Christopher

Earth Island Institute appeals the district court’s dismissal for lack of jurisdiction of its lawsuit to enforce the provisions of section 609 of Public Law 101-162, 103 Stat. 1037, which is codified in 16 U.S.C. § 1537 (Supp. 1993). The purpose of the statute is to promote the international protection of sea turtles.

Sea turtles are often trapped in the nets used in commercial shrimp trawl fishing and are then vulnerable to drowning. In response to this problem, scientists in this country developed “turtle excluder devices,” (“TED’s”) to prevent the accidental drowning of turtles. Federal regulations mandated the use of TED’s in this country. See 52 Fed. Reg. 24,244 (June 29, 1987). The goal of section 609 is to encourage foreign shrimp trawlers to use similar methods to protect sea turtles.

*650 The statute has two subsections. Subsection (a) requires the Secretary of State to initiate negotiations with foreign countries to develop treaties to protect sea turtles, and to report to Congress about such negotiations. Subsection (b) requires limitations on the importation of shrimp from nations that have not moved to protect sea turtles. If the President certifies that a country…

dissenting in part:

I concur in part 1 of the majority’s opinion, dealing with appellants’ challenge under section 609(b). I agree that section 609(b) provides for an “embargo or other quantitative restriction” on trade, and that the Court of International Trade has exclusive jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1518 (i).

I cannot agree with the majority’s treatment of the 609(a) claim, however, because I believe we lack jurisdiction over that claim as well.

28 U.S.C. § 1518 (i) provides, in relevant part:

(Emphasis added). In my view, the import of this provision is clear: any action against the government commenced under section 609 must be maintained in the CIT. Because that court has exclusive jurisdiction, we have none at all. We cannot pass on the validity, constitutional or otherwise, of section 609(a) in this ease.

I do not believe we are free to parse apart the statute to address the one subsection which does not at its core meet the CIT criteria. Even though the 609(a) claim does not itself seek an embargo or other quantitative restriction, it cannot be disputed that it “arises out of a law (§ 609) providing for embargoes or other quantitative restrictions.” Part 1…