ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973 [Public Law 93–205, Approved Dec. 28, 1973, 87 Stat. 884] [Amended through Public Law 108-136, Nov. 24, 2003] AN ACT To provide for the conservation of endangered and threatened species of fish, wildlife, and plants, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, [16 U.S.C. 1531 note] That this Act may be cited as the “Endangered Species Act of 1973". TABLE OF CONTENTS Sec. 2. Findings, purposes, and policy. Sec. 3. Definitions. Sec. 4. Determination of endangered species and threatened species. Sec. 6. Cooperation with the States. Sec. 7. Interagency cooperation. Sec. 8. International cooperation. Sec. 8A. Convention implementation. Sec. 9. Prohibited acts. Sec. 10. Exceptions. Sec. 11. Penalties and enforcement. Sec. 12. Endangered plants. Sec. 13. Conforming amendments. Sec. 14. Repealer. Sec. 15. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 16. Effective date. Sec. 17. Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. [Sec. 18. Annual cost analysis by the Fish and Wildlife Service.1] FINDINGS, PURPOSES, AND POLICY SEC. 2. [16 U.S.C. 1531] (a) FINDINGS.-The Congress finds and declares that— (1) various species of fish, wildlife, and plants in the United States have been rendered extinct as a consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation; (2) other species of fish, wildlife, and plants have been so depleted in numbers that they are in danger of or threatened with extinction; (3) these species of fish, wildlife, and plants are of esthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value to the Nation and its people; 1 Bracketed material does not appear in Act. Sec. 1012 of P.L. 100-478, 102 Stat. 2314, October 7, 1988, added sec. 18 of the Act but did not conform the table of contents of the Act. 1 (4) the United States has pledged itself as a sovereign state in the international community to conserve to the extent practicable the various species of fish or wildlife and plants facing extinction, pursuant to (A) migratory bird treaties with Canada and Mexico; (B) the Migratory and Endangered Bird Treaty with Japan; (C) the Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation in the Western Hemisphere; (D) the International Convention for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries; (E) the International Convention for the High Seas Fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean; (F) the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora; and (G) other international agreements; and (5) encouraging the States and other interested parties, through Federal financial assistance and a system of incentives, to develop and maintain conservation programs which meet national and international standards is a key to meeting the Nation's international commitments and to better safeguarding, for the benefit of all citizens, the Nation's heritage in fish, wildlife, and plants. (b) PURPOSES.-The purposes of this Act are to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species, and to take such steps as may be appropriate to achieve the purposes of the treaties and conventions set forth in subsection (a) of this section. (c) POLICY. (1) It is further declared to be the policy of Congress that all Federal departments and agencies shall seek to conserve endangered species and threatened species and shall utilize their authorities in furtherance of the purposes of this Act. (2) It is further declared to be the policy of Congress that Federal agencies shall cooperate with State and local agencies to resolve water resource issues in concert with conservation of endangered species. DEFINITIONS SEC. 3. [16 U.S.C. 1532] For the purposes of this Act (1) The term "alternative courses of action" means all alternatives and thus is not limited to original project objectives and agency jurisdiction. (2) The term "commercial activity" means all activities of industry and trade, including, but not limited to, the buying or selling of commodities and activities conducted for the purpose of facilitating such buying and selling: Provided, however, That it does not include exhibitions of commodities by museums or similar cultural or historical organizations. (3) The terms "conserve," "conserving," and "conservation" mean to use and the use of all methods and procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered species or threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to this Act are no longer necessary. Such methods and procedures include, but are not limited to, all activities associated with scientific resources management such as research, census, law enforcement, habitat acquisition and maintenance, propagation, live trapping, and transplantation, and, in the extraordinary case where population pressures within a given ecosystem cannot be otherwise relieved, may include regulated taking. (4) The term "Convention" means the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, signed on March 3, 1973, and the appendices thereto. (5)(A) The term "critical habitat" for a threatened or endangered species means (i) the specific areas within the geographical area occupied by the species, at the time it is listed in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of this Act, on which are found those physical or biological features (I) essential to the conservation of the species and (II) which may require special management considerations or protection; and (ii) specific areas outside the geographical area occupied by the species at the time it is listed in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of this Act, upon a determination by the Secretary that such areas are essential for the conservation of the species. (B) Critical habitat may be established for those species now listed as threatened or endangered species for which no critical habitat has heretofore been established as set forth in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph. (C) Except in those circumstances determined by the Secretary, critical habitat shall not include the entire geographical area which can be occupied by the threatened or endangered species. (6) The term "endangered species" means any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range other than a species of the Class Insecta determined by the Secretary to constitute a pest whose protection under the provisions of this Act would present an overwhelming and overriding risk to man. (7) The term "Federal agency" means any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States. (8) The term "fish or wildlife" means any member of the animal kingdom, including without limitation any mammal, fish, bird (including any migratory, nonmigratory, or endangered bird for which protection is also afforded by treaty or other international agreement), amphibian, reptile, mollusk, crustacean, arthropod or other invertebrate, and includes any part, product, egg, or offspring thereof, or the dead body or parts thereof. (9) The term "foreign commerce" includes, among other things, any transaction— (A) between persons within one foreign country; (B) between persons in two or more foreign countries; (C) between a person within the United States and a per son in a foreign country; or (D) between persons within the United States, where the fish and wildlife in question are moving in any country or countries outside the United States. |