Source: https://casetext.com/case/sierra-club-v-clark-4
Timestamp: 2019-02-20 20:28:29
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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1531', '§ 1532', '§ 1532', '§ 17', '§ 1538', '§ 1533', '§ 27', '§ 1531', '§ 1539', '§ 4', 'art, 461', '§ 1532', '§ 1539', '§ 1539', '§ 1531', '§ 1532', '§ 1532', '§ 1532', '§ 1532', '§ 1533', '§ 1538', '§ 1539']

Sierra Club v. Clark, 755 F.2d 608 | Casetext
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Sierra Clubv.Clark
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth CircuitFeb 19, 1985
…Congress has specifically limited the hunting of a threatened or endangered species to extraordinary cases of…
In re Review of 2005 Adj. of Charges
…When an agency seeks to deviate from its prior decisions, the agency is charged with setting forth a reasoned…
stating that the Conference Report is an authoritative source of congressional intent
Summary of this case from Defenders of Wildlife v. Lujan
invalidating regulation on ground that it exceeded scope of Secretary&apos;s authority to provide for the "conservation" of threatened species
stating that "[b]ecause a conference report represents the final statement of terms agreed to by both houses, next to the statute itself it is the most persuasive evidence of congressional intent."
Summary of this case from Owner-Operator Indep. Drivers v. United Van Lines
Nos. 84-5042, 84-5134.
Submitted October 10, 1984.
Dianne H. Kelly, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for appellants.
Philip Olfelt, Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Minn., for amicus curiae.
Brian B. O'Neill, Amy B. Bromberg, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellees.
The chief issue before us is whether the Secretary of the Interior is authorized by the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. § 1531-1543 (1982), to issue regulations permitting the sport trapping of the Eastern Timber Wolf. Also in question are the legality of certain additional regulations expanding the predation control program of the wolf in northern Minnesota and the propriety of attorneys' fees awarded the Sierra Club. The district court concluded that public hunting of a threatened species such as the Eastern Timber Wolf is prohibited by the Act except in the extraordinary case where population pressures within the animal's ecosystem cannot otherwise be relieved. As the government had made no such showing, a motion for summary judgment that the sport trapping regulations violate the Endangered Species Act was granted. The district court also concluded that the additional regulations expanding the predation control program of the wolf were illegal, as they were made without explanation. It awarded the Sierra Club $55,369.45 under the attorney fee provision of the Endangered Species Act. We affirm the judgment of the district court as to the sport trapping of the wolf, reverse and remand as to the predation control regulations, and affirm the attorneys' fee award.
The Honorable Miles W. Lord, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
Minnesota's gray wolf population was originally listed as "endangered" under the Act. However, after the Eastern Timber Wolf Recovery Team, a body of experts created pursuant to the Act and charged with the development of plans for the conservation and survival of the gray wolf, recommended that "depredation control" be used where wolves were killing domestic animals, in 1978 the Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified the gray wolf as "threatened" in Minnesota and allowed trapping of depredating wolves. The implementing regulations were litigated in Fund for Animals v. Andrus, 11 Env't.Rep.Cas. (BNA) 2189 (D.Minn. 1978). The district court enjoined the Fish and Wildlife Service from trapping wolves unless such action was necessary and was directed to the removal of specific wolves reasonably believed to have committed significant depredation upon livestock. Id. at 2200-01. The court later amended its order to restrict trapping to within one-quarter mile of the place where the predation occurred. Id. at 2203.
An "endangered species" is defined as "any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range." 16 U.S.C. § 1532(6).
A "threatened species" is "any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future." 16 U.S.C. § 1532(20).
