Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-110

§1811 United States Sovereign Rights to Fish and Fishery Management Authority

Title 16 › CHAPTER 38 — FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT › SUBCHAPTER II — UNITED STATES RIGHTS AND AUTHORITY REGARDING FISH AND FISHERY RESOURCES › § 1811

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The United States has the exclusive right to manage and use all fish and all Continental Shelf fishery resources inside the exclusive economic zone. That authority is carried out under the rules in this chapter, except as allowed under section 1812 of this title. Outside the exclusive economic zone, the United States also has exclusive authority to manage all anadromous species along their migration routes beyond the zone (anadromous species are fish that move between fresh and salt water), except when those fish are inside a foreign nation's waters. The United States also has exclusive authority over Continental Shelf fishery resources beyond the exclusive economic zone.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §1811

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In the exclusive economic zone
Except as provided in section 1812 of this title, the United States claims, and will exercise in the manner provided for in this chapter, sovereign rights and exclusive fishery management authority over all fish, and all Continental Shelf fishery resources, within the exclusive economic zone.
(b)Beyond the exclusive economic zone
The United States claims, and will exercise in the manner provided for in this chapter, exclusive fishery management authority over the following:
(1)All anadromous species throughout the migratory range of each such species beyond the exclusive economic zone; except that that management authority does not extend to any such species during the time they are found within any waters of a foreign nation.
(2)All Continental Shelf fishery resources beyond the exclusive economic zone.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Amendment of Section Pub. L. 102–251, title III, §§ 301(c), 308, Mar. 9, 1992, 106 Stat. 62, 66, provided that, effective on the date on which the Agreement between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Maritime Boundary, signed June 1, 1990, enters into force for the United States, with authority to prescribe implementing

Regulations

effective Mar. 9, 1992, but with no such regulation to be effective until the date on which the Agreement enters into force for the United States, subsection (a) is amended by inserting “and special areas” before the period at the end and subsection (b) is amended by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph: (3) All fishery resources in the special areas.

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 94–265, Apr. 13, 1976, 90 Stat. 331, known as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1801 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

1990—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 101–627 substituted “any waters of a foreign nation” for “any foreign nation’s territorial sea or exclusive economic zone (or the equivalent), to the extent that that sea or zone is recognized by the United States”. 1986—Pub. L. 99–659 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section read as follows: “There is established a zone contiguous to the territorial sea of the United States to be known as the fishery conservation zone. The inner boundary of the fishery conservation zone is a line coterminous with the seaward boundary of each of the coastal States, and the outer boundary of such zone is a line drawn in such a manner that each point on it is 200 nautical miles from the baseline from which the territorial sea is measured.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1992 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 102–251 effective on date on which Agreement between United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Maritime Boundary, signed June 1, 1990, enters into force for United States, with authority to prescribe implementing

Regulations

effective Mar. 9, 1992, but with no such regulation to be effective until date on which Agreement enters into force for United States, see section 308 of Pub. L. 102–251, set out as a note under section 773 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 1811

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110