16 USC § 917 - Congressional findings | Title 16 - Conservation | U.S. Code

USCPrelim is a preliminary release and may be subject to further revision before it is released again as a final version.

Current through Pub. L. 113-9. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)

The Congress finds that—

(1) whales are a unique resource of great aesthetic and scientific interest to mankind and are a vital part of the marine ecosystem;

(2) whales have been overexploited by man for many years, severely reducing several species and endangering others;

(3) the United States has extended its authority and responsibility to conserve and protect all marine mammals, including whales, out to a two hundred nautical mile limit by enactment of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act [16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.];

(4) the conservation and protection of certain species of whales, including the California gray, bowhead, sperm, and killer whale, are of particular interest to citizens of the United States;

(5) increased ocean activity of all types may threaten the whale stocks found within the two hundred-mile jurisdiction of the United States and added protection of such stocks may be necessary;

(6) there is inadequate knowledge of the ecology, habitat, requirements, and population levels and dynamics of all whales found in waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and

(7) further study of such matters is required in order for the United States to carry out its responsibilities for the conservation and protection of marine mammals.

prev | next

The Congress finds that—

(1) whales are a unique resource of great aesthetic and scientific interest to mankind and are a vital part of the marine ecosystem;

(2) whales have been overexploited by man for many years, severely reducing several species and endangering others;

(3) the United States has extended its authority and responsibility to conserve and protect all marine mammals, including whales, out to a two hundred nautical mile limit by enactment of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act [16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.];

(4) the conservation and protection of certain species of whales, including the California gray, bowhead, sperm, and killer whale, are of particular interest to citizens of the United States;

(5) increased ocean activity of all types may threaten the whale stocks found within the two hundred-mile jurisdiction of the United States and added protection of such stocks may be necessary;

(6) there is inadequate knowledge of the ecology, habitat, requirements, and population levels and dynamics of all whales found in waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and

(7) further study of such matters is required in order for the United States to carry out its responsibilities for the conservation and protection of marine mammals.

Source

(Pub. L. 94–532, § 2,Oct. 17, 1976, 90 Stat. 2491; Pub. L. 96–561, title II, § 238(b),Dec. 22, 1980, 94 Stat. 3300; Pub. L. 104–208, div. A, title I, § 101(a) [title II, § 211(b)], Sept. 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009–41.)

References in Text

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, referred to in par. (3), is Pub. L. 94–265, Apr. 13, 1976, 90 Stat. 331, as amended, which is classified principally to chapter 38 (§ 1801 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1801 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

1996—Par. (3). Pub. L. 104–208substituted “Magnuson-Stevens Fishery” for “Magnuson Fishery”.

1980—Par. (3). Pub. L. 96–561substituted “Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act” for “Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976”.

Effective Date of 1996 Amendment

Section 101 (a) [title II, § 211(b)] of div. A of Pub. L. 104–208provided that the amendment made by that section is effective 15 days after Oct. 11, 1996.

Effective Date of 1980 Amendment

Section 238(b) ofPub. L. 96–561provided that the amendment made by that section is effective 15 days after Dec. 22, 1980.

Short Title

Section 1 ofPub. L. 94–532provided: “That this Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Whale Conservation and Protection Study Act’.”

The table below lists the classification updates, since Jan. 3, 2012, for this section. Updates to a broader range of sections may be found at the update page for containing chapter, title, etc.

The most recent Classification Table update that we have noticed was Wednesday, May 29, 2013

An empty table indicates that we see no relevant changes listed in the classification tables. If you suspect that our system may be missing something, please double-check with the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.

How To Use

Multiple entries for a section are listed most recent first, within the section.

The Session Year indicates which session of Congress was responsible for the changes classified. The Congress number forms the first part of the Public Law number; each Congress has two sessions.

Abbreviations used in the Description of Change column:

An empty field implies a standard amendment.
"new" means a new section or new note, or all new text of an existing section or note.
"nt" means note.
"nt [tbl]" means note [table].
"prec" means preceding.
"fr" means a transfer from another section.
"to" means a transfer to another section.
"omitted" means the section is omitted.
"repealed" means the section is repealed.
"nt ed change" and "ed change" - See the Editorial Classification Change Table [pdf].

The Public Law field is linked to the development of the law in the Thomas system at the Library of Congress.

The Statutes at Large field is linked to the text of the law, in the context of its volume of the Statutes at Large, at the Government Printing Office. Please note that it takes a while for these pages to get posted, so for very recent legislation, you need to look at the "enrolled" version at the Thomas site.

The Statutes at Large references have been rendered in the format used as page numbers in the Public Law web pages to which we link, to facilitate copy-paste into browser "find on this (web) page" tools. We are still working on a more direct link facility.

For serious comparison work, we suggest copying all or a portion of the Public Law text into your favorite text editor, for convenient content traversal and window control.

Sections with change type "new" are a special case, still under development. All are now listed, at the title level only.

You will find that occassionally a specific update you notice in a Public Law listed in a classification table will already have made it into the Code. We assume this is an artifact of the LRC edit process. The LII does not edit the LRC content.

top

General Reference

Refer to the LRC (Law Revision Council) for explanations about the US Code from the folks who put it all together.

You can look for information about what it is and is not, which titles are positive law, the schedule of Supplements, etc. Under download you can find the source data we use here (GPO locator files), as well as, PDF files that look just like the paper books (these may be rather large).

Refer to the Thomas site for changes that have not yet made it into the classification tables.

16 USC	Description of Change	Session Year	Public Law	Statutes at Large

16 USC § 917 - Congressional findings

U.S. Code Toolbox

Law about... Articles from Wex

Get Involved

Find a Lawyer