16 USC § 745 - Powers of Secretary

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t16/s745"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "16 USC § 745 - Powers of Secretary"
title_number: 16
title_name: "CONSERVATION"
section_number: "745"
section_name: "Powers of Secretary"
chapter_number: 9
chapter_name: "FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(R.S. § 4398; 1940 Reorg. Plan No. III, § 3, eff. June 30, 1940, 5 F.R. 2108, 54 Stat. 1232; 1970 Reorg. Plan No. 4, eff. Oct. 3, 1970, 35 F.R. 15627, 84 Stat. 2090.)"
---


# § 745. Powers of Secretary

The Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Commerce, as appropriate, may take or cause to be taken at all times, in the waters of the seacoast of the United States, where the tide ebbs and flows, and also in the waters of the lakes, such fish or specimens thereof as may in his judgment, from time to time, be needful or proper for the conduct of his duties, any law, custom, or usage of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

---

**Source Credit**: (R.S. § 4398; 1940 Reorg. Plan No. III, § 3, eff. June 30, 1940, 5 F.R. 2108, 54 Stat. 1232; 1970 Reorg. Plan No. 4, eff. Oct. 3, 1970, 35 F.R. 15627, 84 Stat. 2090.)

## Editorial Notes

### Codification

R.S. § 4398 derived from Res. , No. 22, § 4, .

## Executive Documents

### Transfer of Functions

Secretary of the Interior or Secretary of Commerce, as appropriate, substituted for Director of Fish and Wildlife Service in view of transfer of functions by Reorg. Plan No. 4 of 1970, see note set out under .

For transfer of functions of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. , 15 F.R. 3174, , set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Transfer and consolidation of bureaus and functions, see note set out under .