In July 1982, however, the Service published proposed regulations granting the DNR's request for public sport trapping of the wolf. Comments were accepted, and public hearings were held in August 1982. On August 10, 1983, regulations were promulgated allowing public trapping of wolves with certain restrictions. The regulations also modify the existing livestock predation control program: wolves may be taken within one-half mile of the farm where predation occurred; taking is not limited to individual predator wolves; there is no express requirement that wolves be taken in a humane manner.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources sources may permit persons to take a gray wolf in zones 3, 4, and 5, as delineated in paragraph (d)(1) of this section: Provided that
(1) Such taking shall be permitted not more than 5 miles inside the boundary of zone 3, in areas of recurring wolf depredation on lawfully present domestic animals; and the extent of such taking shall be adjusted periodically to maintain an average population density of not less than 1 wolf per 10 square miles (the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources shall determine population density on the basis of generally accepted wildlife census techniques);
(2) In zone 4, such taking shall be permitted primarily in areas of recurring depredation, and the extent of such taking shall be adjusted periodically to maintain an average population density in the zone of not less than 1 wolf per 50 square miles (the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources shall determine population density on the basis of generally accepted census techniques); and
(3) During the first year after the effective date of these regulations, not more than 50 gray wolves may be taken by the public in zone 4.
50 C.F.R. § 17.40(d)(2)(i)(C) (1983).
Designated employees or agents of the Service or the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources may take a gray wolf without a permit in Minnesota, in zones 2, 3, 4, and 5, as delineated in paragraph (d)(1) of this section, in response to depredations by a gray wolf on lawfully present domestic animals: Provided, that such taking must occur within one-half mile of the place where such depredation occurred.
Sierra Club v. Clark, 577 F. Supp. 783, 787 (D.Minn. 1984).
The Secretary argues that in denying him discretion to allow public sport trapping of the wolf the district court has destroyed the distinction made in the Act between endangered and threatened species. The Secretary claims that while Congress imposed in 16 U.S.C. § 1538(a)(1) a set of mandatory prohibitions regarding endangered species, including the taking of such species, it sought to protect threatened species by providing that "the Secretary shall issue such regulations as he deems necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of such species," further clarifying and particularizing the directive by providing that "the Secretary may by regulation prohibit * * * any act prohibited under section 1538(a)(1)." 16 U.S.C. § 1533(d). Thus, argues the Secretary, Congress granted him discretion to determine whether to impose section 1538(a)(1) prohibitions, including the prohibition on taking, for a threatened species.
As the disposition of this case turns upon the relationship of several provisions of the Endangered Species Act, Appendix A sets out in sequence the relevant sections.
In interpreting these provisions, our starting point must be the plain language of the statute. Kosak v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S.Ct. 1519, 1523, 79 L.Ed.2d 860 (1984); United States v. Weber Aircraft Corp., ___ U.S. ___, 104 S.Ct. 1488, 1492, 79 L.Ed.2d 814 (1984). Further, we bear in mind that statutory definitions of words used elsewhere in the same statute furnish such authoritative evidence of legislative intent and meaning that they are usually given controlling effect. See Walling v. Portland Terminal Co., 330 U.S. 148, 67 S.Ct. 639, 91 L.Ed. 809 (1947). "Such internal legislative construction is of the highest value and prevails over * * * other extrinsic aids." 1A C. Sands, Statutes and Statutory Construction § 27.02, at 310 (4th ed. 1972). Here the plain language of the statute, including its definitional provisions, compels us to agree with the district court "that before the taking of a threatened animal can occur, a determination must be made that population pressures within the animal's ecosystem cannot otherwise be relieved." 577 F. Supp. at 787. Otherwise, such taking would not constitute an act of conservation under the Act and would fall without the scope of authority granted to the Secretary.
In reaching this conclusion, we are mindful that the Endangered Species Act is a law of limited scope whose provisions must be read together. In carrying out our duty of ascertaining and applying the intent of Congress, we must "interpret language in one section of a statute consistently with language of other sections and with the purposes of the entire statute considered as a whole." Adams v. Howerton, 673 F.2d 1036, 1040 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 458 U.S. 1111, 102 S.Ct. 3494, 73 L.Ed.2d 1373 (1982). The provision under examination, section 1533(d), looks in two directions in the Act: first, as we have already observed, toward the definition of "conservation" in section 1532(3); second, by specific reference, toward section 1538(a)(1). If we turn to section 1538, we find that it prohibits, among other acts, the taking of any endangered species. Once again, we must turn to section 1532(19) for a statutory definition of taking. Further, we note that the terms "endangered species" and "threatened species" are also defined in section 1532(6) and (20) respectively. Thus, as we trace out the meaning of the provisions of section 1533(d), it becomes abundantly clear that the interrelationship of the various sections of the Act is crucial to the task of proper discernment. Congress declared as its policy in the Act "that all Federal departments and agencies shall seek to conserve endangered species and threatened species." 16 U.S.C. § 1531(c)(1) (emphasis added). This underscores the significance of the term "conservation" which appears so frequently in the Act. To fail to use Congress' definition of this key term would be to refuse to give effect to a crucial part of the enacted statutory law. See 1A C. Sands, supra, at 310.
