National Contingency Plan for Response to Unusual Marine Mammal Mortality Events

摘要

The Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Act requires the preparation of a contingency plan for response to unusal marine mammal mortality events. Such events may be caused by a variety of factors including: oil discharges and releases of anthropogenic chemicals$ naturally occurring biotoxins$ changes in environmental conditions$ and infectious agents. Mortality events also vary in their characteristics. The cause may be known or not known. There may be live marine mammals requiring care or only dead animals on the beaches. Depending on the type of event and characteristics, the appropriate response will vary, and a contingency plan must be sufficiently broad to provide for a response to a wide variety of circumstances.