16 U.S.C. § 916d: Licenses

Summary

You must have a license or a scientific permit before doing any whaling. The Secretary of Commerce (or a person the Secretary names) issues the licenses. The Secretary can waive the fee or the need for a license when salvaging any "Dauhval" or an unclaimed dead whale that is floating or stranded. Licenses run for each calendar year or any part of a year and generally cannot be transferred. There are five license types with these annual fees: primary land-station processing $250, secondary land-station processing $100, factory-ship primary processing $250, transport vessel (moving whale products from a factory ship) $100, and whale-catcher $100. All fees go into the U.S. Treasury and are not refunded if a licensee does not use the license. When applying for a whale-catcher license, you must show proof that the vessel is properly equipped and crewed, that gunners and crews are paid in a way that does not depend mainly on how many whales they take, and that no bonus will be paid for taking whales that are prohibited. Applicants for land stations or factory ships must show evidence that their facilities are properly equipped to follow the convention and Commerce Department rules for processing whales and making whale products.

Title 16, §916d

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Issuance

No person shall engage in whaling without first having obtained an appropriate license or scientific permit. Such licenses shall be issued by the Secretary of Commerce or such officer of the Department of Commerce as may be designated by him: Provided, That the Secretary, in his discretion and by appropriate regulation, may waive the payment of any license fee or the requirement that a license first be obtained, in connection with the salvage of any “Dauhval” or unclaimed dead whale found floating or stranded.

(b)Licenses and fees required

The following licenses and fees shall be required for each calendar year or any fraction thereof and shall be nontransferable except under such conditions as may be prescribed by the Secretary:

(1)Land-station license for primary processing of whales, $250.

(2)Land-station license for secondary processing of parts of whales delivered to it by a land station licensed as a primary processor, $100.

(3)Factory-ship license for primary processing of whales delivered by whale catchers, $250.

(4)License for any vessel used exclusively for transporting whale products from a factory ship to a port during the whaling season, $100.

(5)Whale-catcher license, $100.

(c)Disposition of fees

All moneys derived from the issuance of whaling licenses shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States, and no license fee shall be refunded by reason of the failure of any person to whom a license has been issued to utilize the facility in whaling for which such license was issued.

(d)Application; conditions precedent

Any person, in making application for a license to operate a whale catcher, must furnish evidence or affidavit satisfactory to the Secretary of Commerce that, in addition to conforming to other applicable laws and regulations, (1) the whale catcher is adequately equipped and competently manned to engage in whaling in accordance with the provisions of the convention, the regulations of the Commission, and the regulations of the Secretary of Commerce; (2) gunners and crews will be compensated on some basis that does not depend primarily on the number of whales taken; and (3) no bonus or other partial remuneration with relation to the number of whales taken shall be paid to gunners and crews in respect of the taking of any whales, the taking of which is prohibited.

(e)Additional conditions

Any person, in making application for a license to operate a land station or a factory ship must furnish evidence or affidavits to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Commerce that, in addition to conforming to other applicable laws and regulations, such land station or factory ship is adequately equipped to comply with provisions of the convention, of the regulations of the Commission, and of the regulations of the Secretary of Commerce with respect to the processing of whales or the manufacture of whale products.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Refund of License Fees Paid Under Subchapter I of This ChapterAct Aug. 9, 1950, ch. 653, § 16, 64 Stat. 425, provided in part that the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to refund any part of a license fee paid under former section 908 of this title that is in excess of the license fee required under this section.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

to Secretary of Commerce from Secretary of the Interior by Reorg. Plan No. 4 of 1970, see note set out under section 916 of this title.

§916d Licenses