In fact, no fewer than nine terms defined in section 1532 — "person," "United States," "endangered species," "import," "take," "fish or wild life," "species," "commercial activity," and "Secretary" — appear in section 1538(a)(1).
Section 1538(a)(1) strictly forbids the taking of an endangered animal under any circumstances. Only with regard to a threatened species may the Secretary exercise his discretion by ordering the taking of an animal. This discretion, however, is limited by that language found in the Act — only in the extraordinary case where population pressures within the ecosystem cannot otherwise be relieved can the Secretary permit the regulated taking of a threatened species.
The levels of protection afforded threatened and endangered species are, of course, subject to the provisions of 16 U.S.C. § 1539(a)(1)(A):
The Secretary may permit, under such terms and conditions as he shall prescribe — * * * any act otherwise prohibited by section 1538 of this title for scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species.
While this exception does not authorize establishment of a public sport season, it does give the Secretary discretion to permit, for example, the removal of depredating animals or the culling of diseased animals from a population, thus allaying the dissent's concern that the Secretary would be unduly restricted if faced by such problems.
577 F. Supp. at 788 (emphasis in original).
The Secretary argues at length that legislative history reveals a congressional intent to give the Secretary discretion to allow taking of threatened species. We must interpret the statute in light of the purposes Congress sought to serve, Chapman v. Houston Welfare Rights Organization, 441 U.S. 600, 608, 99 S.Ct. 1905, 1911, 60 L.Ed.2d 508 (1979), and legislative history may play an important part in discerning these purposes. However, contrary to the Secretary's position, we find that the legislative history supports our interpretation of the Act.
Normally, legislative history is relied on only when the language of the statute is ambiguous. In Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153, 98 S.Ct. 2279, 57 L.Ed.2d 117 (1978), Chief Justice Burger commented on the relevance of the legislative history of the Endangered Species Act to the construction of the statute:
When confronted with a statute which is plain and unambiguous on its face, we ordinarily do not look to legislative history as a guide to its meaning. * * * Here it is not necessary to look beyond the words of the statute. We have undertaken such an analysis only to meet * * * [the dissent's] suggestion that the "absurd" result reached in this case * * * is not in accord with congressional intent.
437 U.S. at 184 n. 29, 98 S.Ct. 2296-97 n. 29 (emphasis in original).
In view of the varying responsibilities assigned to the administering agencies in the bill, the term [conservation] was redefined to include generally the kinds of activities that might be engaged in to improve the status of endangered and threatened species so that they would no longer require special treatment. The concept of conservation covers the full spectrum of such activities: from total "hands-off" policies involving protection from harassment to a careful and intensive program of control. In extreme circumstances, as where a given species exceeds the carrying capacity of its particular ecosystem and where this pressure can be relieved in no other feasible way, this "conservation" might include authority for carefully controlled taking of surplus members of the species. To state that this possibility exists, however, in no way is intended to suggest that this extreme situation is likely to occur — it is just to say that the authority exists in the unlikely event that it ever becomes needed.
Conf.Rep. No. 740, 93rd Cong., 1st Sess. 23, reprinted in 1973 U.S. Code Cong. Ad. News 2989, 3001, 3002 (emphasis added). Because a "conference report represents the final statement of terms agreed to by both houses, next to the statute itself it is the most persuasive evidence of congressional intent." Demby v. Schweiker, 671 F.2d 507, 510 (D.C. Cir. 1981). The unambiguous language of this conference report must be given great weight.
