Notes on 16 U.S.C. § 916 : US Code - Notes

Search Notes on 16 U.S.C. § 916 : US Code - Notes

(Aug. 9, 1950, ch. 653, Sec. 2, 64 Stat. 421; 1970 Reorg. Plan No.
4, eff. Oct. 3, 1970, 35 F.R. 15627, 84 Stat. 2090.)
SHORT TITLE
Section 1 of act Aug. 9, 1950, provided: "That this Act [enacting
this subchapter] may be cited as the 'Whaling Convention Act of
1949'."
SEPARABILITY
Section 15 of act Aug. 9, 1950, provided that: "If any provision
of this Act [this subchapter] or the application of such provisions
to any circumstances or persons shall be held invalid, the validity
of the remainder of the Act and the applicability of such provision
to other circumstances or persons shall not be affected thereby."
TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS
In subsec. (l), "Secretary of Commerce" substituted for
"Secretary of the Interior" in view of: creation of National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Department of Commerce
and Office of Administrator of such Administration; abolition of
Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in Department of the Interior and
Office of Director of such Bureau; transfers of functions,
including functions formerly vested by law in Secretary of the
Interior or Department of the Interior which were administered
through Bureau of Commercial Fisheries or were primarily related to
such Bureau, exclusive of certain enumerated functions with respect
to Great Lakes fishery research, Missouri River Reservoir research,
Gulf Breeze Biological Laboratory, and Trans-Alaska pipeline
investigations; and transfer of marine sport fish program of Bureau
of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife by Reorg. Plan No. 4 of 1970, eff.
Oct. 3, 1970, 35 F.R. 15627, 84 Stat. 2090, set out in the Appendix
to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
WILDLIFE SANCTUARY FOR HUMPBACK WHALES IN WEST INDIES
Pub. L. 99-630, Nov. 7, 1986, 100 Stat. 3514, provided: "That the
President shall, in concert with the International Whaling
Commission, seek a treaty or other appropriate international
agreement establishing a wildlife sanctuary for humpback whales in
the West Indies, in the area encompassing the Turks Islands,
Mouchoir Passage, Silver Bank Passage, Navidad Bank, and such
additional areas in the West Indies as may be necessary to ensure
the protection of the breeding grounds of the humpback whales."
MORATORIUM ON COMMERCIAL KILLING OF WHALES
Pub. L. 96-60, title IV, Sec. 405, Aug. 15, 1979, 93 Stat. 403,
provided that:
"(a) The Congress finds and declares that -
"(1) whales are a unique marine resource of great esthetic and
scientific interest to mankind and are a vital part of the marine
ecosystem;
"(2) the protection and conservation of whales are of
particular interest to citizens of the United States;
"(3) in 1971 the Congress adopted resolutions requesting the
Secretary of State to negotiate a ten-year moratorium on the
commercial killing of whales;
"(4) the United States, which effectively banned all commercial
whaling by United States nationals in December 1971, has sought
an international moratorium on the commercial killing of whales
since 1972;
"(5) the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
adopted a resolution in 1972 calling for a ten-year moratorium on
commercial whaling;
"(6) the United Nations Governing Council for Environment
Programs in 1973 and 1974 confirmed such call for a ten-year
moratorium, and the Council continues to support ongoing efforts
relating to whale conservation;
"(7) the International Convention for the Regulation of
Whaling, signed in 1946, as implemented by the International
Whaling Commission, is not providing adequate protection to
whales;
"(8) the data-gathering structure established under the
International Whaling Commission has not provided all the
available data necessary for sound whale conservation;
"(9) there is strong evidence that the members of the
International Whaling Commission continue to import, in some
instances in increasing amounts, whale products from countries
not members of the Commission; and
"(10) defects in the implementation of the International
Convention for the Regulation of Whaling by the International
Whaling Commission allow harvests of the declining whale species.
"(b) The Congress urges -
"(1) the International Whaling Commission to agree to a
moratorium on the commercial killing of whales; and
"(2) Brazil, Denmark, Iceland, Japan, Norway, the Soviet Union,
and the Republic of Korea, as parties to the International
Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and which still engage
in commercial whaling, and Chile, the People's Republic of China,
Peru, Portugal, the Democratic Republic of Korea, Spain, and
Taiwan, as countries which are not parties to the Convention and
which still engage in commercial whaling, to recognize and comply
voluntarily with a moratorium on the commercial killing of
whales, as endorsed by the United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment and the United Nations Governing Council for
Environment Programs."