C. Prohibitions and penalties relating to fishing by foreign-flag vessels

1. VESSELS ENTITLED TO PRIVILEGES OF VESSELS EMPLOYED IN COASTING TRADE OR FISHERIES; LANDINGS (NICHOLSON ACT) Acts of February 18, 1793, and April 18, 1874, as amended (46 U.S.C. 251) VESSELS ENTITLED TO PRIVILEGES OF VESSELS EMPLOYED IN COASTING TRADE OR FISHERIES; LANDINGS

SECTION 1. (a) Vessels of twenty tons and upward, enrolled in pursuance of [statutes for licensing ships or vessels in the coasting trade and fisheries-see sections 251-255, 258, 259, 262-280, 293, 306–316, 318, 321-330 and 333-335 of title 46, U.S. Code,] and having a license in force, or vessels of less than twenty tons, which, although not enrolled, have a license in force, as required by such sections, and no others, shall be deemed vessels of the United States entitled to the privileges of vessels employed in the coasting trade or fisheries. Except as otherwise provided by treaty or convention to which the United States is a party, no foreign-flag vessel shall, whether documented as a cargo vessel or otherwise, land in a port of the United States its catch of fish taken on board such vessels on the high seas or fish products processed therefrom, or any fish or fish products taken on board such vessel on the high seas from a vessel engaged in fishing operations or in the processing of fish or fish products.

(b) Subsection (a) of this section shall not be deemed to prohibit the landing by a foreign-flag vessel of not more than fifty feet overall length in a port of the Virgin Islands of the United States for immediate consumption in such islands of its catch of fresh fish, whole or with the heads, viscera, or fins removed, but not frozen, otherwise processed, or further advanced. No fish landed under this authorization shall be sold or transferred except for immediate consumption. Sale or transfer to an agent, representative, or employee of a freezer or cannery shall be deemed to be prohibited in the absence of satisfactory evidence that such sale or transfer is for immediate consumption. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "immediate consumption" shall not preclude the freezing, smoking, or other processing of such fresh fish by the ultimate consumer thereof.

(c) Any fish landed in the Virgin Islands of the United States which are retained, sold, or transferred other than as authorized in subsection (b) of this section shall be liable to forfeiture and any person or persons retaining, selling, transferring, purchasing, or receiving such fish shall severally be liable to a penalty of $1,000 for each offense, in addition to any other penalty provided in law. (As amended Sept. 13, 1961, Pub. L. 87-220, § 1, 75 Stat. 493.)

AMENDMENTS

1961.-Pub. L. 87-220 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), and added subsecs. (b) and (c).

NOTE

Landing of Catch of Fish by Foreign-Flag Vessels.Provisions of this section prohibiting the landing of fish in the United States ports by foreign-flag vessels direct from fishing grounds unaffected, see section 6 of Pub. L. 87-814, set out as a note under section 951 of Title 16, Conservation, Ú.S. Code.

CROSS REFERENCE

Fishing vessels; transfer and transportation of catch of other vessels, see section 404a of title 46, U.S. Code.

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Act of September 13, 1961 (75 Stat. 493; 46 U.S.C. 251a-251b)

REMISSION OR MITIGATION OF FINES, PENALTIES OR FORFEITURES

SEC. 2. Any fine, penalty, or forfeiture incurred under the provisions of this Act shall be subject to remission or mitigation in accordance with section 5294 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (46 U.S.C. 7). (Pub. L. 87-220, § 2, Sept. 13, 1961, 75 Stat. 493.)

REGULATIONS

SEC. 3. The Secretary of the Treasury may issue such regulations as he deems necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of this Act [including subsections (b) and (c) above (46 Ú.S.C. 251(b) and (c))].

2. FISHING IN U.S. TERRITORIAL WATERS AND FOR CONTINENTAL SHELF RESOURCES BY FOREIGN-FLAG VESSELS

Act of May 20, 1964 (78 Stat. 194)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sec. 1. Fishing in territorial waters of the United States; prohibition.

Sec. 2. Penalties.

Sec. 3. Enforcement responsibility.

Sec. 4. Regulations.

Sec. 5. Continental Shelf fishery.

FISHING IN TERRITORIAL WATERS OF UNITED STATES; PROHIBITION SECTION 1. It is unlawful for any vessel, except a vessel of the United States, or for any master or other person in charge of such a vessel, to engage in the fisheries within the territorial waters of the United States, its territories and possessions and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or within any waters in which the United States has the same rights in respect to fisheries as it has in its territorial waters or to engage in the taking of any Continental Shelf fishery resource which appertains to the United States except as provided in this Act or as expressly provided by an international agreement to which the United States is a party. However, sixty days after written notice to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of intent to do so, the Secretary of the Treasury may authorize a vessel other than a vessel of the United States to engage in fishing for designated species within the territorial waters of the United States or within any waters in which the United States has the same rights in respect to fisheries as it has in its territorial waters or for resources of the Continental Shelf which appertain to the United States upon certification by the Secretaries of State and of the Interior that such permission would be in the national interest and upon concurrence of any State, Commonwealth, territory, or possession directly affected. The authorization in this section may be granted only after a finding by the Secretary of the Interior that the country of registry, documentation, or licensing extends substantially the same fishing privileges for a fishery to vessels of the United States. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Secretaries of the Treasury and of the Interior, may permit a vessel, other than a vessel of the United States, owned or operated by an international organization of which the United States is a member, to engage in fishery research within the territorial waters of the United States or within any waters in which the United States has the same rights in respect to fisheries as it has in its territorial waters, or for resources of the Continental Shelf which appertain to the United States and to land its catch in a port of the United States in accordance with such conditions as the Secretary may prescribe whenever they determine such action is in the national interest.

