---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 2431"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "2431"
heading: "Findings and purpose"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/2431"
units:
  - "Chapter 44A — Antarctic Marine Living Resources Convention"
---

# §2431. Findings and purpose

- (a) **Findings—** The Congress finds that—
  - (1) the [Convention](/usc/16/2432.md?p=4) on the Conservation of [Antarctic Marine Living Resources](/usc/16/2432.md?p=2) establishes international mechanisms and creates legal obligations necessary for the protection and conservation of [Antarctic marine living resources](/usc/16/2432.md?p=2);
  - (2) the [Convention](/usc/16/2432.md?p=4) incorporates an innovative ecosystem approach to the management of [Antarctic marine living resources](/usc/16/2432.md?p=2), including standards designed to ensure the health of the individual populations and species and to maintain the health of the Antarctic marine ecosystem as a whole;
  - (3) the [Convention](/usc/16/2432.md?p=4) serves important United States environmental and resource management interests;
  - (4) the [Convention](/usc/16/2432.md?p=4) represents an important contribution to United States long term legal and political objectives of maintenance of Antarctica as an [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) of peaceful international cooperation;
  - (5) United States basic and directed research programs concerning the marine living resources of the Antarctic are essential to achieve the United States goal of effective implementation of the objectives of the [Convention](/usc/16/2432.md?p=4); and
  - (6) the United States has important security, economic, and environmental interests in developing and maintaining a fleet of icebreaking vessels capable of operating effectively in the heavy ice regions of Antarctica.
- (b) **Purpose—** The purpose of this chapter is to provide the legislative authority necessary to implement, with respect to the United States, the [Convention](/usc/16/2432.md?p=4) on the Conservation of [Antarctic Marine Living Resources](/usc/16/2432.md?p=2).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–623, title III, § 302, Nov. 8, 1984, 98 Stat. 3398.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

Pub. L. 98–623, title III, § 301, Nov. 8, 1984, 98 Stat. 3398, provided that: “This title [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Antarctic Marine Living Resources Convention Act of 1984’.”