USC Subchapter III

in effect

14 U.S.C. § 541 Aids to navigation authorized

(a) In order to aid navigation and to prevent disasters, collisions, and wrecks of vessels and aircraft, the Coast Guard may establish, maintain, and operate:(1) aids to maritime navigation required to serve the needs of the armed forces or of the commerce of the United States; (2) aids to air navigation required to serve the needs of the armed forces of the United States peculiar to warfare and primarily of military concern as determined by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of any department within the Department of Defense and as required by any of those officials; and (3) electronic aids to navigation systems (a) required to serve the needs of the armed forces of the United States peculiar to warfare and primarily of military concern as determined by the Secretary of Defense or any department within the Department of Defense; or (b) required to serve the needs of the maritime commerce of the United States; or (c) required to serve the needs of the air commerce of the United States as requested by the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. These aids to navigation other than electronic aids to navigation systems shall be established and operated only within the United States, the waters above the Continental Shelf, the territories and possessions of the United States, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the United States at places where naval or military bases of the United States are or may be located. The Coast Guard may establish, maintain, and operate aids to maritime navigation under paragraph (1) of this section by contract with any person, public body, or instrumentality. (b) In the case of pierhead beacons, the Commandant may—(1) acquire, by donation or purchase in behalf of the United States, the right to use and occupy sites for pierhead beacons; and (2) properly mark all pierheads belonging to the United States situated on the northern and northwestern lakes, whenever the Commandant is duly notified by the department charged with the construction or repair of pierheads that the construction or repair of any such pierheads has been completed.

14 U.S.C. § 542 Unauthorized aids to maritime navigation; penalty

No person, or public body, or instrumentality, excluding the armed services, shall establish, erect, or maintain any aid to maritime navigation in or adjacent to the waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, its territories or possessions, or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, or on the high seas if that person, or public body, or instrumentality is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, without first obtaining authority to do so from the Coast Guard in accordance with applicable regulations. Whoever violates the provisions of this section or any of the regulations issued by the Secretary in accordance herewith shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than $1,500 for each offense. Each day during which such violation continues shall be considered as a new offense.

14 U.S.C. § 543 Interference with aids to navigation; penalty

It shall be unlawful for any person, or public body, or instrumentality, excluding the armed forces, to remove, change the location of, obstruct, wilfully damage, make fast to, or interfere with any aid to navigation established, installed, operated, or maintained by the Coast Guard pursuant to section 541 of this title, or with any aid to navigation lawfully maintained under authority granted by the Coast Guard pursuant to section 542 of this title, or to anchor any vessel in any of the navigable waters of the United States so as to obstruct or interfere with range lights maintained therein. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than $1,500 for each offense. Each day during which such violation shall continue shall be considered as a new offense.

14 U.S.C. § 544 Aids to maritime navigation; penalty

The Secretary shall prescribe and enforce necessary and reasonable rules and regulations, for the protection of maritime navigation, relative to the establishment, maintenance, and operation of lights and other signals on fixed and floating structures in or over waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and in the high seas for structures owned or operated by persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Any owner or operator of such a structure, excluding an agency of the United States, who violates any of the rules or regulations prescribed hereunder, commits a misdemeanor and shall be punished, upon conviction thereof, by a fine of not exceeding $1,500 for each day which such violation continues.

14 U.S.C. § 545 Marking of obstructions

The Secretary may mark for the protection of navigation any sunken vessel or other obstruction existing on the navigable waters or waters above the continental shelf of the United States in such manner and for so long as, in his judgment, the needs of maritime navigation require. The owner of such an obstruction shall be liable to the United States for the cost of such marking until such time as the obstruction is removed or its abandonment legally established or until such earlier time as the Secretary may determine. All moneys received by the United States from the owners of obstructions, in accordance with this section, shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts. This section shall not be construed so as to relieve the owner of any such obstruction from the duty and responsibility suitably to mark the same and remove it as required by law.

