7. NORTHWEST ATLANTIC FISHERIES ACT OF 1950

Act of September 27, 1950 (64 Stat. 1067; 16 U.S.C. 981-991)

SHORT TITLE

SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Act of 1950".

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sec. 2. Definitions.

Sec. 3. Commissioners; rules.

Sec. 4. Advisory Committee; composition.

Sec. 5. Commissioners and committeemen exempted from certain employment

laws.

Sec. 6. Secretary of State to act for United States; regulations.

Sec. 7. Cooperation; Commission's functions not restrained by this Act or State laws.

Sec. 8. Unlawful activities.

Sec. 10. Penalties.

Sec. 11. Arrests; enforcement; searches and seizures.

Sec. 12. Appropriations.

Sec. 13. Separability.

DEFINITIONS

SEC. 2. When used in this Act

(a) Convention: The word "convention" means the International Convention for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries signed at Washington under date of February 8, 1949.

(b) Commission: The word "Commission" means the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries provided for by article II of the convention.

(c) Person: The word "person" denotes individuals, partnerships, corporations, and associations, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(d) Convention area : The term "convention area" means that portion of the northwest Atlantic Ocean defined in article I of the convention.

(e) Vessel: The word "vessel" denotes every kind, type, or description of watercraft, aircraft, or other contrivance, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water.

(f) Fishing gear: The term "fishing gear" means any apparatus or appliance of whatever kind or description used or capable of being sed for fishing.

(g) Fishing: The word "fishing" means the catching, taking, or fishing for, or the attempted catching, taking, or fishing for any species of fish protected under regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054, § 2, 64 Stat. 1067).

COMMISSIONERS; RULES

SEC. 3. (a) The United States shall be represented, on the Commission and on any panel in which the United States participates, by three Commissioners to be appointed by the President and to serve at his pleasure. The Commissioners shall be entitled to adopt such rules of procedure as they find necessary.

(b) The United States Commissioners, although officers of the United States Government while so serving, shall receive no compensation for their services as such Commissioners. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054, § 3, 64 Stat. 1068.)

ADVISORY COMMITTEE; COMPOSITION

SEC. 4. (a) The United States Commissioners shall appoint an advisory committee composed of not less than five nor more than twenty persons who shall fairly represent the various interests in the fisheries of the convention area, including fishermen and vessel owners, and who shall be well informed concerning the fisheries of the convention area. The members of the advisory committee shall serve for a term of two years, and shall be eligible for reappointment. The advisory committee shall meet at last once a year, or more frequently if necessary, shall elect its own officers, and shall be entitled to fix the times and places of its meetings and to adopt rules of procedure for their conduct. The United States Commissioners shall also have the authority to call a meeting of the advisory committee on the request of three members of the committee. The advisory committee, or such representatives as it may designate, may attend as observers all nonexecutive meetings of the Commission or of any panel of which the United States is a member. The advisory committee shall be invited to all nonexecutive meetings of the United States Commissioners and at such meetings shall be given full opportunity to examine and to be heard on all proposed programs of investigation, reports, and recommendations of the United States Commissioners and all regulations proposed to be issued under the authority of this Act.

(b) The members of the advisory committee shall receive no compensation for their services as such members. On approval by the United States Commissioners not more than five members of the advisory committee, designated by the committee, may be paid for their actual transportation expenses and per diem incident to attendance at meetings outside of the United States of the Commission or a panel thereof. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054, § 4, 64 Stat. 1068.)

COMMISSIONERS AND COMMITTEEMEN EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN

EMPLOYMENT LAWS

SEC. 5. Service of any individual as a United States Commissioner appointed pursuant to section 3(a), or as a member of the advisory committee appointed pursuant to section 4(a), shall not be considered as service or employment bringing such individual within the provisions of sections 281, 283, and 284 of Title 18 of the United States Code, of section 190 of the Revised Statutes (U.S.C., title 5, sec. 99), or of any other Federal law imposing restrictions, requirements, or penalties in relation to the employment of persons, the performance of services, or the payment or receipt of compensation in connection

with any claim, proceeding, or matter involving the United States, except insofar as such provisions of law may prohibit any such individual from receiving compensation in respect of any partcular matter in which such individual was directly involved in the performance of such service. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054 § 5, 64 Stat. 1068.)

SECRETARY OF STATE TO ACT FOR UNITED STATES; REGULATIONS

SEC. 6. (a) The Secretary of State is authorized to receive, on behalf of the Government of the United States, reports, requests, recommendations, and other communications of the Commission, and to act thereon directly or by reference to the appropriate authorities.

(b) The Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Secretary of the Interior, is authorized to accept or reject, on behalf of the United States, proposals received from the Commission pursuant to article VIII of the convention. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054, § 6, 64 Stat. 1069.)

ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT

SEC. 7. (a) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to administer and enforce, through the Fish and Wildlife Service, all of the provisions of the convention, this Act, and regulations issued pursuant thereto, except to the extent otherwise provided for in this Act. In carrying out such functions he is authorized and directed to adopt such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes and objectives of the convention and this Act, and, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, he may cooperate with the duly authorized officials of the Government of any party to the convention.

(b) Enforcement activities under the provisions of this Act relating to vessels engaged in fishing and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States shall be primarily the responsibility of the United States Coast Guard, in cooperation with the Fish and Wildlife Service.

