§1373 Regulations on Taking of Marine Mammals

Summary

The Secretary must make rules about taking and importing marine mammals. Those rules must be based on the best scientific evidence and made after talking with the Marine Mammal Commission. The Secretary must consider things like effects on current and future population levels, U.S. international treaty obligations, the marine ecosystem, how fisheries are managed and used, and whether the rules are economically and technically possible. Rules can limit the number taken or imported each year (through permits), or set limits by age, size, or sex, or set seasons, places, methods, and fishing techniques that cause too many deaths. Rules must be adopted on the record after a chance for an agency hearing about any moratorium waiver and the rules themselves. Before or when giving Federal Register notice, the Secretary must publish the estimated current population levels, the expected effect on sustainable populations, the evidence used, and related studies or recommendations. Rules must be reviewed and can be changed as needed. Within six months after the law takes effect, and every twelve months after that, the Secretary must report to the public in the Federal Register and to Congress on the status of all covered marine mammal species and stocks and on actions taken or needed, including permits.