Procedures for Establishing Spring/Summer Subsistence Harvest Regulations for Migratory Birds in Alaska

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or we) adopts regulations establishing procedures for implementing a spring/summer migratory bird subsistence harvest in Alaska. The 1916 Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds Between the United States and Great Britain (for Canada) established a closed season for the taking of migratory birds between March 10 and September 1. Residents of northern Alaska and Canada traditionally harvested migratory birds for nutritional purposes during the spring and summer months. The governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States recently amended the 1916 Convention and the subsequent 1936 Mexico Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds and Game Mammals. The amended treaties provide for the legal subsistence harvest of migratory birds and their eggs in Alaska and Canada during the closed season. This rule establishes procedures for implementing that change and for incorporating subsistence management into the continental migratory bird management program.