[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 50, Volume 7]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 50CFR296.7]

[Page 702-703]
 
                    TITLE 50--WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES
 
  CHAPTER II--NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND 
           ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
 
PART 296_FISHERMEN'S CONTINGENCY FUND--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 296.7  Burden of proof and presumption of causation.

    (a) Burden of proof. The claimant has the burden to establish, by a 
preponderance of the evidence, all facts necessary to qualify his claim, 
including:
    (1) The identity or nature of the item which caused the damage or 
loss; and
    (2) That the item is associated with oil and gas exploration, 
development, or production activities on the Outer Continental Shelf.
    (b) Presumption of causation. Notwithstanding the above, damages or 
losses are presumed to be caused by items associated with oil and gas 
exploration, development, or production activities on the OCS if the 
claimant establishes that:
    (1) The claimant's commercial fishing vessel was being used for 
commercial fishing and was located in an area affected by OCS oil and 
gas exploration, development, or production activities;
    (2) A report on the location of the obstruction which caused such 
damage or loss, and the nature of such damage or loss, was made within 
fifteen days after the date on which the vessel first returned to a port 
after discovering such damage;
    (3) There was no record on the most recent nautical charts issued by 
the National Ocean Survey, NOAA, or in any weekly Notice to Mariners 
issued by the Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic/Topographic Center, in 
effect at least 15 days before the date the

[[Page 703]]

damage or loss occurred, then an obstruction existed in the immediate 
vicinity where the damage or loss occurred. In the case of damages 
caused by a pipeline, the presumption will be available regardless of 
whether the pipeline was recorded on charts or in the Notice to 
Mariners; and
    (4) There was no proper surface marker or lighted buoy attached, or 
closely anchored, to such obstruction.
    (c) Geographic exclusion from presumption of causation. Damage or 
loss occurring within a one-quarter mile radius of obstructions recorded 
on charts or in a Notice to Mariners, or properly marked, is presumed to 
involve the recorded or marked obstruction.