PENALTIES

SEC. 2. (a) Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

SEIZURE PROVISIONS

(b) Every vessel employed in any manner in connection with a violation of this Act including its tackle, apparel, furniture, appurtenances, cargo, and stores shall be subject to forfeiture and all fish taken or retained in violation of this Act or the monetary value thereof shall be forfeited.

(c) All provisions of law relating to the seizure, summary and judicial forfeiture, and condemnation of a vessel, including its tackle, apparel, furniture, appurtenances, cargo, and stores for violation of the customs laws, the disposition of such vessel, including its tackle, apparel, furniture, appurtenances, cargo, and stores or the proceeds from the sale thereof, and the remission or mitigation of such forfeitures shall apply to seizures and forfeitures incurred, or alleged to have been incurred, under the provisions of this Act, insofar as such provisions of law are applicable and not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.

ENFORCEMENT RESPONSIBILITY

SEC. 3. (a) Enforcement of the provisions of this Act is the joint responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating. In addition, the Secretary of the Interior may designate officers and employees of the States of the United States, of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and of any territory or possession of the United States to carry out enforcement activities hereunder. When so designated, such officers and employees are authorized to function as Federal law enforcement agents for these purposes but they shall not be held and considered as employees of the United States for the purposes of any laws administered by the Civil Service Commission.

WARRANTS OR OTHER PROCESSES ISSUANCE

(b) The judges of the United States district courts, the judges of the highest courts of the territories and possessions of the United States, and United States commissioners may, within their respective jurisdictions, upon proper oath or affirmation showing probable cause, issue such warrants or other process, including warrants or other process issued in admiralty proceedings in Federal District Courts, as may be required for enforcement of this Act and any regulations issued thereunder.

ENFORCEMENT POWERS

(c) Any person authorized to carry out enforcement activities hereunder shall have the power to execute any warrant or process issued by any officer or court of competent jurisdiction for the enforcement of this Act.

(d) Such person so authorized shall have the power

(1) with or without a warrant or other process, to arrest any person committing in his presence or view a violation of this Act or the regulations issued thereunder;

(2) with or without a warrant or other process, to search any vessel and, if as a result of such search he has reasonable cause to believe that such vessel or any person on board is in violation of any provision of this Act or the regulations issued thereunder, then to arrest such person.

(e) Such person so authorized may seize any vessel, together with its tackle, apparel, furniture, appurtenances, cargo and stores, used or employed contrary to the provisions of this Act or the regulations issued hereunder or which it reasonably appears has been used or employed contrary to the provisions of this Act or the regulations issued hereunder

SEIZURE AND DISPOSAL OF FISH

(f) Such person so authorized may seize, whenever and wherever lawfully found, all fish taken or retained in violation of this Act or the regulations issued thereunder. Any fish so seized may be disposed of pursuant to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of subsection (g) of this section, or if perishable, in a manner described by regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury. (g) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 2464 of title 28 when a warrant of arrest or other process in rem is issued in any cause under this section, the United States marshal or other officer shall discharge any fish seized if the process has been levied, on receiving from the claimant of the fish a bond or stipulation for the value of the fish with sufficient surety to be approved by a judge of the district court having jurisdiction of the offense, conditioned to deliver the fish seized, if condemned, without impairment in value or, in the discretion of the court, to pay its equivalent value in money or otherwise to answer the decree of the court in such cause. Such bond or stipulation shall be returned to the court and judgment thereon against both the principal and sureties may be recovered in event of any breach of the conditions thereof as determined by the court. In the discretion of the accused, and subject to the direction of the court, the fish may be sold for not less than its reasonable market value and the proceeds of such sale placed in the registry of the court pending judgment in the case.

REGULATIONS

SEC. 4. The Secretaries of the Treasury and Interior are authorized jointly or severally to issue such regulations as they determine are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

CONTINENTAL SHELF FISHERY

SEC. 5. (a) As used in this Act, the term "Continental Shelf fishery resource" includes the living organisms belonging to sedentary species; that is to say, organisms which, at the harvestable stage, either are immobile on or under the seabed or are unable to move except in constant physical contact with the seabed or the subsoil of the Continental Shelf.