[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 168 (Tuesday, August 31, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47512-47514]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-22652]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Notice of Updated Policy Regarding Harvest of Migratory Birds in
Alaska Between March 10 and September 1
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is updating the 1988
policy regarding subsistence harvest of migratory birds in Alaska. The
policy is a statement regarding enforcement priorities the Service
follows in Alaska to conserve waterfowl between March 10 and September
1. The original policy concentrated enforcement efforts on violations
that have the most serious impacts on the resource, with particular
emphasis on the protection of four diminished populations of geese:
cackling Canada geese, emperor geese, Pacific white-fronted geese, and
black brant. Due to the status of some eider populations, this updated
policy also includes spectacled and Steller's eiders in this first
priority protection. In addition, the policy prohibits wasting any
migratory bird, using private and charter aircraft to assist in
hunting, and possessing lead shot while hunting waterfowl.
In 1997, the United States Senate gave its advice and consent to
ratification of two protocols amending, respectively, the 1916
Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds in Canada and the
United States (the ``Canada Treaty'') and the 1936 U.S.-Mexico
Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds and Game Mammals (the
``Mexico Treaty'') (together the ``Protocols''). These Protocols
provide for legal, regulated spring subsistence hunting in Alaska. In
particular, the Protocol with Canada provides in Article II that:
In the case of the United States * * * [m]igratory birds and
their eggs may be harvested by the indigenous inhabitants of the
State of Alaska. Seasons and other regulations implementing the non-
wasteful taking of migratory birds and the collection of their eggs
by indigenous inhabitants of the State of Alaska shall be consistent
with the customary and traditional uses by such indigenous
inhabitants for their own nutritional and other essential needs.
Similarly, Article I of the Protocol with Mexico provides that:
[[Page 47513]]
The establishment of a closed season for wild ducks from the
tenth of March to the first of September, except in the State of
Alaska, United States of America, where wild ducks and their eggs
may be harvested by the indigenous inhabitants thereof provided that
seasons and other regulations implementing the non-wasteful taking
of wild ducks and their eggs in such cases shall be consistent with
the customary and traditional uses by such indigenous inhabitants
for their own nutritional and other essential needs.
The Canada Protocol, which along with the Mexico Protocol will
enter into force once the Parties exchange instruments of ratification,
contemplates the establishment of management bodies in Alaska that will
develop recommendations to the Service for specific hunting
regulations. The Service is currently involved in an extensive public
involvement process in Alaska to develop the required management bodies
and the subsequent regulations allowing spring and summer harvest of
migratory birds. The Service expects to have the management bodies in
place in the year 2000 and specific hunting regulations in 2001. Until
that time, consistent with the two Protocols and pursuant to existing
statutory authority under 16 U.S.C. 712, this enforcement policy will
guide our conservation measures.
DATES: The Service's policy regarding harvest of migratory birds in
Alaska during the closed season became effective on April 22, 1988. The
policy, as updated, will remain in effect until regulations are
promulgated to implement the 1997 Protocols to the migratory bird
treaties with Canada and Mexico.
ADDRESSES: Address correspondence to: Regional Director, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 1011 E. Tudor Road, Anchorage, Alaska 99503.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mimi Hogan, Migratory Bird Subsistence
Coordinator, (907) 786-3673; or John Gavitt, Assistant Regional
Director, Division of Law Enforcement, (907) 786-3311.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the Federal Register dated December 31,
1987, the Service gave notice of, and invited public comments on, a
proposed policy statement regarding subsistence taking of migratory
birds in Alaska during the closed season as required by the 1918 Treaty
Act (16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.) and implemented by regulations. The notice
also terminated a proposed rulemaking announced to the public on May
19, 1986, (51 FR 18349) to permit and regulate subsistence hunting for
migratory birds in Alaska. The rulemaking was halted by an October 9,
1987, ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that
any regulations for subsistence hunting of migratory birds promulgated
pursuant to the 1978 Fish and Wildlife Improvement Act must be in
accordance with the Canada Treaty implemented by the Treaty Act. The
Canada Treaty specifically prohibits hunting for most migratory birds
between March 10 and September 1. Finally, the notice indicated Service
support for continuation of a Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Goose Management
Plan, a cooperative management agreement for the conservation of geese
that nest primarily in western Alaska.
Following the court decision, the Service worked toward legalizing
subsistence harvest in Alaska during the closed season by proposing
amendments to the Canada Treaty and the Mexico Treaty. The U.S. Senate
gave its advice and consent to ratification of the Protocols on October
23, 1997, paving the way for ratification and a regulatory process to
ensure proper implementation of these amendments.
Issuance by the Service of a law enforcement policy is not subject
to the notice and comment procedures of the Administrative Procedures
Act. However, the legal status of subsistence hunting in Alaska was for
years the subject of litigation that was confusing to the public. In
light of this, and because of great interest in the issue and need for
understanding of the policy, the Service believed that it would be
beneficial in this instance to provide for public review of the
proposed policy. Public comments were reviewed in the Final Policy
Statement (53 FR 16878).
