[Senate Treaty Document 105-48]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
105th Congress Treaty Doc.
SENATE
2d Session 105-48
_______________________________________________________________________
INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION ON SEA TURTLES
__________
MESSAGE
from
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
transmitting
INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION OF SEA
TURTLES, WITH ANNEXES, DONE AT CARACAS DECEMBER 1, 1996, (THE
``CONVENTION''), WHICH WAS SIGNED BY THE UNITED STATES, SUBJECT TO
RATIFICATION ON DECEMBER 13, 1996
May 22, 1998.--Convention was read the first time, and together with
the accompanying papers, referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
and ordered to be printed for the use of the Senate
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
----------
The White House, May 22, 1998.
To the Senate of the United States:
With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the
Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Inter-American
Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles,
with Annexes, done at Caracas December 1, 1996, (the
``Convention''), which was signed by the United States, subject
to ratification, on December 13, 1996. I also transmit, for the
information of the Senate, the report of the Secretary of State
with respect to the Convention.
All species of sea turtles found in the Western Hemisphere
are threatened or endangered, some critically so. Because sea
turtles migrate extensively, effective protection and
conservation of these species requires cooperation among States
within the sea turtles' migratory range. Although the
international community has banned trade in sea turtles and sea
turtle products pursuant to the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the
Convention I am transmitting is the first multilateral
agreement that actually sets standards to protect and conserve
sea turtles and their habitats.
In section 609 of Public Law 101-162, the Congress called
for the negotiation of multilateral agreements for the
protection and conservation of sea turtles. In close
cooperation with Mexico, the United States led a 3-year effort
to negotiate the Convention with other Latin American and
Caribbean nations. Once ratified and implemented, the
Convention will enhance the conservation of this hemisphere's
sea turtles and harmonize standards for their protection.
I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable
consideration to the Convention and give its advice and consent
to its ratification.
William J. Clinton.
LETTER OF SUBMITTAL
----------
Department of State,
Washington, July 16, 1997.
The President,
The White House.
The President: I have the honor to submit to you the Inter-
American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea
Turtles, with Annexes, done at Caracas December 1, 1996 (the
``Convention''). The United States signed the Convention,
subject to ratification, on December 13, 1996, in Caracas,
Venezuela. I recommend that the Convention be transmitted to
the Senate for its advice and consent to ratification.
All known species of sea turtles found in the Western
hemisphere are threatened or endangered, some critically so.
Because sea turtles migrate extensively, effective protection
and conservation of these species require cooperation among
States within their migratory range. Although the international
community has banned trade in sea turtles and sea turtle
products pursuant to the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (``CITES''), the
Convention I am submitting is the first multilateral agreement
that actually sets standards to protect and conserve sea
turtles and their habitats.
Congress called for the negotiation of multilateral
agreements for the protection and conservation of sea turtles
in Section 609 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and
State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act,
1990 (Public Law 101-162). In close cooperation with Mexico,
the United States led a three-year effort to negotiate the
Convention with other Latin American and Caribbean nations.
Substantive negotiations on the Convention concluded on
September 5, 1996, at a meeting in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.
The Convention, once ratified and implemented, will enhance the
conservation of sea turtles and harmonize standards for their
protection throughout the Western Hemisphere.
More specifically, the Convention requires Parties to
promote the protections and conservation of sea turtle
populations and their habitats; to reduce the incidental
capture, injury and mortality of sea turtles associated with
commercial fisheries; to prohibit the intentional take of, and
domestic and international trade in, sea turtles, their eggs,
parts and products; and to foster international cooperation in
the research and management of sea turtles. The Convention
specifically obligates Parties to require the use of turtle
excluder devices (``TEDs'') by commercial shrimp trawl vessels
in a manner comparable to the requirements in effect in the
United States. The Convention also includes provisions on
monitoring and compliance.
The following material reviews the salient aspects of the
Convention.