(c) The Secretary of the Interior may designate officers of the States of the United States to enforce the provisions of the convention, or of this chapter, or of the regulations of the Secretary of the Interior. When so designed such officers are authorized to function as Federal law-enforcement officers for the purposes of this chapter. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054, § 7, 64 Stat. 1069.)

COOPERATION; COMMISSION'S FUNCTIONS NOT RESTRAINED RY THIS ACT

OR STATE LAWS

SEC. 8. (a) The Secretary of State with the concurrence of the agency, institution, or organization concerned, may direct the United States Commissioners to arrange for the cooperation of agencies of the United States Government, and of State and private institutions and organizations in carrying out the provisions of article VI of the convention.

(b) All agencies of the Federal Government are authorized, upon request of the Commission, to cooperate in the conduct of scientific and other programs, and to furnish facilities and personnel for the purpose of assisting the Commission in carrying out its duties under the convention.

(c) None of the prohibitions deriving from this Act, or contained in the laws or regulations of any State, shall prevent the Commission from conducting or authorizing the conduct of fishing operations and biological experiments at any time for purposes of scientific investigation, or shall prevent the Commission from discharging any other duties prescribed by the convention.

(d) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit or to add to the authority of the individual States to exercise their existing sovereignty within the presently defined limits of the territorial waters of the respective States. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054, § 8, 64 Stat. 1069.)

UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES

SEC. 9. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to engage in fishing in violation of any regulation adopted pursuant to this Act or of any order of a court issued pursuant to section 10 of this Act, to ship, transport, purchase, sell, offer for sale, import, export, or have in custody, possession, or control any fish taken or retained in violation of any such regulations, or order, to fail to make, keep, submit, or furnish any record or report required of him by such regulation, or to refuse to permit any officer authorized to enforce such regulations to inspect such record or report at any reasonable time.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person or vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to do any act prohibited or fail to do any act required by any regulation adopted pursuant to this Act. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054, §9, 64 Stat. 1069.)

PENALTIES

SEC. 10. Any person violating any provision of this Act or any regulation adopted pursuant to this Act, upon conviction, shall be fined for a first offense not more $500 and for a subsequent offense committed within five years not more than $1,000 and for such subsequent offense the court may order forfeited, in whole or in part, the fish taken by such person, or the fishing gear involved in such fishing, or both, or the monetary value thereof. Such forfeited fish or fishing gear shall be disposed of in accordance with the direction of the court. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054, § 10, 64 Stat. 1070.)

ARRESTS; ENFORCEMENT; SEARCHES AND SEIZURES

SEC. 11. (a) Any duly authorized enforcement officer or employee of the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior; any Coast Guard officer; any United States marshal or deputy United States marshal; any customs officer; and any other person authorized to enforce the provisions of the convention, this Act, and the regulations issued pursuant thereto, shall have power without warrant or other process to arrest any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States committing in his presence or view a violation of the convention or of this Act, or of the regulations issued pursuant thereto and to take such person immediately for examination before a justice or judge or any other official designated in section 3041 of Title 18 of the United States Code and shall have power, without warrant or other

process, to search any vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States when he has reasonable cause to believe that such vessel is engaging in fishing in violation of the provisions of the convention or this Act, or the regulations issued pursuant thereto. Any person authorized to enforce the provisions of the convention, this Act, or the regulations issued pursuant thereto shall have power to execute any warrant or process issued by an officer or court of competent jurisdiction for the enforcement of this chapter, and shall have power with a search warrant to search any vessel, vehicle, person, or place at any time. The judges of the United States district courts and the United States Commissioners may, within their respective jurisdictions, upon proper oath or affirmation showing probable cause, issue warrants in all such cases. Any person authorized to enforce the provisions of the convention, this chapter, or the regulations issued pursuant thereto may, except in the case of a first offense, seize, whenever and wherever lawfully found, all fish taken or retained, and all fishing gear involved in fishing, contrary to the provisions of the convention or this Act or to regulations issued pursuant thereto. Any property so seized shall not be disposed of except pursuant to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction or the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, or, if perishable, in the manner prescribed by regulations of the Secretary of the Interior.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 2464 of Title 28, U.S. Code when a warrant of arrest or other process in rem is issued in any cause under this section, the marshal or other officer shall stay the execution of such process, or discharge any property seized if the process has been levied, on receiving from the claimant of the property a bond or stipulation for double the value of the property with sufficient surety to be approved by a judge of the district court having jurisdiction of the offense, conditioned to deliver the property seized, if condemned, without impairment in value or, in the discretion of the court, to pay its equivalent value in money or otherwise to answer the decree of the court in such cause. Such bond or stipulation shall be returned to the court and judgment thereon against both the principal and sureties may be recovered in event of any breach of the conditions thereof as determined by the court. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054, § 11, 64 Stat. 1070.)

APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 12. There are authorized to be appropriated from time to time, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act, including the United States share of the joint expenses of the Commission as provided in article XI of the convention; for the expenses of the United States Commissioners and authorized advisers. (Sept. 27, 1950, c. 1054, § 12, 64 Stat. 1071.)

SEPARABILITY

SEC. 13. If any provision of this Act or the application of such provision to any circumstances or persons shall be held invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Act and the applicability of such provision to other circumstances or persons shall not be affected thereby.