§953 General Advisory Committee and Scientific Advisory Subcommittee

Summary

The Secretary, with the Secretary of State, must set up a General Advisory Committee of up to 25 people who represent different groups concerned with the fisheries covered by the Convention. The chairs of the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Highly Migratory Fisheries Advisory Subpanel and the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Advisory Committee are automatic members. Members serve 3-year terms and may be reappointed. The committee can join the U.S. delegation to the Commission when Commission rules and space allow. It is invited to attend non-secret U.S. delegation meetings and can review and speak about proposed studies, reports, recommendations, and rules. The committee makes its own rules, publishes them for the public, holds open meetings except for private sessions, and does not follow chapter 10 of title 5. The Secretary and Secretary of State must give the committee relevant fisheries and international agreement information and timely administrative and technical support. Committee members are unpaid but may get travel and per diem like intermittent government workers under section 5703 of title 5, and they are not federal employees except for injury compensation and tort liability protections under chapter 81 of title 5 and chapter 171 of title 28. The Secretary, with the Secretary of State, must also appoint a Scientific Advisory Subcommittee of 5–15 qualified scientists with balanced public and private representation, including conservation groups. The subcommittee advises the General Advisory Committee and the U.S. Commissioners on ecosystem conservation, sustainable use of living marine resources related to the tuna fishery in the eastern Pacific, and long-term management of stocks in the eastern tropical Pacific. At the request of the General Advisory Committee, the Commissioners, or the Secretary, it will perform duties tied to formal agreements such as the International Dolphin Conservation Program, including reviewing program data (including Inter‑American Tropical Tuna Commission data), recommending research and assessments, consulting experts, and suggesting ways to keep data flowing among parties and national scientific committees. The subcommittee is invited to non-secret U.S. meetings and may attend Inter‑American Tropical Tuna Commission meetings under that Commission’s rules.