Need for Policy and Relation to Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Goose
Management Plan
The Treaty Act prohibits the taking of migratory birds except as
permitted by regulations published by the Service. The Treaty Act
further requires that the regulations must be consistent with the
provisions of the 1916 Canada Treaty. Accordingly, the Service
publishes regulations annually that establish open seasons and bag
limits for migratory game birds within the September 1 to March 10
period provided by that treaty. Except in Alaska, the Service has
always strictly enforced the prohibitions against taking migratory
birds during closed seasons; that is, during those times of year
outside the hunting seasons established in the annual hunting
regulations.
The Service has recognized for many years that residents of certain
rural areas in Alaska depend on waterfowl and some other migratory
birds as customary and traditional sources of food, primarily during
spring and early summer. Because of this long established dependence,
the Service generally has exercised its discretion to not strictly
enforce the closed season in these areas provided that subsistence
harvest of a particular species will not adversely affect its
populations and that birds are not wasted. The Service recognizes the
need for conservation measures to protect those species where
population levels are of concern or are most susceptible to declines.
Since 1984, efforts to halt declines of the four populations of
geese on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta have been undertaken pursuant to a
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Goose Management Plan which has been renewed
annually until 1995, and biannually since then. The biannual renewal of
the plan is an essential element in the conservation of the geese on
their nesting grounds. It retains an established mechanism for
communication with the subsistence hunters most affected by the policy
and encourages the cooperation needed to achieve population objectives
incorporated into previous plans. This cooperative management includes
provisions to reduce sport harvest of these species and to reduce or
minimize subsistence harvest that is not in accordance with the Plan.
The Service views the plan as an effective mechanism in providing for
cooperative management of geese on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and has
therefore applied similar provisions to the policy that applies
throughout the remainder of the state.
The Closed Season Enforcement Policy in Alaska, in accordance with
the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Management Plan, has changed somewhat from
the original policy as populations of cackling Canada geese and Pacific
white-fronted geese have increased. The updated policy reflects these
population changes. In addition, there have been changes concerning
other species.
The spectacled eider was listed in 1993 as a threatened species
under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, primarily on the
basis of estimates that the number of nesting pairs on the Yukon-
Kuskokwim Delta declined over 96% between the 1970s and the 1990s. The
Alaska population of Steller's eider was listed as a threatened species
in 1997 because of a decline in the number of birds breeding in Alaska.
Spectacled and Steller's eiders were added to the list of species to
receive special enforcement concern under the Service's closed season
policy. In 1997, a Spectacled and Steller's Eider Management Plan,
containing similar enforcement provisions, was added as
[[Page 47514]]
an attachment to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Goose Management Plan.
The Service recognizes that among subsistence users there is a wide
range in the level of understanding of the impacts of spring and summer
harvest of waterfowl and the need to reduce mortality, especially when
populations become depressed. The Service will continue educational
efforts to expand the understanding of this relationship and will
consider the varying levels of understanding when carrying out
enforcement efforts on a statewide basis.
The Protocols allow regulations to be written opening the season on
subsistence harvest of migratory birds between March 10 and September
1. The process to develop regulations is currently in progress and is
expected to result in the establishment of management bodies in 2000
and specific hunting regulations in 2001. In the meantime, this
Enforcement Policy will guide conservation.
Closed Season Enforcement Policy in Alaska
The enforcement policy described below applies only during the
closed season, between March 10 and September 1. The policy applies
only to residents of rural areas in Alaska where people have long
relied on locally harvested waterfowl for food during spring and
summer. On the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, we will engage in enforcement
actions in accordance with the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Goose Management
Plan. In areas other than those described above, we will enforce the
closed season and all other regulations for hunting migratory birds
from September 1 to March 10 as throughout the rest of the nation.
Service enforcement efforts in Alaska during the closed season will
concentrate on violations that have the most serious impacts on the
resource. We will give special attention to the protection of
spectacled and Steller's eiders, cackling Canada geese, emperor geese,
Pacific white-fronted geese, and black brant. These species have
suffered severe population declines in recent years and need special
protection.
Although all waterfowl hunters in Alaska have been required to use
non-toxic shot since 1991, this has not been an enforcement priority in
the past with regard to subsistence hunting. However, recent studies
have confirmed lead shot poisoning in spectacled eiders and other
species of waterfowl harvested by subsistence hunters in Alaska.
Therefore anyone possessing lead shot while waterfowl hunting will be
subject to enforcement action, regardless of time or place.
Under the Closed Season Policy we will give enforcement priority to
the following violations:
No taking of spectacled or Steller's eiders at any time;
No taking of emperor geese at any time;
No taking of cackling Canada geese or black brant during
the nesting, brood-rearing, and flightless period;
No taking of Pacific white-fronted geese, in the coastal
areas of western Alaska south of Norton Sound, during the nesting,
brood-rearing, and flightless periods;
No taking of the eggs of spectacled or Steller's eiders,
emperor geese, cackling Canada geese or black brant;
No wasting of any migratory bird;
No use of private or charter aircraft to assist hunting of
any migratory bird;
No possession or use of lead shot while hunting waterfowl.
Status of populations will guide identification of circumstances
warranting additional protection for migratory birds during the closed
season. This will involve consultation with affected interests. Of
greatest concern will be situations involving continuing harvest of
species of concern, waste or harvest exceeding reasonable levels of
need under existing circumstances.
Dated: August 20, 1999.
David B. Allen,
Regional Director, Anchorage, Alaska.
[FR Doc. 99-22652 Filed 8-30-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P
