United States-Canada Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds Message to the Senate Transmitting a Protocol to the Convention.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith, for Senate advice and consent to ratification, the Protocol Amending the Convention of August 16, 1916 for the Protection of Migratory Birds in Canada and the United States of America. The Protocol modernizes and adds flexibility to the subsistence taking provisions of the Canada convention by allowing the contracting parties to authorize the taking of migratory birds and the collection of their eggs by the indigenous inhabitants of the State of Alaska and the Indians and Inuit of Canada for their own nutritional and other essential needs, during seasons established so as to provide for the preservation and maintenance of stocks of migratory birds. The report of the Department of State is enclosed for the information of the Senate in connection with its consideration of the Protocol.

The 1916 Convention pertaining to Canada was the first of our migratory bird conventions and reflected the knowledge of ornithology and migratory bird management at the time. The Convention makes a valuable contribution to the conservation of migratory birds by establishing for migratory game birds, migratory insectivorous birds, and other migratory nongame birds, closed seasons during which no hunting is permitted except for scientific or propagating purposes under permits issued by proper authorities. The taking of nests or eggs of such birds is also prohibited except for scientific or propagating purposes under laws or regulations.

The Convention has very narrow exceptions which permit the taking by Alaskan Eskimos and Indians of a few sea birds and eggs for subsistence purposes. These narrow exceptions present two problems, however. They do not recognize the centuries old historical use of other species of migratory birds by Alaskan natives. In addition, they do not recognize and permit needed subsistence taking by other local rural residents of bush Alaska who are neither Indian, Aleut, nor Eskimo. As a result, the provisions of the Convention have been widely ignored by the rural subsistence inhabitants of Alaska. Further, there has been considerable friction among different user groups, and between user groups and law enforcement and management officials. The conclusion of the Department of the Interior is that the existing subsistence provisions of the Convention are "unworkable, unenforceable, and incapable of responding to the legitimate subsistence needs of many rural Alaskans."

The provisions of the Protocol adequately respond to the subsistence needs of the State of Alaska, while at the same time protecting our migratory bird resources. The Protocol does not abrogate the limited rights granted to Indians and Eskimos in the 1916 Convention, but broadens subsistence taking rights to all "indigenous inhabitants of the State of Alaska" so as to respond to subsistence needs of rural Alaska in a racially non-discriminatory way. Excessive exploitation of the birds is guarded against by reserving to the competent authorities of the two countries the right respectively to determine what constitutes legitimate subsistence needs, and to establish hunting seasons so as to provide for the preservation and maintenance of stocks of migratory birds.

I am confident that this Protocol will enhance our ability to manage and con. serve a valuable natural resource. I urge the Senate to act favorably on this Convention at an early date by giving its advice and consent to ratification.

JIMMY CARTER

The White House,

November 24, 1980.