The Commission's Research Program

The Marine Mammal Commission carries out a small research program that supports projects aimed at meeting the conservation and protection goals of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Commission’s research program includes all relevant activities including basic and applied research, workshops, literature reviews, compilation of expert opinion, and drafting manuscripts. The research program is administered by the Commission’s Scientific Program staff in consultation with a research subcommittee composed of members of the Commission and the Committee of Scientific Advisors on Marine Mammals. Click here for more information.

Research Priorities

The research program awards grants based on proposals submitted in response to general Requests for Proposals (RFPs), unsolicited proposals, and specific research topics identified by the Commission. The amount of funds available varies from year to year, depending on the level of congressional appropriations. Since it was established in 1972, the Commission has supported more than 1,000 projects. Final reports of most Commission-sponsored studies are available from the National Technical Information Service or directly from the Commission, and many studies have led to publication in books or scientific journals.

The Commission encourages the submission of proposals for innovative and well-designed projects that address important conservation issues for marine mammals or marine ecosystems but that may be unlikely to obtain funding through traditional research agencies. On occasion, the Commission provides start-up or seed money for promising research projects that, once proven feasible, may be supported later by other federal agencies. The Commission encourages applicants to obtain additional support by collaborating with, or soliciting funds from, other institutions, organizations, or agencies.

Funding Opportunities

Current Solicitation: The Marine Mammal Commission is not actively soliciting proposals at this time.

Unsolicited Proposals: At any time, persons or parties seeking support from the Marine Mammal Commission may submit proposals on topics relevant to marine mammal conservation or science. However, for Fiscal Year 2012 (ending 30 September 2012) the Commission does not have sufficient resources to warrant a formal review of unsolicited proposals. Depending on circumstances in Fiscal Year 2013, the Commission may consider and review unsolicited proposals, but does not expect to do so before January 2013 at the earliest. Proposals submitted in the interim will be held until the Commission has sufficient resources for a formal review. For information on proposal format, click here.

Potential applicants are encouraged to contact Samantha Simmons, Ph.D., Assistant Scientific Program Director, by (ssimmons@mmc.gov) or telephone (301-504-0087) before developing a full, formal proposal. During a review, all proposals that meet minimum criteria will be reviewed by the Commission's staff, Committee of Scientific Advisors on Marine Mammals, Commissioners, and as necessary external experts. The Commission will choose reviewers based on their expertise and assurance that they have no conflict of interest with the proposed activities. The Commission will maintain the confidentiality of all proposals.

Proposal Format

The proposal body must not exceed a maximum of eight pages, single-sided (four pages, double- sided) using 12-point font, exclusive of cover page, bibliography, budget pages, curricula vitae, and supporting materials.

Cover Page: The Cover Page shall include the following information, in any format:

Title:The full title of the proposal. A shorter running title is optional.
Keywords (optional): A list of three to six keywords, indicating species, regions, research methods, or disciplinary areas of effort.
Principal Investigator (PI): Please list only one (corresponding) principal investigator even if your proposal team consists of two or more co-equal investigators and institutions (also see instructions for Curricula Vitae).
PI Contact Information: Address, phone, and e-mail for the principal investigator
Financial Point of Contact (POC): An individual (with or without institutional affiliation, as appropriate) who will be responsible for contractual and fiscal matters. This may or may not be the same individual and institution listed as principal investigator.
Financial POC Information: Address, phone, and e-mail.

Proposal Body (suggested format)

Abstract (optional): Provide an abstract of the proposal summarizing the problem or question to be addressed, the methods to be used to address the problem or question, possible outcomes of the work, and the utility of the research for advancing science and management related to marine mammals. Please limit the abstract to 200 words.
Introduction, Background, or Problem Statement: Provide a review of past related effort by the research team or others. Indicate knowledge gaps, shortfalls of prior efforts, or challenges to further progress and describe how the proposed effort will address these issues.
Goals and Objectives: Provide statements of both the general or broad goal of the proposed research and the specific objectives that will be addressed within the scope of this proposal to make progress toward that goal.
Methods: Provide a detailed description of the methods of the investigation so that the reviewer can understand how you will address each of the specific objectives. If you are not conducting original research but are developing a workshop, review panel or other activity, describe the nature of the activity, the planned agenda or working format, likely attendees/participants, and tentative dates and location of the planned activity.
Anticipated Outcomes: Describe the short-term outcomes, those anticipated to occur within the scope of effort and time span of the proposed project (e.g. completion of a workshop report, one or more peer-reviewed journal articles, an equipment prototype and report).
Research and Management Utility (Long-Term Outcome): o Research and Management Utility (Long-term Outcome): Describe the anticipated long-term utility of the project and its implications for future research, management, or conservation activities.

