Determination as to when and how migratory birds may be taken, killed, or possessed

Subject to the provisions and in order to carry out the purposes of the conventions, referred to in section 703 of this title , the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed, from time to time, having due regard to the zones of temperature and to the distribution, abundance, economic value, breeding habits, and times and lines of migratory flight of such birds, to determine when, to what extent, if at all, and by what means, it is compatible with the terms of the conventions to allow hunting, taking, capture, killing, possession, sale, purchase, shipment, transportation, carriage, or export of any such bird, or any part, nest, or egg thereof, and to adopt suitable regulations permitting and governing the same, in accordance with such determinations, which regulations shall become effective when approved by the President.

( July 3, 1918, ch. 128, § 3 , 40 Stat. 755 ; June 20, 1936, ch. 634, § 2 , 49 Stat. 1556 ; 1939 Reorg. Plan No. II, § 4(f), eff. July 1, 1939 , 4 F.R. 2731, 53 Stat. 1433 ; Pub. L. 105–312, title I, § 102 , Oct. 30, 1998 , 112 Stat. 2956 ; Pub. L. 116–9, title IV, § 4301 , Mar. 12, 2019 , 133 Stat. 764 .)