Message to the Senate transmitting the Mexico-United States Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds and Game Mammals and Documentation

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 22, 1997

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 Protocol Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Mexican States Amending the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds and Game Mammals, signed at Mexico City on May 5, 1997 ("the Mexico Protocol"). I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the report of the Department of State with respect to the Mexico Protocol.

In concert with a similar Protocol between the Governments of the United States and Canada, the Mexico Protocol represents a considerable achievement for the United States in conserving migratory birds and balancing the interests of conservationsts, sports hunters, and indigenous people. The Protocol should further enhance the management of and protection of this important resource for the benefit of all users.

The Mexico Protocol is particularly important because it will permit the full implementation of the Protocol Amending the 1916 Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds in Canada and the United States ("the Canada Protocol") that is pending before the Senate at this time. The Canada Protocol is an important agreement that addresses the management of a spring/summer subsistence hunt of waterfowl in communities in Alaska and northern Canada. The Mexico Protocol conforms the Canadian and Mexican migratory bird conventions in a manner that will permit a legal and regulated spring/summer subsistence hunt in Canada and the United States.

I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to the Protocol and give its advice and consent to ratification.

William J. Clinton