CITE
16 USC Sec. 1857 01/05/2009
EXPCITE
TITLE 16 - CONSERVATION
CHAPTER 38 - FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
SUBCHAPTER IV - NATIONAL FISHERY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
HEAD
Sec. 1857. Prohibited acts
STATUTE
It is unlawful -
(1) for any person -
(A) to violate any provision of this chapter or any
regulation or permit issued pursuant to this chapter;
(B) to use any fishing vessel to engage in fishing after the
revocation, or during the period of suspension, of an
applicable permit issued pursuant to this chapter;
(C) to violate any provision of, or regulation under, an
applicable governing international fishery agreement entered
into pursuant to section 1821(c) of this title;
(D) to refuse to permit any officer authorized to enforce the
provisions of this chapter (as provided for in section 1861 of
this title) to board a fishing vessel subject to such person's
control for purposes of conducting any search or inspection in
connection with the enforcement of this chapter or any
regulation, permit, or agreement referred to in subparagraph
(A) or (C);
(E) to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate,
or interfere with any such authorized officer in the conduct of
any search or inspection described in subparagraph (D);
(F) to resist a lawful arrest for any act prohibited by this
section;
(G) to ship, transport, offer for sale, sell, purchase,
import, export, or have custody, control, or possession of, any
fish taken or retained in violation of this chapter or any
regulation, permit, or agreement referred to in subparagraph
(A) or (C);
(H) to interfere with, delay, or prevent, by any means, the
apprehension or arrest of another person, knowing that such
other person has committed any act prohibited by this section;
(I) to knowingly and willfully submit to a Council, the
Secretary, or the Governor of a State false information
(including, but not limited to, false information regarding the
capacity and extent to which a United States fish processor, on
an annual basis, will process a portion of the optimum yield of
a fishery that will be harvested by fishing vessels of the
United States) regarding any matter that the Council,
Secretary, or Governor is considering in the course of carrying
out this chapter;
(J) to ship, transport, offer for sale, sell, or purchase, in
interstate or foreign commerce, any whole live lobster of the
species Homarus americanus, that -
(i) is smaller than the minimum possession size in effect
at the time under the American Lobster Fishery Management
Plan, as implemented by regulations published in part 649 of
title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor to
that plan implemented under this subchapter, or in the
absence of any such plan, is smaller than the minimum
possession size in effect at the time under a coastal fishery
management plan for American lobster adopted by the Atlantic
States Marine Fisheries Commission under the Atlantic Coastal
Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (16 U.S.C. 5101 et
seq.);
(ii) is bearing eggs attached to its abdominal appendages;
or
(iii) bears evidence of the forcible removal of extruded
eggs from its abdominal appendages;
(K) to to (!1) steal or attempt to steal or to negligently
and without authorization remove, damage, or tamper with -
(i) fishing gear owned by another person, which is located
in the exclusive economic zone, or
(ii) fish contained in such fishing gear;
(L) to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate,
sexually harass, bribe, or interfere with any observer on a
vessel under this chapter, or any data collector employed by
the National Marine Fisheries Service or under contract to any
person to carry out responsibilities under this chapter;
(M) to engage in large-scale driftnet fishing that is subject
to the jurisdiction of the United States, including use of a
fishing vessel of the United States to engage in such fishing
beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation;
(N) to strip pollock of its roe and discard the flesh of the
pollock;
(O) to knowingly and willfully fail to disclose, or to
falsely disclose, any financial interest as required under
section 1852(j) of this title, or to knowingly vote on a
Council decision in violation of section 1852(j)(7)(A) of this
title;
(P)(i) to remove any of the fins of a shark (including the
tail) and discard the carcass of the shark at sea;
(ii) to have custody, control, or possession of any such fin
aboard a fishing vessel without the corresponding carcass; or
(iii) to land any such fin without the corresponding carcass;
(Q) to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or
purchase in interstate or foreign commerce any fish taken,
possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any foreign law
or regulation; or
(R) to use any fishing vessel to engage in fishing in Federal
or State waters, or on the high seas or in the waters of
another country, after the Secretary has made a payment to the
owner of that fishing vessel under section 1861a(b)(2) of this
title.
