16 U.S.C. § 1826d
The United States, or any agency or official acting on behalf of the United States, may not enter into any international agreement with respect to the conservation and management of living marine resources or the use of the high seas by fishing vessels that would prevent full implementation of the global moratorium on large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas, as such moratorium is expressed in Resolution 46/215 of the United Nations General Assembly.
16 U.S.C. § 1826d
EDITORIAL NOTES
CODIFICATIONSection was enacted as part of the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act, and also as part of the Fisheries Act of 1995, and not as part of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act which comprises this chapter.
STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES
CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS Pub. L. 104-43, title VI, §602, Nov. 3, 1995, 109 Stat. 391, provided that: "The Congress finds that-"(1) Congress has enacted and the President has signed into law numerous Acts to control or prohibit large-scale driftnet fishing both within the jurisdiction of the United States and beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation, including the Driftnet Impact Monitoring, Assessment, and Control Act of 1987 (title IV, Public Law 100-220) [16 U.S.C. 1822 note], the Driftnet Act Amendments of 1990 (Public Law 101-627) [16 U.S.C. 1826], and the High Seas Driftnet Fisheries Enforcement Act (title I, Public Law 102-582) [see Short Title of 1992 Amendment note set out under section 1801 of this title];"(2) the United States is a party to the Convention for the Prohibition of Fishing with Long Driftnets in the South Pacific, also known as the Wellington Convention; "(3) the General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted three resolutions and three decisions which established and reaffirm a global moratorium on large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas, beginning with Resolution 44/225 in 1989 and most recently in Decision 48/445 in 1993;"(4) the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted these resolutions and decisions at the request of the United States and other concerned nations;"(5) the best scientific information demonstrates the wastefulness and potentially destructive impacts of large-scale driftnet fishing on living marine resources and seabirds; and"(6) Resolution 46/215 of the United Nations General Assembly calls on all nations, both individually and collectively, to prevent large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas."
- conservation and management
- The term "conservation and management" refers to all of the rules, regulations, conditions, methods, and other measures (A) which are required to rebuild, restore, or maintain, and which are useful in rebuilding, restoring, or maintaining, any fishery resource and the marine environment; and (B) which are designed to assure that-(i) a supply of food and other products may be taken, and that recreational benefits may be obtained, on a continuing basis;(ii) irreversible or long-term adverse effects on fishery resources and the marine environment are avoided; and(iii) there will be a multiplicity of options available with respect to future uses of these resources.
- exclusive economic zone
- The term "exclusive economic zone" means the zone established by Proclamation Numbered 5030, dated March 10, 1983. For purposes of applying this chapter, the inner boundary of that zone is a line coterminous with the seaward boundary of each of the coastal States.
- fishery
- The term "fishery" means-(A) one or more stocks of fish which can be treated as a unit for purposes of conservation and management and which are identified on the basis of geographical, scientific, technical, recreational, and economic characteristics; and(B) any fishing for such stocks.
- fishing
- The term "fishing" means-(A) the catching, taking, or harvesting of fish;(B) the attempted catching, taking, or harvesting of fish;(C) any other activity which can reasonably be expected to result in the catching, taking, or harvesting of fish; or(D) any operations at sea in support of, or in preparation for, any activity described in subparagraphs (A) through (C).Such term does not include any scientific research activity which is conducted by a scientific research vessel.
- high seas
- The term "high seas" means all waters beyond the territorial sea of the United States and beyond any foreign nation's territorial sea, to the extent that such sea is recognized by the United States.
- large-scale driftnet fishing
- The term "large-scale driftnet fishing" means a method of fishing in which a gillnet composed of a panel or panels of webbing, or a series of such gillnets, with a total length of two and one-half kilometers or more, or with a mesh size of 14 inches or greater, is placed in the water and allowed to drift with the currents and winds for the purpose of entangling fish in the webbing.