16 U.S.C. § 955 : US Code - Section 955: Secretary of State to act for United States

Search 16 U.S.C. § 955 : US Code - Section 955: Secretary of State to act for United States

(a) Approval of commission bylaws and rules; action on reports,
requests, and recommendations
The Secretary of State is authorized to approve or disapprove, on
behalf of the United States Government, bylaws and rules, or
amendments thereof, adopted by each commission and submitted for
approval of the United States Government in accordance with the
provisions of the conventions, and, with the concurrence of the
Secretary of Commerce, to approve or disapprove the general annual
programs of the commissions. The Secretary of State is further
authorized to receive, on behalf of the United States Government,
reports, requests, recommendations, and other communications of the
commissions, and to take appropriate action thereon either directly
or by reference to the appropriate authority.
(b) Regulations
Regulations recommended by each commission pursuant to the
convention requiring the submission to the commission of records of
operations by boat captains or other persons who participate in the
fisheries covered by the convention, upon the concurrent approval
of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce, shall be
promulgated by the latter and upon publication in the Federal
Register, shall be applicable to all vessels and persons subject to
the jurisdiction of the United States.
(c) Rulemaking procedures; prohibitions
Regulations required to carry out recommendations of the
commission made pursuant to paragraph 5 of article II of the
Convention for the Establishment of an Inter-American Tropical Tuna
Commission shall be promulgated as hereinafter provided by the
Secretary of Commerce upon approval of such recommendations by the
Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary of
Commerce shall cause to be published in the Federal Register a
general notice of proposed rulemaking and shall afford interested
persons an opportunity to participate in the rulemaking through (1)
submission of written data, views, or arguments, and (2) oral
presentation at a public hearing. Such regulations shall be
published in the Federal Register and shall be accompanied by a
statement of the considerations involved in the issuance of the
regulations. After publication in the Federal Register such
regulations shall be applicable to all vessels and persons subject
to the jurisdiction of the United States on such date as the
Secretary of Commerce shall prescribe, but in no event prior to an
agreed date for the application by all countries whose vessels
engage in fishing for species covered by the convention in the
regulatory area on a meaningful scale, in terms of effect upon the
success of the conservation program, of effective measures for the
implementation of the commission's recommendations applicable to
all vessels and persons subject to their respective jurisdictions.
The Secretary of Commerce shall suspend at any time the application
of any such regulations when, after consultation with the Secretary
of State and the United States Commissioners, he determines that
foreign fishing operations in the regulatory area are such as to
constitute a serious threat to the achievement of the objectives of
the commission's recommendations. The regulations thus promulgated
may include the selection for regulation of one or more of the
species covered by the convention; the division of the convention
waters into areas; the establishment of one or more open or closed
seasons as to each area; the limitation of the size of the fish and
quantity of the catch which may be taken from each area within any
season during which fishing is allowed; the limitation or
prohibition of the incidental catch of a regulated species which
may be retained, taken, possessed, or landed by vessels or persons
fishing for other species of fish; the requiring of such clearance
certificates for vessels as may be necessary to carry out the
purposes of the convention and this chapter; and such other
measures incidental thereto as the Secretary of Commerce may deem
necessary to implement the recommendations of the commission:
Provided, That upon the promulgation of any such regulations the
Secretary of Commerce shall promulgate additional regulations, with
the concurrence of the Secretary of State, which shall become
effective simultaneously with the application of the regulations
hereinbefore referred to (1) to prohibit the entry into the United
States, from any country when the vessels of such country are being
used in the conduct of fishing operations in the regulatory area in
such manner or in such circumstances as would tend to diminish the
effectiveness of the conservation recommendations of the
commission, of fish in any form of those species which are subject
to regulation pursuant to a recommendation of the commission and
which were taken from the regulatory area; and (2) to prohibit
entry into the United States, from any country, of fish in any form
of those species which are subject to regulation pursuant to a
recommendation of the commission and which were taken from the
regulatory area by vessels other than those of such country in such
manner or in such circumstances as would tend to diminish the
effectiveness of the conservation recommendations of the
commission. In the case of repeated and flagrant fishing operations
in the regulatory area by the vessels of any country which
seriously threaten the achievement of the objectives of the
commission's recommendations, the Secretary of Commerce, with the
concurrence of the Secretary of State, may, in his discretion, also
prohibit the entry from such country of such other species of tuna,
in any form, as may be under investigation by the commission and
which were taken in the regulatory area. The aforesaid prohibitions
shall continue until the Secretary of Commerce is satisfied that
the condition warranting the prohibition no longer exists, except
that all fish in any form of the species under regulation which
were previously prohibited from entry shall continue to be
prohibited from entry.