14 U.S.C. § 546 Deposit of damage payments

Whenever an aid to navigation or other property belonging to the Coast Guard is damaged or destroyed by a private person, and such private person or his agent shall pay to the satisfaction of the proper official of the Coast Guard for the cost of repair or replacement of such property, the Commandant may accept and deposit such payments, through proper officers of the Fiscal Service, Treasury Department, in special deposit accounts in the Treasury, for payment therefrom to the person or persons repairing or replacing the damaged property and refundment of amounts collected in excess of the cost of the repairs or replacements concerned. In the event that repair or replacement of the damaged property is effected by the Coast Guard, the appropriations bearing the cost thereof and current at the time collection is made shall be reimbursed from the special deposit account.

14 U.S.C. § 547 Rewards for apprehension of persons interfering with aids to navigation

The Coast Guard may offer and pay rewards for the apprehension and conviction, or for information helpful therein, of persons found interfering in violation of law with aids to navigation maintained by the Coast Guard; or for information leading to the discovery of missing Coast Guard property or to recovery thereof.

14 U.S.C. § 548 Prohibition against officers and employees being interested in contracts for materials

No officer, enlisted member, or civilian member of the Coast Guard in any manner connected with the construction, operation, or maintenance of lighthouses, shall be interested, either directly or indirectly, in any contract for labor, materials, or supplies for the construction, operation, or maintenance of lighthouses, or in any patent, plan, or mode of construction or illumination, or in any article of supply for the construction, operation, or maintenance of lighthouses.

14 U.S.C. § 549 Lighthouse and other sites; necessity and sufficiency of cession by State of jurisdiction

(a) No lighthouse, beacon, public pier, or landmark, shall be built or erected on any site until cession of jurisdiction over the same has been made to the United States. (b) For the purposes of subsection (a), a cession by a State of jurisdiction over a place selected as the site of a lighthouse, or other structure or work referred to in subsection (a), shall be deemed sufficient if the cession contains a reservation that process issued under authority of such State may continue to be served within such place. (c) If no reservation of service described in subsection (b) is contained in a cession, all process may be served and executed within the place ceded, in the same manner as if no cession had been made.

14 U.S.C. § 550 Marking pierheads in certain lakes

The Commandant of the Coast Guard shall properly mark all pierheads belonging to the United States situated on the northern and northwestern lakes, whenever he is duly notified by the department charged with the construction or repair of pierheads that the construction or repair of any such pierhead has been completed.

14 U.S.C. § 551 Marking anchorage grounds by Commandant of the Coast Guard

The Commandant of the Coast Guard shall provide, establish, and maintain, out of the annual appropriations for the Coast Guard, buoys or other suitable marks for marking anchorage grounds for vessels in waters of the United States, when such anchorage grounds have been defined and established by proper authority in accordance with the laws of the United States.

14 U.S.C. § 552 Discontinuance of aid to navigation

(a) In General.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall establish a process for the discontinuance of an aid to navigation (other than a seasonal or temporary aid) established, maintained, or operated by the Coast Guard. (b) Requirement.—The process established under subsection (a) shall include procedures—(1) to notify the public of any discontinuance of an aid to navigation described in that subsection; and (2) to safeguard against any discontinuation that may compromise the safety of mariners or the public or hinder maritime operational readiness, including with respect to food security and maritime transportation. (c) Consultation.—In establishing a process under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consult with and consider any recommendations of—(1) the Navigation Safety Advisory Council; and (2) with respect to aids to navigation established, maintained, or operated by the Coast Guard and located in the coastal or inland waterways of a State, the public of such State and relevant stakeholders, including—(A) State agencies; (B) State, local, and Tribal law enforcement, fire, and emergency response agencies; (C) Indian Tribes; (D) port; (E) pilots; (F) harbormasters; (G) commercial and recreational fishermen, including fishing associations; (H) ferry operators; (I) marina operators; (J) recreational boaters; (K) passenger vessel operators; and (L) coastal residents. (d) Notification.—Not later than 30 days after the date on which the process is established under subsection (a), the Secretary shall notify the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives of such process.