16 U.S.C. § 5501
Section 5501 · Purpose
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Turtle Island Restoration Network v. National Marine Fisheries Service (2003)
Most recently applied in Am. Tunaboat Ass'n v. Ross (July 2019)
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.
It is the purpose of this chapter—
(1) to implement the Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas, adopted by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on November 24, 1993; and
(2) to establish a system of permitting, reporting, and regulation for vessels of the United States fishing on the high seas.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this Act”, and was translated as reading “this title”, meaning title I of Pub. L. 104–43, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.
Effective Date
Section 111 of title I of Pub. L. 104–43 provided that: “This title [enacting this chapter] shall take effect 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act [Nov. 3, 1995].”
Short Title
Section 1 of Pub. L. 104–43 provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter, chapters 76 (§5601 et seq.) and 77 (§5701 et seq.) of this title, sections 971j, 971k, and 1826d to 1826g of this title, and sections 1980a and 1980b of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse, amending sections 971, 971b, 971c to 971e, 971h, 971i, 973g, 1383a, and 5002 of this title and section 1977 of Title 22, enacting provisions set out as notes under this section, sections 971, 971c, 1383a, 1801, 1821, 1823, 1826d, 5601, and 5701 of this title, and section 1980a of Title 22, and amending provisions set out as a note under section 1823 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Fisheries Act of 1995’.”
Section 101 of title I of Pub. L. 104–43 provided that: “This title [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘High Seas Fishing Compliance Act of 1995’.”