H.R. Rep. No. 412, 93rd Cong., 1st Sess. 12 (1973) (emphasis added).
It is clear from the remainder of the report, however, that such options were to be exercised only in the promulgation of regulations that "would serve to conserve, protect, or restore the species concerned in accordance with the purposes of the Act" which were, inter alia, "to provide a means for protecting the ecosystems upon which we and other species depend" and "to provide a specific program for the protection of endangered [and threatened] species." H.R. Rep. No. 412, supra, at 10, 11. The "almost infinite options," then, had to serve the purpose of protection and conservation of the threatened species.
4(e) PROTECTIVE REGULATIONS. — Whenever the Secretary lists a species of fish or wildlife as a threatened species, pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, he shall issue such regulations as he deems necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation and management of such species. With respect to any threatened species, the Secretary may by regulation prohibit any act prohibited with respect to an endangered species under section 10(a) of this Act.
3(1) "Conservation" and "management" mean the collection and application of biological information for the purposes of increasing and maintaining the number of animals within species and populations of endangered and threatened species at the optimum carrying capacity of their habitat. Such terms include the entire scope of activities that constitute a modern scientific resources program, including, but not limited to, research, census, law enforcement, and habitat acquisition and improvement. Also included within these terms when and where appropriate, is the protection, propagation, conservation and restoration of such species, including regulation and taking necessary to these ends.
S. 1983, 93rd Cong., 1st Sess. §§ 4(e) 3(1) (1973) (emphasis added).
As the Sierra Club points out, the terms "management" and "optimum carrying capacity" are terms of art in the field of wildlife management. These terms are used to describe approaches to "manipulation [of species] . . . to produce `harvestable surpluses' . . . for the benefit of hunters and fisherman who pay for the management programs." Coggins Ward, The Law of Wildlife Management on the Federal Public Lands, 60 Or.L.Rev. 59, 66 (1981). Therefore, the Senate bill envisioned management of threatened species in order to allow public sport taking of the animals.
Thus, the Senate and House bills were in conflict when they reached the Conference Committee. The Conference Committee eliminated the terms "management" and "optimum carrying capacity." "Conservation" was redefined "to include the full spectrum of" activities "that might be engaged in to improve the status of endangered and threatened species so that they would no longer require special treatment." Conf.Rep. No. 740, supra, at 23, U.S. Code Cong. Admin. News 1973, p. 3002. It was in conjunction with these changes in the bill that the Committee stated that controlled taking should be limited to "extreme circumstances, as where a given species exceeds the carrying capacity of its particular ecosystem and where this pressure can be relieved in no other feasible way." Id. We cannot agree with the Secretary that these changes and comments merely reflect an "unarticulated" or "nonexistent House view." Rather, they appear to have been a deliberate response to the concept of "management" in the Senate bill and an intentional limitation of the Secretary's discretion to allow the regulated taking of threatened species.
The Secretary makes much of the opinions expressed by various officials of interested federal agencies at hearings on the bill. These opinions need not detain us, given the evolution of congressional intent we have traced out above. Testimony given at congressional hearings should not be accorded undue weight as an indication of legislative intent since the views expressed by witnesses at congressional hearings are not necessarily the same as those of the legislators ultimately voting on the bill. Austasia Intermodal Lines, Ltd. v. Federal Maritime Commission, 580 F.2d 642, 645 (D.C. Cir. 1978).
Petitioners invoke the maxim that states:
"Subsequent legislation declaring the intent of an earlier statute is entitled to great weight in statutory construction." * * * With respect to subsequent legislation, however, Congress has proceeded formally through the legislative process. A mere statement in a conference report of such legislation as to what the Committee believes an earlier statute meant is obviously less weighty.
447 U.S. at 118 n. 13, 100 S.Ct. at 2061 n. 13 (citations omitted) (emphasis in original); see also Oscar Mayer Co. v. Evans, 441 U.S. 750, 758, 99 S.Ct. 2066, 2072, 60 L.Ed.2d 609 (1979) (whatever evidence concerning Congress' intent in enacting a certain provision might be provided by a committee report written eleven years later was plainly insufficient to overcome clear and convincing evidence concerning congressional intent at the time of the enactment).
