Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance is a grant from the Department of the Interior, administered through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that funds organizations and researchers supporting the recovery, rehabilitation, and scientific study of sick, injured, or stranded marine mammals.

Eligible activities include emergency stranding response, medical treatment, data collection from stranded animals, facility operating costs, and network capacity building. Applicants must be active, authorized participants in a marine mammal stranding network under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, or state, tribal, or local government personnel. Federal obligations reached approximately $1,220,000 in 2026.

John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program T he John H.

Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program provides grants or cooperative agreements to eligible stranding network participants or stranding network collaborators to support: (A) the recovery, care, or treatment of sick, injured, or entangled marine mammals; (B) responses to marine mammal stranding events that require emergency assistance; (C) the collection of data and samples from living or dead stranded marine mammals for scientific research or assessments regarding marine mammal health; (D) facility operating costs that are directly related to activities described in (A), (B), or (C); and (E) development of stranding network capacity, including training for emergency response, where facilities do not exist or are sparse.

To date, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has awarded more than $7. 3 million in funding to conservation organizations and state agencies through the program. ​ The Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Act of 2000 amended the Marine Mammal Protection Act to establish the John H.

Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program. The goal of the program is to improve our nation’s ability to rescue, rehabilitate, and conserve marine mammals. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has distributed Prescott grants since 2001.

In 2020, Congress began allocating funds to the Service to implement the program. Funds provided under the program are distributed among the designated stranding regions. For the Service, this refers to the geographic regions where West Indian manatees, sea otters, Pacific walruses, and polar bears occur.

Eligible applicants are currently active, authorized marine mammal stranding participants or researchers. Eligible applicants must be: a participant in a marine mammal stranding network and in good standing; or state, local, or eligible federal government personnel or tribal personnel (pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act section 109(h) [16 U.S.C. 1379(h)]).

An applicant cannot be a current Department of the Interior or Department of Commerce employee. As required under the Prescott Grant Program (16 U.S.C. 1421f-1), priority is to be given to applications focusing on marine mammal strandings.

Funds provided under the program are distributed among the designated stranding regions. Proposals should be submitted through Grants. gov , the online portal to all federal grant opportunities.

Please note that you must be registered with Grants. gov in order to apply for funding online, and the registration process can take several days. See further information on how to register with Grants.

gov . Detailed guidance on how to prepare proposals is provided in the federal funding opportunity. This document should be read carefully to ensure that proposals meet eligibility requirements and are complete upon submission.

Complete instructions for preparing and submitting proposals are also available through Grants. gov . FY 2025 Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program – Status: CLOSED as of March 14, 2025 View the FY 2025 award notice here: full announcement.

Related Resources & Information John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program The John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program provides grants or cooperative agreements to eligible stranding network participants for: (1) recovery and treatment (i.e., rehabilitation) of stranded marine mammals; (2) data collection from living or dead stranded marine mammals...