate impacts into stock assessments and recovery planning, enabling more targeted, precautionary conservation measures and improved long-term species recovery.
Fisheries managers and resource managers: Establishes a monitoring program with clear decline triggers (e.g., 20% over 20 years) to provide earlier warnings of population loss and allow timely management responses.
Federal, state, and local agencies and conservation partners: Requires other federal agencies to use their authorities to avoid conflicts with marine mammal plans, improving coordination across fisheries, habitat protection, and development decisions.
Commercial fishers, coastal businesses, and rural communities: New precautionary limits and other conservation measures could impose operational restrictions and added costs on fishing operations and related local economies.
Federal agencies and staff: Tight deadlines and new procedural requirements may strain agency capacity and could lead to rushed rulemaking or uneven implementation that leaves some species or regions inadequately addressed.
Local governments, developers, and small businesses: Mandates to avoid conflicts with marine mammal plans can complicate permitting for infrastructure and coastal projects, causing delays and higher project costs.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish a climate impact management plan for the conservation of certain marine mammal species, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 27, 2026 by Julia Brownley · Last progress April 27, 2026
Requires NOAA to identify marine mammal species and stocks in U.S. waters that are likely to be harmed by climate change and to prepare, publish, and implement climate impact management plans for those species. Sets timelines and public notice-and-comment requirements, creates monitoring and listing-rule processes, directs other federal agencies to avoid conflicting actions, allows international coordination, and authorizes multi-year funding for NOAA, the Department of the Interior, and the Marine Mammal Commission.