The legislative history relied on by the Secretary involves the 1982 amendments to the Act, in which Congress included a new section, 10(j), dealing with experimental populations of endangered or threatened species purposely introduced into areas outside their current range to further their conservation. The Senate Committee Report regarding the amendment states that the Secretary may regulate conservation of such populations, including, where appropriate, direct taking. The Secretary argues that the language of the report "flatly contradicts" the district court's interpretation of permissible taking. We think it significant, however, that the report was concerned with regulation of experimental populations. It may well be that the discretion given the Secretary in section 1539 would extend to the taking of animals in experimental populations in the case described in the report. It does not follow that the report authorizes or approves of sport taking of threatened species. We must conclude that the legislative history of the Act supports the conclusions we reached above regarding the statutory language.
All experimental populations, once determined to be such, are to be treated as though they have been separately listed as threatened species. This provision obliges the Secretary to issue such regulations as he deems necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of the experimental population, just as he now does under subsection 4(d) for any other threatened species.
The purpose of requiring the Secretary to proceed by regulation is to provide a vehicle for the development of special regulations for each experimental population that will address the particular needs for that population. The Secretary is granted broad flexibility in promulgating regulations to protect threatened species. These regulations may even allow the taking of threatened animals. * * Where appropriate, the regulations may allow for the direct taking of experimental populations. For example, regulations pertaining to the release of experimental populations of predators, such as red wolves, will probably allow for the taking of these animals if depredations occur or if the release of these populations will continue to be frustrated by public opposition.
S.Rep. No. 418, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. 8 (1982).
In addition to the regulations allowing a sport season, * * * the Secretary has sought to expand the current livestock predation control program beyond its present limits. The area in which the wolves may be trapped has gone from one-quarter mile, as previously ordered, to within one-half mile of the farm where the depredation occurred. More than that, there would no longer be a requirement that the trapper determine with reasonable cause the identity of the predating wolf or wolves. In addition, there would not be a requirement that the wolf or wolves be taken in a humane manner. These changes in the law are made without explanation. Certainly this court would encourage any changes in the predation control program that would help the government trapper along with taking as few wolves as possible. These new regulations, however, are not justified on that basis. This court has no choice but to conclude that these new regulations only go toward expanding the unnecessary taking of wolves, rather than being designed in accordance to the previous rulings of this court. Accordingly, these regulations concerning the predation control program are also determined to be illegal under the Endangered Species Act.
577 F. Supp. at 790.
The remaining issue is the propriety of the fees awarded Sierra Club's counsel by the district court. The district court made the following findings as to lodestar figures and other costs:Hourly Rate Hours Total Attorneys: Other costs:
Brian O'Neill $115 221 $25,415.00 Amy Bromberg 60 124 7,440.00 Legal Assistants 213.75 Disbursements and Expenses 5,244.20 Student Interns 10 720 7,200.00 ---------- $45,512.95 ---------- [44] A 30% upward adjustment was then applied to the lodestar figures for the two attorneys, making the total fees and expenses awarded $55,369.45.
The Secretary argues in response that Blum v. Stenson, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S.Ct. 1541, 1549, 79 L.Ed.2d 891 (1984), held that "[n]either complexity nor novelty of the issues * * * is an appropriate factor in determining whether to increase the basic fee award," since such factors will be reflected in the numbers of hours devoted to the matter and the determination of a reasonable hourly rate. While the point is well taken, Blum also cites with approval the recognition in Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 1940, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983), that "in some cases of exceptional success an enhanced award may be justified." While the issue is close, after carefully considering the case as a whole and the various factors enunciated by the district court, we cannot conclude that the court abused its discretion in enhancing the award or that such enhancement is contrary to the principles of Blum.
The Court also noted that "[i]n these circumstances the fee award should not be reduced simply because the plaintiff failed to prevail on every contention raised in the lawsuit." 103 S.Ct. at 1940.
[49] ROSS, Circuit Judge, dissenting.
