Bill to improve regulation of invasive species introduced

[Cara J]

On July 14, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) introduced the Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act of 2016.This legislation aims to streamline and improve regulations that prevent the introduction and spread of injurious species – or any species that could cause harm to human or wildlife resources in the United States. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has authorization to manage for the prevention and control of injurious species under the Lacey Act. Enacted in 1900, the Lacey Act regulates the importation, sale, and interstate transport of illegally harvested and protected species and provides a framework to regulate the import of injurious plant and wildlife species. Under the proposed legislation, changes include a provision that would allow any interested party to submit a petition to designate a family, genus, species, subspecies, or hybrid species as injurious. If the petition is deemed complete and presents sufficient evidence for a designation, FWS would conduct a scientific risk assessment and a risk management determination, submit the proposed rule on the Federal Register, and accept public comments. The scientific risk assessments and risk management determinations would be based on sound science and would consider multiple factors, including the species’ potential [...]

 

Read more: http://wildlife.org/bill-to-improve-regulation-of-invasive-species-introduced/