The Marine Mammal Commission aims to restore and maintain marine mammal populations as significant, functioning elements of healthy marine ecosystems, as mandated by the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The Commission's work addresses various stressors including pollution, habitat loss, overfishing, noise, and vessel traffic, alongside the impacts of climate change, such as warming seas and ocean acidification, which threaten marine mammal health and marine ecosystems.
The grant focuses on advancing our understanding of how environmental factors, especially those affected by climate change, influence the health of marine mammal populations. It seeks proposals for projects that monitor and assess marine mammal health indicators or outcomes including body condition, organ status, immune status, and infectious disease. The grant encourages the use of long-term data, innovative tools for health assessment, and studies on the impact of climate change-driven environmental factors like prey availability, HAB toxins, and changes in temperature or salinity on marine mammal health. Additionally, it strongly supports increasing the inclusion or representation of people from underserved groups in marine mammal science.