[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 50, Volume 1]
[Revised as of October 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 50CFR15.32]

[Page 85-88]
 
                    TITLE 50--WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES
 
 CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE 
                                INTERIOR
 
PART 15_WILD BIRD CONSERVATION ACT--Table of Contents
 
   Subpart D_Approved List of Species Listed in the Appendices to the 
                               Convention.
 
Sec. 15.32  Criteria for including species in the approved list for 
non-captive-bred species.

    Upon receipt of a completed sustainable use management plan for a 
country of export, the Director may approve a species listed in 
Appendices II or III of the Convention for importation from that 
country. Such approval shall be granted in accordance with the issuance 
criteria of this section. All approved species and countries of export 
will be listed in section 15.33.
    (a) Requirements for scientifically-based sustainable use management 
plans. Sustainable use management plans developed by the country of 
export should be submitted for species which breed in the country of 
export. If the species does not breed in the country of export, the 
Service will consider sustainable use management plans only when the 
plan is scientifically valid and nesting (breeding) information can be 
provided from countries in which the species breeds. Sustainable use 
management plans shall include the following information, and any other 
information that may be appropriate:
    (1) Background information, including the following:
    (i) The scientific and common name of the species;
    (ii) Letters from the country of export's Management and Scientific 
Authorities transmitting the management plan of this species;
    (iii) A summary of the country of export's legislation related to 
this species and legislation implementing the Convention, and, where 
appropriate, a summary of implementing regulations;
    (iv) A summary, from the country of export's Management Authority, 
of the country's infrastructure and law enforcement and monitoring 
mechanisms designed to ensure both enforcement of and compliance with 
the requirements of the management plan, and that the number of birds 
removed from the wild or exported will be consistent with the management 
plan;
    (v) Recent information on the distribution of the species within the 
country of export, including scientific references and maps, and 
historical information on distributions, if relevant; and
    (vi) The species' status and its current population trend in the 
country of export, including scientific references and copies of the 
most recent non-detriment findings made by the exporting country's 
Scientific Authority.
    (2) Habitat information, including:
    (i) A general description of habitats used by the species for each 
portion of the life cycle completed within the country of export;
    (ii) Recent information on the size and distribution of these 
habitats throughout the country of export and in each area or region of 
take, including scientific references and maps. The approximate location 
of any reserves that provide protection for this species should be 
indicated on the accompanying map(s), along with a brief description of 
how reserves are protected and how that protection is enforced;

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    (iii) Status and trends of the important habitats used by the 
species in the country of export as a whole whenever available and 
within each area or region of take, including scientific references;
    (iv) Factors, including management activities, favoring or 
threatening the species' habitat in the foreseeable future within each 
area or region of take, and throughout the country of export whenever 
available, including scientific references; and
    (v) A list of management plans that have been or are being planned, 
developed, or implemented for the species' important habitats, if any.
    (3) Information on the role of the species in its ecosystem, 
including:
    (i) A description of the part(s) of the species' life cycle 
completed within the country of export;
    (ii) A description of nest sites and/or plant communities that are 
most frequently used for placement of nests and, if applicable, nesting 
habits;
    (iii) A general description of the species' diet and where the 
species forages (aerial feeder, tree canopy, tree trunk, midstory, 
understory, open water or other), and seasonal changes in foraging 
habits, including, when available, scientific references; and
    (iv) Information on any species or plant community which is 
dependent on the occurrence of the exotic bird species.
    (4) Population dynamics of the species, including:
    (i) Recent population data for the population of the species in the 
country of export, as derived from indices of relative abundance or 
population estimates, along with documentation for each estimate;
    (ii) Within each area or region of take, documentation for recent 
population data or estimates, conducted for at least 3 separate years or 
1 year with a description of survey plans for future years. These 
population assessments should have been conducted during the same season 
(breeding or non-breeding) of each year for which documentation is 
submitted (i.e., be methodologically comparable--both temporally and 
spatially);
    (iii) Within each area or region of take, a scientific assessment 
(with documentation) of recent reproductive (nesting) success. This 
assessment should include information on the number of young produced 
per egg-laying female per year or per nesting pair, or if scientifically 
appropriate for the species to be exported, estimates on the number of 
young produced per year from pre-breeding and post-breeding surveys 
conducted within the same annual cycle;
    (iv) Within each area or region of take, estimation (with 
documentation) of annual mortality or loss including natural mortality 
and take for subsistence use, export trade, and domestic trade in each 
area of take; or
    (v) When appropriate, information (with documentation) on the number 
of young which can be taken from the area, as a result of a conservation 
enhancement program.
    (5) Determination of biologically sustainable use:
    (i) Estimation of the number exported from the country during the 
past 2 years, and the number of birds removed from the wild for export, 
domestic trade, illegal trade, subsistence use, and other purposes 
(specify) for the country of export during the past 2 years;
    (ii) The estimated number of birds that will be removed from the 
wild from each area of take each year for all purposes (export trade, 
domestic trade, illegal trade, and subsistence use), including a 
description of age-classes (nestlings, fledglings, sub-adults, adults, 
all classes), when applicable;
    (iii) For the projected take addressed in the management plan, a 
description of the removal process, including, but not limited to, 
locations, time of year, capture methods, means of transport, and pre-
export conditioning;
    (iv) Documentation of how each projected level of take was 
determined;
    (v) Explanation of infrastructure and law enforcement and monitoring 
mechanisms that ensure compliance with the methodology in the management 
plan and that the species will be removed at a level that ensures 
sustainable use; and
    (vi) Description of how species in each area or region of take will 
be monitored in order to determine