16 U.S.C. § 1532(3) (1982) (emphasis added).
The plain language of the statute refuses to limit the methods available to the Secretary. Yet, the majority opinion concludes that "section 1532 * * * limits the Secretary's discretion as to threatened species" to the case where such species exceeds the population limits of its ecosystem. Ante at 614 (emphasis added). This approach entirely ignores the "but are not limited to" language of section 1532(3).
Even the legislative history relied upon by the majority opinion supports a conclusion that Congress did not intend to adopt the approach taken by the trial court. The legislative history cited by the majority states that: "In extreme circumstances, as where a given species exceeds the carrying capacity of its particular ecosystem and where this pressure can be relieved in no other feasible way, this `conservation' might include authority for carefully controlled taking of surplus members of the species." Ante at 615 (emphasis added). See also ante at 617. The "as where" language clearly indicates that Congress intended that the existence of population pressures was only one example of when regulated taking might serve a conservation purpose.
The majority notes that my concerns with the imposition of undue restrictions on available conservation methods are allayed by the provisions of 16 U.S.C. § 1539(a)(1)(A). Ante at 614, n. 8. This provision grants the Secretary the authority to permit " any act * * * to enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species." If this provision were properly applied by the majority, my concerns in this case would indeed be allayed, since § 1539(a)(1)(A) would permit the use of a public sport season as a conservation method if such method would enhance the propagation or survival of the timber wolf. Again, however, the majority reads a limitation on the use of conservation methods into a provision where no limitation is either written or intended.
In sum, I would remand the case for a determination as to whether the Secretary's regulations further a conservation purpose. If it were established that this purpose could be furthered by letting the public kill wolves for sport and sell the pelts, then this method would not be foreclosed by the Endangered Species Act. In fact, the Endangered Species Act might actually require that this method be used. The majority's approach is overbroad and thus detrimental to possible future beneficial uses of regulated taking as a method of conservation. Accordingly, I must dissent.
16 U.S.C. § 1531 16 U.S.C. § 1532 16 U.S.C. § 1532 16 U.S.C. § 1532 16 U.S.C. § 1532 16 U.S.C. § 1533 16 U.S.C. § 1538 16 U.S.C. § 1539 (c)(1): It is further declared to be the policy of Congress that all Federal departments and agencies shall seek to conserve endangered species and threatened species and shall utilize their authorities in furtherance of the purposes of this chapter. (3): The terms "conserve", "conserving", and "conservation" mean to use and the use of all methods and procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered species or threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to this chapter are no longer necessary. Such methods and procedures include, but are not limited to, all activities associated with scientific resources management such as research, census, law enforcement, habitat acquisition and maintenance, propagation, live trapping, and transplantation, and, in the extraordinary case where population pressures within a given ecosystem cannot be otherwise relieved, may include regulated taking. (6): The term "endangered species" means any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range other than a species of the Class Insecta determined by the Secretary to constitute a pest whose protection under the provisions of this chapter would present an overwhelming and overriding risk to man. (19): The term "take" means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct. (20): The term "threatened species" means any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. (d): Whenever any species is listed as a threatened species pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, the Secretary shall issue such regulations as he deems necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of such species. The Secretary may by regulation prohibit with respect to any threatened species any act prohibited under section 1538(a)(1) of this title, in the case of fish or wildlife, or section 1538(a)(2) of this title, in the case of plants, with respect to endangered species; except that with respect to the taking of resident species of fish or wildlife, such regulations shall apply in any State which has entered into a cooperative agreement pursuant to section 1535(c) of this title only to the extent that such regulations have also been adopted by such State. (a)(1)(B): Except as provided in sections 1535(g)(2) and 1539 of this title, with respect to any endangered species of fish or wildlife listed pursuant to section 1533 of this title it is unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to — take any such species within the United States or the territorial sea of the United States. (a)(1)(A): The Secretary may permit, under such terms and conditions as he shall prescribe — any act otherwise prohibited by section 1538 of this title for scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species, including, but not limited to, acts necessary for the establishment and maintenance of experimental populations pursuant to subsection (j) of this section.