16 U.S.C. § 3113
Section 3113 · Definitions
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 21 court decisions — leading case Amoco Production Co. v. Village of Gambell (1987)
Most recently applied in Alaska Department of Fish and Game v. Federal Subsistence Board (June 2025)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
As used in this Act, the term “subsistence uses” means the customary and traditional uses by rural Alaska residents of wild, renewable resources for direct personal or family consumption as food, shelter, fuel, clothing, tools, or transportation; for the making and selling of handicraft articles out of nonedible byproducts of fish and wildlife resources taken for personal or family consumption; for barter, or sharing for personal or family consumption; and for customary trade. For the purposes of this section, the term—
(1) “family” means all persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption, or any person living within the household on a permanent basis;
(2) “barter” means the exchange of fish or wildlife or their parts, taken for subsistence uses—
(A) for other fish or game or their parts; or
(B) for other food or for nonedible items other than money if the exchange is of a limited and noncommercial nature;
(3) “customary and traditional uses” means the noncommercial, long-term, and consistent taking of, use of, or reliance upon fish and wildlife in a specific area and the patterns and practices of taking or use of that fish and wildlife that have been established over a reasonable period of time, taking into consideration the availability of the fish and wildlife;
(4) “customary trade” means, except for money sales of furs and furbearers, the limited noncommercial exchange for money of fish and wildlife or their parts in minimal quantities; and
(5) “rural Alaska resident” means a resident of a rural community or area. A “rural community or area” means a community or area substantially dependent on fish and wildlife for nutritional and other subsistence uses.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendment of Section
For repeal of amendment by section 316(d) of Pub. L. 105–83, see Effective and Termination Dates of 1997 Amendment note below.
References in Text
This Act, referred to in provision preceding par. (1), is Pub. L. 96–487, Dec. 2, 1980, 94 Stat. 2371, as amended, known as the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 3101 of this title and Tables.
Amendments
1997—Pars. (3) to (5). Pub. L. 105–83 added pars. (3) to (5). See Effective and Termination Dates of 1997 Amendment note below.
Effective and Termination Dates of 1997 Amendment
Until laws are adopted in Alaska which provide for definition, preference, and participation specified in sections 3113 to 3115 of this title, amendment by Pub. L. 105–83 effective only for purpose of determining whether State's laws provide for such definition, preference, and participation, and such amendment repealed on Dec. 1, 1998, if Secretary has not certified that such laws have been adopted in Alaska by such date, see section 316(d) of Pub. L. 105–83 set out as a note under section 3102 of this title.