Budget and Time Line: Although there is no specified format for the budget pages, this section should provide sufficient detail to inform the reviewer of expenses or costs by general category (salary, equipment, supplies, travel, publication, overhead, miscellaneous) and by subtasks within the proposed effort, as appropriate. Include information on other sources of funding for the project, if applicable. For multi-year or multi-stage projects, include a timetable for completion of each phase as a means of gauging progress toward completion of the full proposed effort.

Curricula Vitae, Research Team Qualifications: Provide a curriculum vitae or short biography of no more than two pages for all key members of the proposal team (those individuals whose unique background and experience are essential to completion of the project), including their experience or expertise related to the subject proposal. Although there can only be one corresponding principal investigator (see Title Page guidance), multiple co-investigators can be included in this portion of the proposal, if desired.

Supporting Materials: Supporting materials such as recent publications, short descriptions of relevant work in progress or recently completed, organization charts or time lines will be accepted but should be limited to information absolutely essential to understanding the significance, approach, and context of the proposed work. It is highly recommended that supporting materials be limited to fewer than 30 pages or 5 Mb: the more material provided, the less likely it is to be used by the reviewers in developing their evaluations.

Submission process: Proposals should be submitted electronically in MS Word, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF format to the Research Program Officer, Marine Mammal Commission, e-mail address rpo@mmc.gov.

Policy on Indirect Costs

Due to the limited amount of funds available for research awards and the nature of the Commission's goals and responsibilities, the Marine Mammal Commission has traditionally limited indirect costs for research grants and contracts awarded by the Commission to 10 percent of the total award. Indirect costs, or overhead, include, but are not limited to, operation and maintenance of facilities, general and departmental administration, and library expenses. Although the Commission recognizes the costs associated with the maintenance of research programs and the institutions that support them, the Commission believes it is necessary to limit its contributions to indirect costs to meet the unique and broad goals of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Recent Grant Awards

Research Proposals Funded Under the Commission's FY2009 Solicitation Through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Category: Marine mammals and climate change in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea

Holger Klinck, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University: Passive acoustic monitoring of the Arctic

Category: Calibration of new methods for surveying marine mammals

Charles Scott Baker, Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University: Populations of Hector's dolphins in time and spaces

Category: Alternative observer coverage for marine mammal species at high risk from fishery interactions

Brian Warren Kot, Mingan Island Cetacean Study, Inc.: Risks and impacts of crab fishing gear on minke whales

Category: Building capacity for marine mammal research and conservation in the Caribbean Region

Rachel E. Allen, United Nations Environment Program- Caribbean Environment Program: Improving capacity in the Wider Caribbean Region

Category: Assessment and conservation of sirenians

Vic Cockcroft, Centre for Dolphin Studies, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa: Dugongs of the Bazaruto Archipelago, Central Mozambique
Lucy Ward Keith, Wildlife Trust, Inc.: Status and conservation of the West African manatee

