Title 16 › CHAPTER 85 — MARINE TURTLE CONSERVATION › § 6602
Defines key words used in the chapter about protecting turtles and their habitats. CITES means the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (27 UST 1087; TIAS 8249). Conservation means the actions used to protect marine turtles, freshwater turtles, and tortoises and their habitats in foreign countries and U.S. territories under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs; it covers eight types of activities, including habitat protection and restoration, onsite research and monitoring, help with national or regional management plans, enforcing CITES and foreign laws to stop illegal trade, training local law enforcement, resolving human–turtle conflicts, community outreach and education, and building local capacity to run conservation programs. Freshwater turtle means any member of the families Carettochelyidae, Chelidae, Chelydridae, Dermatemydidae, Emydidae, Geoemydidae, Kinosternidae, Pelomedusidae, Platysternidae, Podocnemididae, or Trionychidae, and includes any part, product, egg, offspring, or a carcass. Fund means the Marine Turtle Conservation Fund created by section 6604. Habitat means any marine turtle, freshwater turtle, or tortoise habitat (including nesting sites) under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program jurisdiction. Marine turtle means any member of the families Cheloniidae or Dermochelyidae, and includes any part, product, egg, offspring, or a carcass. Multinational Species Conservation Fund means the fund set up under the heading “multinational species conservation fund” in title I of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (16 U.S.C. 4246). Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior. Territory of the United States means American Samoa; the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; Guam; the United States Virgin Islands; and any other territory or possession of the United States. Tortoise means any member of the family Testudinidae, and includes any part, product, egg, offspring, or a carcass.
Full Legal Text
Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 6602
Title 16, Conservation
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110