Article I defines certain key terms for purposes of the
Convention. Article II of the Convention sets forth its
objective, which is generally to promote the protection,
conservation and recovery of sea turtle populations and of the
habitats on which they depend. Article III prescribes the area
of application of the Convention (``the Convention Area''),
which is the land territory in the Americas of each of the
Parties, as well as maritime areas of the Atlantic Ocean, the
Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean with respect to which each
of the Parties exercises sovereignty, sovereign rights or
jurisdiction over living marine resources in accordance with
international law, as reflected in the 1982 United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Article IV of the Convention requires Parties to take a
variety of measures to protect and conserve sea turtles and
their habitats. Paragraph 1 contains a general obligation in
this regard; paragraph 2 sets forth more specific obligations,
which include, inter alia, prohibition of the intentional
taking of sea turtles and of domestic trade in sea turtles,
their eggs, parts and products; compliance with obligations
under CITES relating to international trade in sea turtles,
their eggs, parts or products; protection of sea turtle
habitats; promotion of relevant scientificresearch and of
efforts to enhance sea turtle populations to determine the feasibility
of these practices; and minimization of incidental capture, retention,
harm or mortality of sea turtles in the course of fishing activities.
With respect to the prohibition on trade in sea turtles
contained in Article IV(2) (a) and (b), it should be noted that
all species of sea turtles that occur in the Western Hemisphere
appear on Appendix I to CITES; international trade in such sea
turtles by CITES Parties is thus banned. The Convention is
crafted to reaffirm the CITES regime with respect to
international trade, while also prohibiting domestic trade in
sea turtles.
Article IV(3) provides for certain exceptions to these
obligations. Pursuant to Article IV(3)(a), a Party may allow
exceptions to the obligations relating to the intentional
capture, retention and killing of, and domestic trade in, sea
turtles solely to satisfy economic subsistence need of
traditional communities, provided such exceptions do not
undermine efforts to achieve the objective of the Convention. A
Party considering such exceptions must take into account
recommendations of the Consultative Committee of Experts,
established under Article VII. Such a Party must also establish
a management program that includes limits on levels of
intentional taking of sea turtles and report to the other
Parties on this program.
This exception would not directly affect the United States,
as U.S. law prohibits the intentional taking of sea turtles,
for subsistence use or otherwise. However, traditional
communities in certain other States in Latin America and the
Caribbean do take sea turtles intentionally. If the Convention
had prohibited this practice, few such States would have become
party to it. The Convention instead creates a regime in which,
for the first time, such takings will be circumscribed and
monitored.
In addition, the Parties may, by consensus, approve
exceptions to the other measures required to be taken pursuant
to Article IV(2) to address circumstances warranting special
consideration, provided that such exceptions do not undermine
the objective of the Convention. However, the Parties may not
approve any exception relating to Article IV(2)(b), which, as
noted above, reaffirms obligations set forth in CITES. The
intention in this respect is to ensure that it is clear that
CITES takes precedence over the Convention with respect to
decisions relating to international trade in sea turtles (and
in sea turtle eggs, parts and products).
Articles V through VIII of the Convention deal with
institutional arrangements to help coordinate the
implementation of the Convention by the Parties. Article V
provides for regular and extraordinary meetings of the Parties
to review implementation of the Convention and to consider
further action, including the possibility of adopting
additional conservation and management measures deemed
appropriate to achieve the objective of the Convention. All
decisions taken at such meetings, including the adoption of
amendments to the Convention and to its Annexes, are to be
adopted by consensus.
Although the Convention does not establish a secretariat,
Article VI calls upon the Parties to consider doing so at their
first meeting and sets forth a list of functions that such a
secretariat could perform. As with other decisions that the
Parties may make at their meetings, a decision to establish a
secretariat would need to be adopted by consensus.
Article VII creates a Consultative Committee of Experts,
composed of government officials and of representatives of the
scientific community, the private sector and non-governmental
organizations, to advise the Parties. This innovative feature
is designed to ensure that the Parties will benefit from a
broad spectrum of views and input in implementing the
Convention and to provide a forum in which individuals
representing a range of interests can develop common ground in
making recommendations to the Parties on sea turtle
conservation and protection. Although the Consultative
Committee will have representatives of the scientific
community, Article VIII establishes a separate Scientific
Committee to allow for the provision of scientific advice
directly to the Parties and to undertake scientific analyses at
the request of the Parties.