Projects Funded by the Commission in Fiscal Year 2010

Project Title	Principal Investigator	Organization
Compilation and analyses of photographs of Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong River	Beasley, I.	Isabel Beasley
Quest for the mating ground of the North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of Maine	Brown, M.	New England Aquarium
Photo-identification catalogue of killer whales (Orcinus orca) of the Russian Far East: 2001 to 2008	Burkanov, V., and T. Shulezhko	North Pacific Wildlife Consulting
Support for translation services at the Sixth International Conference of Marine Mammals of the Holarctic	Burkanov, V., and J. Bengtson, Organizing Committee	North Pacific Wildlife Consulting
Support for translation of the monograph “Cetaceans of the Southern Hemisphere: Biology and the prospect of population recovery”	Burkanov, V., and Y. Mikhalev	North Pacific Wildlife Consulting
Monitoring and predicting abundance of endangered and threatened marine mammal populations	Eberhardt, L.	L. Lee Eberhardt
Development of criteria for assessing marine mammal status using population viability analysis	Goodman, D.	Montana State University
Support for publication of Right Whale News	Hain, J.	Associated Scientists at Woods Hole
Passive acoustic monitoring in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico	Hildebrand, J.	Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of Califorrnia at San Diego
Attaining operational marine biodiversity operations: A workshop to determine the status of current abilities and scope future solutions	Hubler, J., and R. Beach	Consortium for Ocean Leadership
Quantifying the effects of human interactions on spinner dolphins in resting bays in Hawaii and assessing the effectiveness of time-area closures as a proposed mitigation approach	Johnston, D.	Duke University
Genetic status of the critically endangered Mediterranean monk seal: Development of a genetic research protocol and preliminary assessment of the status of the species in the eastern Mediterranean Sea	Karamanlidis, A.	MOm/Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal
Condition of gray seal pups from a rapidly growing breeding population on Muskeget Island, Massachusetts	Ono, K.	University of New England
Assessing changing habitats of ice-dependent marine mammals of Beringia	Ray, C.	University of Virginia
The "whale pump": Marine mammals and primary productivity in the Bay of Fundy	Roman, J.	University of Vermont
A workshop on estimating abundance of estuarine populations of bottlenose dolphins	Rosel, P.	National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center
Why are so many right whales dying at Peninsula Valdes, Argentina?	Rowntree, V.	Ocean Alliance, Inc.
Support of the Fifth International Marine Debris Conference	Tinning, M.	Ocean Conservancy
Facilitating effective polar bear conservation: Developing a pan-arctic integrated polar bear research and monitoring plan	Vongraven, D.	CAFF International Secretariat
Support of the Second Annual Meeting of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences	Wallace, R.	Lewis and Clark College
Support and maintenance of the data collection system for the Survey of Federally Funded Research	Martin, C.	Washington Consulting

Projects Funded by the Commission in Fiscal 2009

Project Title	Principal Investigator	Organization
Support and maintenance of the data collection system for the Survey of Federally Funded Research	Greenberg, B.	Washington Consulting Government Services
An Ocean Infrastructure Strategy for U.S. Ocean Research in 2030	Glickson, D.	The National Academy of Sciences, Ocean Studies Board
A review of false killer whales in Hawaiian waters: Biology, status, and risk factors	Baird, R.	Cascadia Research Collective
Transient killer whale predation in southeastern Alaska	Matkin, D.	Dena Matkin
Second International Conference on the Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life	Popper, A., and A. Hawkins, Organizing Committee	University of Maryland
Partnership with Conservation Magazine	Kohm, K.	Society for Conservation Biology
Support for publication of Right Whale News	Hain, J.	Associated Scientists at Woods Hole
Support for the 18th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Quebec City, Canada, 12-16 October 2009	Read, A.	The Society for Marine Mammalogy
Support for final report of the Antarctic Treaty Summit: Science-Policy Interactions in International Governance	Berkman, P.	University of California, Santa Barbara
Vaquita.tv - A science communication initiative using educational multimedia to promote vaquita conservation	Johnson, C.	EarthOCEAN Media
Analyses of acoustic data from Vaquita Expedition 2008	Taylor, B.	National Marine Fisheries Service
Southern Caribbean marine mammal stranding response training workshop	Hoetjes, P.	Southern Caribbean Cetacean Network
Pilot whale tagging in the southern Caribbean	Kieffer, G.	Southern Caribbean Cetacean Network
Building partnerships for long-term ecological monitoring of marine mammals in the Galapagos Islands and in other marine reserves in Ecuador	Biggs, D.	Texas A&M University
Improving the contribution of marine and other aquatic protected areas to the conservation of sirenians	Self-Sullivan, C.	Sirenian International, Inc.
Conservation and management of the Indus River dolphin	Braulik, G.	Gill Braulik
Support to print the report on the first study of the diversity, distribution and abundance of cetaceans in Guatemala’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the Pacific Ocean	Quintana-Rizzo, E.	Ester Quintana-Rizzo
Workshop on establishing protected areas for Asian freshwater cetaceans, East Kalimantan, Indonesia: Freshwater cetaceans as flagship species for integrated river conservation management	Kreb, D.	Conservation Foundation for Rare Aquatic Species of Indonesia (YK-Rasi)
Indian Ocean Cetacean Symposium 2009	Anderson, R. C.	Marine Research Centre, Republic of Maldives
Investigating the trophic ecology and niche partitioning of two top predators of the western Antarctica Peninsula, the southern elephant seal and crabeater seal: Insights from bulk tissue and compound-specific stable isotope analyses	Huckstadt, L., and D. Costa	University of California, Santa Cruz