For purposes of subparagraph (P) there is a rebuttable
presumption that any shark fins landed from a fishing vessel or
found on board a fishing vessel were taken, held, or landed in
violation of subparagraph (P) if the total weight of shark fins
landed or found on board exceeds 5 percent of the total weight of
shark carcasses landed or found on board.
(2) for any vessel other than a vessel of the United States,
and for the owner or operator of any vessel other than a vessel
of the United States, to engage -
(A) in fishing within the boundaries of any State, except -
(i) recreational fishing permitted under section 1821(i) of
this title;
(ii) fish processing permitted under section 1856(c) of
this title; or
(iii) transshipment at sea of fish or fish products within
the boundaries of any State in accordance with a permit
approved under section 1824(d) of this title;
(B) in fishing, except recreational fishing permitted under
section 1821(i) of this title, within the exclusive economic
zone, or for any anadromous species or Continental Shelf
fishery resources beyond such zone, unless such fishing is
authorized by, and conducted in accordance with, a valid and
applicable permit issued pursuant to section 1824(b), (c), or
(d) of this title; or
(C) except as permitted under section 1856(c) of this title,
in fish processing (as defined in paragraph (4)(A) of such
section) within the internal waters of a State (as defined in
paragraph (4)(B) of such section);
(3) for any vessel of the United States, and for the owner or
operator of any vessel of the United States, to transfer at sea
directly or indirectly, or attempt to so transfer at sea, any
United States harvested fish to any foreign fishing vessel, while
such foreign vessel is within the exclusive economic zone or
within the boundaries of any State except to the extent that the
foreign fishing vessel has been permitted under section 1824(d)
of this title or section 1856(c) of this title to receive such
fish;
(4) for any fishing vessel other than a vessel of the United
States to operate, and for the owner or operator of a fishing
vessel other than a vessel of the United States to operate such
vessel, in the exclusive economic zone or within the boundaries
of any State, if -
(A) all fishing gear on the vessel is not stored below deck
or in an area where it is not normally used, and not readily
available, for fishing; or
(B) all fishing gear on the vessel which is not so stored is
not secured and covered so as to render it unusable for
fishing;
unless such vessel is authorized to engage in fishing in the area
in which the vessel is operating; and
(5) for any vessel of the United States, and for the owner or
operator of any vessel of the United States, to engage in fishing
in the waters of a foreign nation in a manner that violates an
international fishery agreement between that nation and the
United States that has been subject to Congressional oversight in
the manner described in section 1823 of this title, or any
regulations issued to implement such an agreement; except that
the binding provisions of such agreement and implementing
regulations shall have been published in the Federal Register
prior to such violation.
SOURCE
(Pub. L. 94-265, title III, Sec. 307, Apr. 13, 1976, 90 Stat. 355;
Pub. L. 95-354, Sec. 5(4), Aug. 28, 1978, 92 Stat. 521; Pub. L. 97-
191, Sec. 2, June 1, 1982, 96 Stat. 107; Pub. L. 97-453, Sec.
15(b), Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2492; Pub. L. 99-659, title I, Secs.
101(c)(2), 107(a), Nov. 14, 1986, 100 Stat. 3707, 3713; Pub. L. 100-
629, Sec. 4, Nov. 7, 1988, 102 Stat. 3286; Pub. L. 101-224, Sec.
8, Dec. 12, 1989, 103 Stat. 1907; Pub. L. 101-627, title I, Sec.
113, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 4453; Pub. L. 102-251, title III,
Sec. 301(h), Mar. 9, 1992, 106 Stat. 64; Pub. L. 104-297, title I,
Sec. 113, title IV, Sec. 405(b)(1), Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3597,
3621; Pub. L. 106-557, Sec. 3, Dec. 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2772; Pub.
L. 109-479, title I, Sec. 118, Jan. 12, 2007, 120 Stat. 3607.)