The incident involving moss balls elicited calls for action at local, state, tribal, regional, national, and international levels to: stop the importation of zebra mussel contaminated moss ball products into the United States, locate and dispose of existing contaminated products in the U.S. supply chain, and conduct outreach to industry and home aquarists to prevent the release of zebra mussels into the environment.
The response provides a unique opportunity to review, evaluate, and recommend strategies to prevent and to rapidly respond to the introduction, establishment, and spread of AIS in the waters of the United States. Accordingly, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS or Service) requests proposals to conduct an assessment and draft an after-action report for the Marimo moss ball incident that is national in scope to evaluate the effectiveness and timeliness of actions taken and provide recommendations for future actions needed to mitigate risk and improve preparedness for response.
It is anticipated that the work will be completed through a cooperative agreement with the Service. Service staff will be substantially involved throughout the assessment to provide details about the response, to provide additional points of contact, and access to additional documents that may be needed to adequately assess the moss ball response. However, it is expected that the grantee will draft the report and develop conclusions and recommendations independently.
Deadline: April 29, 2022