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whether the number and age classes of birds taken is sustainable.
    (6)(i) For species that are considered ``pests'' in the country of 
origin: documentation that such a species is a pest, including a 
description of the type of pest,--e.g., agricultural, disease carrier; a 
description of the damage the pest species causes to its ecosystem; and 
a description of how the sustainable use management plan controls 
population levels of the pest species.
    (ii) For non-pest species: A description of how the sustainable use 
management plan promotes the value of the species and its habitats. 
Incentives for conservation may be generated by environmental education, 
cooperative efforts or projects, development of cooperative management 
units, and/or activities involving local communities.
    (7) Additional factors:
    (i) Description of any existing enhancement activities developed for 
the species, including, but not limited to, annual banding programs, 
nest watching/guarding, and nest improvement; and
    (ii) Description, including photographs or diagrams, of the shipping 
methods and enclosures proposed to be used to transport the exotic 
birds, including but not limited to feeding and care during transport, 
densities of birds in shipping enclosures, and estimated consignment 
sizes.
    (b) Approval criteria. Upon receiving a sustainable use management 
plan in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section, the Director will 
decide whether or not an exotic bird species should be listed as an 
approved species for importation from the country of export, under 
section 15.33. In making this decision, the Director shall consider in 
addition to the general criteria in part 13 of this subchapter, all of 
the following factors for the species:
    (1) Whether the country of export is effectively implementing the 
Convention, particularly with respect to:
    (i) Establishment of a functioning Scientific Authority;
    (ii) The requirements of Article IV of the Convention;
    (iii) Remedial measures recommended by the Parties to the Convention 
with respect to this and similar species, including recommendations of 
permanent committees of the Convention; and
    (iv) Article VIII of the Convention, including but not limited to 
establishment of legislation and infrastructure necessary to enforce the 
Convention, and submission of annual reports to the Convention's 
Secretariat;
    (2) Whether the country of export has developed a scientifically-
based management plan for the species that:
    (i) Provides for the conservation of the species and its habitat(s);
    (ii) Includes incentives for conservation unless the species is a 
documented pest species;
    (iii) Is adequately implemented and enforced;
    (iv) Ensures that the use of the species is:
    (A) Sustainable;
    (B) Maintained throughout its range at a level that is consistent 
with the species' role in its ecosystem; and
    (C) Is well above the level at which the species might become 
threatened;
    (v) Addresses illegal trade, domestic trade, subsistence use, 
disease, and habitat loss; and
    (vi) Ensures that the methods of capture, transport, and maintenance 
of the species minimize the risk of injury, damage to health, and 
inhumane treatment; and
    (3) If the species has a multi-national distribution:
    (i) Whether populations of the species in other countries in which 
it occurs will not be detrimentally affected by exports of the species 
from the country requesting approval;
    (ii) Whether factors affecting conservation of the species, 
including export from other countries, illegal trade, domestic use, or 
subsistence use are regulated throughout the range of the species so 
that recruitment and/or breeding stocks of the species will not be 
detrimentally affected by the proposed export;
    (iii) Whether the projected take and export will not detrimentally 
affect breeding populations; and
    (iv) Whether the projected take and export will not detrimentally 
affect existing enhancement activities, conservation programs, or 
enforcement efforts throughout the species' range.

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    (4) For purposes of applying the criterion in paragraph (b)(2)(iv) 
of this section, the Director may give positive consideration to plans 
wherein very conservative capture and export quotas are implemented 
prior to being able to obtain all of the biological information 
necessary for a more large-scale management plan, if the country can 
demonstrate that such conservative capture and export quotas are non-
detrimental to the species survival in the wild under the criterion in 
paragraph (b)(2)(iv) of this section.
    (c) Publication in the Federal Register. The Director shall publish 
notice in the Federal Register of the availability of each complete 
sustainable use management plan received under paragraph (a) of this 
section. Each notice shall invite the submission from interested parties 
of written data, views, or arguments with respect to the proposed 
approval.
    (d) Duration of approval. A species and country of export listed in 
section 15.33 as approved shall be approved for 3 years, at which time 
renewal of approval shall be considered by the Service.

[61 FR 2091, Jan. 24, 1996]