For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 11, 2002
Message to the Senate of the United States
With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to
ratification, I transmit herewith the Agreement between the Government
of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian
Federation on the Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka
Polar Bear Population done at Washington on October 16, 2000 (the
"U.S.-Russia Agreement"). I also transmit, for the information of the
Senate, the report of the Department of State with respect to that
Agreement.
The U.S.-Russia Agreement provides legal protections for this
population of polar bears in addition to those found in the Agreement
on the Conservation of Polar Bears done at Oslo, November 13, 1973 (the
"1973 Agreement"), which was a significant, early step in the
international conservation of polar bears. The 1973 Agreement is a
multilateral treaty to which the United States and Russia are parties.
(The other parties are Norway, Canada, and Denmark.) The 1973
Agreement provides authority for the maintenance of a subsistence
harvest of polar bears and provides for habitat conservation.
The proposed U.S.-Russia Agreement, which would operate as a
free-standing treaty separate from the 1973 Agreement, is the
culmination of an 8-year effort. The U.S.-Russia Agree-ment builds on
the 1973 Agreement to establish a common legal, scientific, and
administrative frame work for the conservation and management of the
Alaska-Chukotka polar bear population, which is shared by the United
States and the Russian Federation. For example, the U.S.-Russia
Agreement provides a definition of "sustainable harvest" that will help
the United States and Russia to implement polar bear conservation
measures while safeguarding the interests of native people. In
addition, the U.S.-Russia Agreement establishes the U.S.-Russia Polar
Bear Commission, which would function as the bilateral managing
authority to make scientific determinations, establish taking limits,
and carry out other responsibilities under the terms of the U.S.-Russia
Agreement. The proposed U.S.-Russia Agreement would strengthen the
conservation of our shared polar bear population through a coordinated
sustainable harvest management program.
Early ratification of the U.S.-Russia Agreement by the United
States will reinforce our leadership role in international conservation
of marine mammals and will encourage similar conservation action by
other countries. I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable
consideration to this Agreement and give its advice and consent to
ratification.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
July 11, 2002.
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