Congressional Research Service Reports - 209 Matching Results

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Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate: Marine Mammal Issues

Description: After global warming became a concern in the mid-1950s, researchers proposed measuring deep ocean temperatures to reveal any significant trends in core ocean warming. Acoustic thermometry can detect changes in ocean temperature by receiving low-frequency sounds transmitted across an ocean basin because the speed of sound is proportional to water temperature. Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate, or ATOC, is an international program involving 11 institutions in seven nations. It is designed as … more
Date: May 12, 1995
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Northern Right Whale

Description: This report summarizes the fact that northern right whale is the most endangered among all the whale species. The National Marine Fisheries Service is taking extra measures to protect these whales from any negative human interactions.
Date: April 14, 1995
Creator: Corn, M. Lynne
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Marine Mammal Protection Act Amendments of 1994

Description: This report summarizes provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act Amendments of 1994 and outlines this Act's implementation schedule for use by Members of Congress and their staff.
Date: September 28, 1994
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Norwegian Commercial Whaling: Issues for Congress

Description: On May 16, 1996, 23 Members of Congress sent a letter to President Clinton expressing their concern over Norway's announcement that it intended to permit its whalers to kill as many as 425 minke whales that year. The co-signers urged the President "to take decisive action to prevent Norway from resuming its illicit whale harvesting," including the possible use of economic sanctions. For its 1997 hunt, Norway has increased its quota to 580 animals.
Date: December 31, 1996
Creator: Ek, Carl
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Dolphin Protection and Tuna Seining

Description: From its inception in 1972, one of the goals of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was to reduce the incidental mortality of dolphins in the ETP tuna fishery. Regulations promulgated under MMPA authority set standards for tuna seining and motivated technological improvements that reduced dolphin mortalities in this fishery -- by 1977, annual dolphin mortality by U.S. tuna seiners had declined to about 25,450 animals. Despite the extensive mortalities, no ETP dolphin population has been lis… more
Date: August 29, 1997
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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National Estuary Program: A Collaborative Approach to Protecting Coastal Water Quality

Description: This report discusses National Estuary Program and is based on 11 of the 28 estuaries that are currently in the National Estuary Program which represent common environmental problems along the nation’s coastline: on the Pacific Coast, the Columbia River, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, and Santa Monica Bay; on the Atlantic Coast, Albemarle-Pamlico Sound, Long Island Sound, Narragansett Bay, and Maryland’s coastal bays (excluding Chesapeake Bay); and on the Gulf of Mexico, Charlotte Harbor, Corp… more
Date: January 12, 2001
Creator: Bearden, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Law of the Sea: the International Seabed Authority - Its Status and U.S. Participation Therein

Description: The 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, as amended by the 1994 Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the U.N. Convention, entered into force, on November 16, 1994. That action initiated establishment of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), composed of all States parties to the Convention, to administer the seabed mining regime set forth in the Convention/Agreement
Date: September 16, 1996
Creator: Browne, Marjorie Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Law of the Sea Convention and U.S. Policy

Description: On October 7, 1994, President Clinton transmitted to the Senate the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention. The package was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. On November 16, 1994, the U.N. Law of the Sea Convention entered into force but without accession by the United States. The 1994 Agreement entered into force on July 28, 1996, again without U.S. ratification.
Date: February 14, 2001
Creator: Browne, Marjorie Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Deep Seabed Mining: U.S. Interests and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea

Description: On July 29, 1994, the United States signed the Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982. This agreement substantially reforms the seabed mining provisions of the 1982 Convention, which the United States found objectionable. In signing the Agreement, President Clinton accepted provisional application of it which enables the United States to participate in the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and its organs … more
Date: April 7, 1995
Creator: Mielke, James E
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Individual Transferable Quotas in Fishery Management

Description: An individual transferable quota (ITQ) is an allocated privilege of landing a specified portion of the total annual fish catch in the form of quota shares. This differs from the traditional open-access approach to commercial fisheries. ITQs divide the total annual catch quota into smaller individual portions. ITQs are generally transferable, which means fishing vessel owners can sell their ITQ certificates or buy others' certificates or, in some cases, lease their quota shares depending on how … more
Date: September 25, 1995
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agreements to Promote Fishery Conservation and Management in International Waters

Description: Declining fish populations threaten an important food source. Natural catastrophes, pollution, habitat destruction, and overfishing contribute to the depletion of fish stocks. Overexploitation of fishery resources often occurs when management allows expanding and increasingly efficient fishing fleets to continue harvesting dwindling supplies. Although prevalent, overexploitation is not universal and its extent varies among areas, species, and fisheries. This report discusses the issue of overfi… more
Date: January 5, 1996
Creator: Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Commercial Fishing: Economic Aid and Capacity Reduction

Description: Both experience and economic models show that, in the absence of enforceable access or catch restrictions, competition among commercial fishermen results in an expansion of fishing capacity, and resultant fishing effort, beyond the sustainable limits of the fish population being pursued. The spiral of increasing effort and diminishing returns (i.e., rent dissipation) has helped to fuel increases in fish prices that reduce benefits to consumers and processors; has shifted many fish populations t… more
Date: April 14, 1997
Creator: Read, Andrew G. & Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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