[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1406 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1406

 To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to strengthen polar 
           bear conservation efforts, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 16, 2007

 Mr. Kerry (for himself and Ms. Snowe) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to strengthen polar 
           bear conservation efforts, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Polar Bear Protection Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) section 101 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 
        (16 U.S.C. 1371) establishes a moratorium relating to the 
        importation of marine mammals and marine mammal products, 
        including the importation of all sport-hunted marine mammal 
        trophies;
            (2) in 1994, that Act was amended to create an exemption 
        from the moratorium that allows the importation of sport-hunted 
        polar bear trophies from Canada;
            (3) this exemption has increased Canadian polar bear 
        mortalities from United States sport hunters;
            (4) polar bears--
                    (A) have low reproductive rates;
                    (B) have long lives;
                    (C) rely on high adult survival rates to maintain 
                population numbers; and
                    (D) are under stress from climate change and 
                habitat degradation;
            (5) in July 2005, the World Conservation Union Polar Bear 
        Specialist Group released a quadrennial report, in which the 
        Group--
                    (A) reviewed the status of polar bears; and
                    (B) concluded that the species should be upgraded 
                from ``a species of least concern'' to ``vulnerable'' 
                based on the ``likelihood of an overall decline in the 
                size of the total population of more than 30 percent 
                within the next 35 to 50 years''; and
            (6) based on threats posed to polar bears, on December 27, 
        2006, the Department of the Interior proposed that polar bears 
        be listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
        1531 et seq.) as a threatened species.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to ensure that citizens of the United States do not 
        contribute to polar bear mortalities in Canada by removing the 
        exemption in the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 
        U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) that allows for the Secretary of the 
        Interior to issue permits to United States trophy hunters for 
        the importation of polar bear trophies from Canada;
            (2) to heed the warnings of the Department of the Interior 
        and the World Conservation Union Polar Bear Specialist Group 
        that polar bears are at risk and could become endangered by 
        prohibiting the importation of polar bear trophies from Canada; 
        and
            (3) to further the goals of the International Agreement on 
        the Conservation of Polar Bears, done at Oslo, November 15, 
        1973 (27 UST 3918), to which all 5 countries with polar bears 
        within the borders of the countries are a party.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF THE IMPORTATION OF POLAR BEARS AND POLAR BEAR 
              PARTS.

    The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) 
is amended--
            (1) in section 101(a)(1) (16 U.S.C. 1371(a)(1))--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``, or for 
                importation of polar bear parts (other than internal 
                organs) taken in sport hunts in Canada'' and inserting 
                ``, except that no permit may be issued under this Act 
                for the importation of polar bear parts taken in a 
                sport hunt'';
                    (B) in the second sentence, by striking ``, except 
                permits issued under section 104(c)(5),''; and
                    (C) in the third sentence, by striking ``, other 
                than importation under section 104(c)(5),''; and
            (2) in section 104 (16 U.S.C. 1374)--
                    (A) in subsection (c)--
                            (i) in paragraph (2)(E), by striking 
                        ``paragraph (10)'' and inserting ``paragraph 
                        (9)'';
                            (ii) in paragraph (8)(B)(ii), by striking 
                        ``paragraph (10)'' and inserting ``paragraph 
                        (9)'';
                            (iii) by striking paragraph (5); and
                            (iv) by redesignating paragraphs (6) 
                        through (10) as paragraphs (5) through (9), 
                        respectively; and
                    (B) in subsection (e)(1)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking the 
                        comma and inserting ``; or'';
                            (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``, 
                        or'' and inserting a period; and
                            (iii) by striking subparagraph (C).
                                 <all>