Article IX of the Convention obligates each Party to
establish a program to ensure monitoring and observation of the
measures to protect and conserve sea turtles set forth in the
Convention. More generally, Article X requires each party to
ensure effective compliance with such measures, while Article
XI calls for the preparation and dissemination program of each
Party.
Articles XII-XIV seek to promote international cooperation
and coordination in achieving the objective of the Convention,
with a view in particular to helping developing States achieve
better sea turtle protection and conservation. For years, the
United States has promoted sea turtle protection efforts
throughout this hemisphere, particularly by providing access to
TEDs technology and by training foreign fishermen and fisheries
managers in the construction and use of TEDs. We fully expect
such efforts to continue. The Convention does not, however,
require the Parties to make assessed contributions.
Article XV requires the Parties, in implementing the
Convention, to act in a manner consistent with the 1994
Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization and to
endeavor to facilitate fisheries trade.
Articles XVI-XX of the Convention address certain
subsidiary matters. Article XVI requires that the Parties
settle disputes that may arise under the Convention by peaceful
means, but does not mandate recourse to any particular dispute
settlement mechanism or forum. Article XVII contains two
traditional safeguards clauses concerning the
sovereignty,sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the Parties. Article
XVIII obligates each Party to adopt measures in its respective national
laws for implementation of the Convention and to ensure effective
compliance. Article XIX seeks to encourage States that are not party to
the Convention either to become Parties or otherwise to adopt laws and
regulations consistent with the Convention. Article XX envisions the
possibility that protocols to the Convention may be negotiated between
States Parties to the Convention and States in other regions that are
not eligible to adhere to the Convention for the purpose of promoting
the protection and conservation of sea turtles in other regions of the
world.
Articles XXI-XXVII of the Convention are the final clauses.
Pursuant to Article XXI, any State in the Americas may become a
party to the Convention (in this regard, Article I(4) defines
``States in the Americas'' as the States in North, Central and
South America and the Caribbean Sea, as well as other States
that have continental or insular territories in this region).
Article XXII provides that the Convention will enter into force
following the deposit of instruments of ratification by eight
of these States.
In accordance with Article XXIII, no reservations are
permitted. Article XXIV provides that amendments to the
Convention are to be adopted, by consensus, at meetings of the
Parties and are to enter into force for all Parties following
ratification, acceptance or approval by all Parties. However,
as is the case for several other international agreements
relating to living marine resources to which the United States
is a party, Article XVI provides that amendments to the
annexes, which are technical in nature, will become effective
for all Parties one year following their adoption, also by
consensus, at a meeting of the Parties, without the need for
ratification, acceptance or approval. Article XXV provides for
withdrawal from the Convention, and Article XXVII concerns
authentic texts and certified copies of the Convention.
Annex I lists the species of sea turtles to which the
Convention applies.
Annex II calls upon each Party to consider the adoption of
additional measures to protect sea turtle habitats within its
territory and in maritime areas with respect to which it
exercises sovereignty, sovereign rights or jurisdiction.
Annex III, which builds upon the provisions of Article
IV(2)(h), obligates each Party to require shrimp trawl vessels
subject to its jurisdiction that operate within the Convention
Area to use TEDs. Annex III also provides the possibility for
certain limited exceptions to this requirement and establishes
a process for the development of more specific rules relating
to the use of TEDs.
Annex IV describes elements to be included in the annual
reports prepared by the Parties in accordance with Article
XI(1).
Existing legislation, including the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1801 et
seq., and the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et
seq., provide sufficient legislative authority to implement
U.S. obligations under the Convention. Therefore, no new
legislation is necessary in order for the United States to
become party to the Convention.
Accordingly, I recommend that the Convention be transmitted
to the Senate as soon as possible for its early and favorable
advice and consent to ratification.
Respectfully submitted,
Madeleine Albright.