Projects Funded by the Commission in Fiscal 2008

Project Title	Principal Investigator	Organization
Genetic differentiation, individual dispersal and effective population size of the New Zealand Hector's and Maui's dolphins: Implications for management	Baker, C.S.	Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University
Marine mammal fishery interactions: Assessing the effects of a gillnet ban on bottlenose dolphins from two Florida resident populations	Barros, N.	Chicago Zoological Society
Translation services at the Fifth International Conference on Marine Mammals of the Holarctic	Bengtson, J., and V. Burkanov, Organizing Committee	North Pacific Wildlife Consulting
Support for publication of the monograph "Cetaceans of the Southern Hemisphere: Biology and the prospect of population recovery"	Burkanov, V.	North Pacific Wildlife Consulting
Ecological studies of sea otters in the Commander Islands, Russia	Estes, J.	University of California, Santa Cruz
Workshop to develop a strategic plan for a cooperative disease center for marine animal health	Goldstein, T.	University of California, Davis
Status and conservation of the Cook Inlet beluga whale and development of criteria for assessing marine mammal status and using population viability analysis	Goodman, D.	Montana State University
Development and system support of the Marine Mammal Commission's Survey of Federally-Funded Research	Greenberg, B.	Alion Science & Technology, Washington Consulting Government Services
Non-lethal deterrence efforts to minimize pinniped-fishery interactions at Gold Beach, Oregon	Griffin, G.	Port of Gold Beach
Arctic Council working group meetings in 2008: Participation in the Arctic Council's Twelfth Biennial Meeting of the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group (CAFF XII) and reporting on the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) working group meetings	Huntington, H.	Huntington Consulting
Review of the Okhotsk Sea bowhead whale population	Ivashchenko, Y.	Seastar Scientific
Review of offshore oil and gas industry activities occurring at present and areas of interest for the next decade	Ray, J.	Oceanic Environmental Solutions, LLC
Support for meeting of IUCN/SSC Pinniped Specialist Group and development of Pinniped Action Plan	Kovacs, K.	International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Marine mammal consumption of key prey fishes and invertebrates in the northeast United States: Modeling, magnitude and sensitivity analysis	Link, J.	National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Human dimensions of marine mammal management in the Arctic: Implications for policy in a changing North	Lovecraft, A.L., and C. Meek	University of Alaska Fairbanks
Research on northern sea otters in Washington state: Health and Stranding Response Program and Oil Spill Response Plan	Lynch, D.	U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, Western Washington Office
Transient killer whale predation in southeastern Alaska	Matkin, D.	North Gulf Oceanic Society
Second International Conference on Acoustic Communication by Animals	Mellinger, D.	Oregon State University
Gray seal tagging on Muskeget Island, Massachusetts	Ono, K.	University of New England
A new species of beaked whale at Palmyra Island?	Pitman, R.	National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries
Publication and distribution of Sirenews (2008 - 2012)	Powell, J.A.	Sea to Shore Alliance, Inc.
An uncertainty analysis based on a modified PBR equation to assess relative risk of marine mammal stocks to indirect effects of fishing	Read, A., and J. Moore	Duke University
Foraging behavior and dietary preferences of the South American sea lion, Otaria flavescens: Resource competition with artisanal and coastal bottom trawl fisheries in Uruguay?	Riet Sapriza, F.	Cetaceos Uruguay
An integrated approach to community-based monitoring of killer whales around the Pribilof Islands, Alaska	Robson, B., and K. Holser	St. George Island Institute
Improving acoustic survey methods for detecting the highly endangered vaquita	Rojas-Bracho, L.	Oceanides Conservacion y Desarrollo Marino, A.C.
Bringing the knowledge of fishermen to bear on developing conservation strategies to reduce bycatch of Atlantic white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhyncus acutus) in the northwest Atlantic bottom trawl fishery	Rosenberg, A., and E. Zollett	University of New Hampshire
Southern right whale stranding response at Peninsula Valdes: Monitoring right whale health and building Argentine capacity	Rowntree, V.	Whale Conservation Institute/ Ocean Alliance
"Historical Perspectives": A new feature of the journal Aquatic Mammals	Thomas, J.	Aquatic Mammals
Why did the Yangtze River dolphin become extinct?: Identifying extinction drivers and causes of conservation failure	Turvey, S.	Zoological Society of London

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