On November 4, 1992, the President signed into law the Marine Mammal Health and stranding Response Act (P.L. 102-587), which establishes the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) , the purposes of which are to: (1) facilitate the collection and dissemination of reference data on the health of marine mammals and health trends in marine mammal populations in the wild; (2) correlate the health of marine mammals and marine mammal populations, in the wild, with available data on physical, chemical, and biological environmental parameters; and (3) coordinate effective responses to unusual mortality events. Although the law establishing the MMHSRP is new, components forming the basic framework of this Program are not new, being formulated in the late 1980's. These are: the Stranding Network, the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank (NMMTB), the Monitoring Component, and the Quality Assurance (QA) Component for chemical analysis. Regarding the Stranding Network, a number of administrative actions have been taken by NMFS to ensure consistency among the Regional Stranding Networks and funds for training and basic supplies has been made available. The NMMTB provides a resource of selected marine mammal tissues that can be used for retrospective analyses of long-term trends in environmental quality. The Monitoring Component is building a baseline database on concentrations of chemical contaminants, biochemical components and biotoxins in marine mammals. It is also conducting investigations that will be used to develop guidelines for minimizing tissue sample variability. Tied directly to the chemical analyses, is the QA Component, which is designed to insure the accuracy, precision, level of detection, and intercomparability of data resulting from chemical analyses of marine mammal tissues. In addition to giving statutory authority to these ongoing activities, P.L. 102-587 has identified some new Program tasks, including: the development and implementation of a National Contingency Plan for mortalities, and the development of an extensive computerized database on marine mammal health. The Act covers species under the authority of both NMFS and the FWS; therefore, coordination between both of these agencies will be required in the further development of the Program.