[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 38 (Monday, September 22, 1997)]
[Page 1338]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the Mexico-United States Convention 
for the Protection of Migratory Birds and Game Mammals and Documentation

September 15, 1997

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 Protocol Between the Government of 
the United States of America and the Government of the United Mexican 
States Amending the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds and 
Game Mammals, signed at Mexico City on May 5, 1997 (``the Mexico 
Protocol''). I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the 
report of the Department of State with respect to the Mexico Protocol.
    In concert with a similar Protocol between the Governments of the 
United States and Canada, the Mexico Protocol represents a considerable 
achievement for the United States in conserving migratory birds and 
balancing the interests of conservationsts, sports hunters, and 
indigenous people. The Protocol should further enhance the management of 
and protection of this important resource for the benefit of all users.
    The Mexico Protocol is particularly important because it will permit 
the full implementation of the Protocol Amending the 1916 Convention for 
the Protection of Migratory Birds in Canada and the United States (``the 
Canada Protocol'') that is pending before the Senate at this time. The 
Canada Protocol is an important agreement that addresses the management 
of a spring/summer subsistence hunt of waterfowl in communities in 
Alaska and northern Canada. The Mexico Protocol conforms the Canadian 
and Mexican migratory bird conventions in a manner that will permit a 
legal and regulated spring/summer subsistence hunt in Canada and the 
United States.
    I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration 
to the Protocol and give its advice and consent to ratification.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
September 15, 1997.