§ 20.143 - Criteria and schedule for conversion to nontoxic shot.

The criteria and procedures specified below will be followed in the conversion nationwide to the use of nontoxic shot for waterfowl hunting. As of the 1991-1992 season, nontoxic shot will be required in all waterfowl hunting in the United States.

(a) Beginning in the 1987-1988 water fowl hunting season, implementation of nontoxic shot zones is on a decremental basis with regard to the intensity of average annual waterfowl harvest per square mile of a particular county; the initial harvest level triggering monitoring/conversion is 20 or more birds per square mile, decreasing by 5 birds per square mile each successive waterfowl hunting season until the nationwide ban season is reached in 1991-1992. Data on average annual waterfowl harvest are from Carney et al. 1983; data on county size have been obtained from the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Table I illustrates the schedule for conversion to nontoxic shot.

Table I.—Schedule for Monitoring and/or Converting Counties to Nontoxic Shot Zones for Hunting WaterfowlAverage annual waterfowl harvest per mi 2* (by county)Hunting season in which—Monitoring must begin to defer implementationQualifying areas convertedNontoxic shot required in deferred areas20 or more 1985-86 1987-88 1991-9215 or more 1986-87 1988-89 1991-9210 or more 1987-88 1989-90 1991-925 or more 1988-89 1990-91 1991-92less than 5 1989-90 1991-92 1991-92* Average harvest is based on Carney et al. 1983 (Distribution of waterfowl species harvested in states and counties during 1971-80 hunting seasons. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Scientific Report—Wildlife No. 254).

(b) If States, through monitoring, demonstrate during annual Fish and Wildlife Service Regulations Committee meetings that neither of the following two decision criteria are met in a county scheduled for conversion to a nontoxic shot zone, that conversion can be deferred until (but not beyond) the 1991-92 hunting season (monitoring of the latter must include a sample of at least 100 birds of waterfowl species susceptible to lead poisoning):

(1) Dead waterfowl; 3 or more individual specimens confirmed as lead-poisoned during the monitoring year, nor

(2) Ingested shot in gizzards; 5 percent or greater of the sample have gizzards with 1 or more lead shot, and

(i) Liver lead; 5 percent or greater of the sample have livers with concentrations of lead 2 ppm or higher (wet weight), or

(ii) Blood lead; 5 percent or greater of the sample have blood with concentrations of lead 0.2 ppm or higher (wet weight), or

(iii) Protoporphyrin; 5 percent or greater of the sample have blood with protoporphyrin concentrations of 40 ug/dl or higher.

(c) Established nontoxic shot zones will not be eligible for deferral or rescission from conversion in any manner.

(d) There is no deferral past the 1991-1992 nationwide conversion year. States may elect to forgo monitoring and/or otherwise convert to nontoxic shot zones on an accelerated basis, i.e., less than a county, countywide or statewide.

(e) States may accelerate conversion on less than a county basis for purposes of completing a biological or enforcement/management unit; however, the minimum conversion schedule [set out in the June, 1986, Final Supplemental Environmental Statement on the use of lead shot for hunting migratory birds in the United States, Appendix N] will be adhered to.

(f) Where a portion, but not all, of a county is included in nontoxic shot zones for the 1986-87 or later waterfowl hunting season, the remainder of the county will convert in the year that it would otherwise be converted on the basis of its total county waterfowl harvest density.

(g) When a county is converted to nontoxic shot status under this paragraph, it will be added to the list of nontoxic shot zones contained in §20.108 and all the prohibitions of §20.21(j) will apply.