United States Department of the Interior                                        FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE                                                   Washington, D.C. 20240

SUBJECT: North American Waterfowl Management Plan

A. POLICY: The United States subscribes to the population and habitat goals of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (Appendix) and challenges all those who enjoy and benefit from waterfowl to contribute their share towards its attainment.

B. PRINCIPLES:

1. Protection of waterfowl and their habitats requires long-term planning and the close cooperation and coordination of management activities by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, within the framework of the 1916 and 1936 Migratory Bird Conventions.

2. In waterfowl management decisions and actions, first priority should be to perpetuate waterfowl populations and their supporting habitats. Management actions should be at intensities required to prevent the individual waterfowl populations from decreasing to low levels and to encourage optimum use of all available habitat.

3. The maintenance of abundant waterfowl populations is dependent on the protection, restoration and management of habitat. The persistent loss of important waterfowl habitat should be reversed.

4. Waterfowl populations should be managed by identifiable subpopulations where these can be biologically justified and for which management regimes are feasible.

5. joint ventures of private and government organizations should be considered as an approach to financing high-priority research and management projects of international concern that can only be addressed through a pooling of resources.

6. The managed subsistence and recreation harvests of the renewable waterfowl resource are desirable and consistent with its conservation.

7. Recreational hunting will continue to be managed under existing regulatory processes in Canada and the United States. These processes will be subject to continuous review to ensure they are compatible and consistent with waterfowl population needs on a continental basis, and to evaluate their environmental impacts and to ensure public participation.

8. The concept of stabilizing hunting regulations - with review at five-year intervals and provisions for predetermined responses to substantive waterfowl population fluctuations - is desirable to encourage long-term waterfowl management efforts.

C. IMPLEMENTING INSTRUCTIONS: See 661 FW 1,  2,  3,  4 .

D. INCORPORATION: This issuance incorporates the North American Waterfowl Management Plan into the National Policy Issuance system. The Plan was signed by the Minister of Environment.(Canada) and the Secretary of the Interior (United States) on May 14, 1986.

Date: 15 Nov 96                                                      Bruce Blanchard
                                                                                Deputy Director - Staff

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