[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 15, Volume 3]

[Revised as of January 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 15CFR922.102]



[Page 134-135]

 

                  TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND FOREIGN TRADE

 

CHAPTER IX--NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT 

                               OF COMMERCE

 

PART 922_NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY PROGRAM REGULATIONS--Table of Contents

 

            Subpart J_Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary

 

Sec. 922.102  Prohibited or otherwise regulated activities.



    (a) Except as may be necessary for national defense or to respond to 

an emergency threatening life, property, or the environment, or as may 

be permitted by the Director in accordance with Sec. 922.48 and Sec. 

922.104, the following activities are prohibited and thus are unlawful 

for any person to conduct or to cause to be conducted within the 

Sanctuary:

    (1)(i)(A) Gathering, taking, breaking, cutting, damaging, 

destroying, or possessing any invertebrate, coral, bottom formation, or 

marine plant.

    (B) Taking, gathering, cutting, damaging, destroying, or possessing 

any crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci).

    (C) Possessing or using poisons, electrical charges, explosives, or 

similar environmentally destructive methods.

    (D) Possessing or using spearguns, including such devices known as 

Hawaiian slings, pole spears, arbalettes, pneumatic and spring-loaded 

spearguns, bows and arrows, bang sticks, or any similar taking device.

    (E) Possessing or using a seine, trammel net, or any type of fixed 

net.



[[Page 135]]



    (ii) There shall be a rebuttable presumption that any items listed 

in this paragraph (a)(1) found in the possession of a person within the 

Sanctuary have been used, collected, or removed within or from the 

Sanctuary.

    (2)(i) Operating a vessel closer than 200 feet (60.96 meters) from 

another vessel displaying a dive flag at a speed exceeding three knots.

    (ii) Operating a vessel in a manner which causes the vessel to 

strike or otherwise cause damage to the natural features of the 

Sanctuary.

    (3) Diving or conducting diving operations from a vessel not flying 

in a conspicuous manner the international code flag alpha ``A.''

    (4) Littering, depositing, or discharging, into the waters of the 

Sanctuary, any material or other matter.

    (5) Disturbing the benthic community by dredging, filling, 

dynamiting, bottom trawling, or otherwise altering the seabed.

    (6) Removing, damaging, or tampering with any historical or cultural 

resource within the boundary of the Sanctuary.

    (7) Ensnaring, entrapping, or fishing for any sea turtle listed as a 

threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 

1973, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.

    (8) Except for law enforcement purposes, using or discharging 

explosives or weapons of any description. Distress signaling devices, 

necessary and proper for safe vessel operation, and knives generally 

used by fishermen and swimmers shall not be considered weapons for 

purposes of this section.

    (9) Marking, defacing, or damaging in any way, or displacing or 

removing or tampering with any signs, notices, or placards, whether 

temporary or permanent, or with any monuments, stakes, posts, or other 

boundary markers related to the Sanctuary.

    (b) In addition to those activities prohibited or otherwise 

regulated under paragraph (a) of this section, the following activities 

are prohibited and thus are unlawful for any person to conduct or to 

cause to be conducted landward of the straight line connecting Fagatele 

Point (14[deg]22[min]15[sec] S, 170[deg]46[min]5[sec] W) and Matautuloa 

Benchmark (14[deg]22[min]18[sec] S, 170[deg]45[min]35[sec] W).

    (1) Possessing or using fishing poles, handlines, or trawls.

    (2) Fishing commercially.