HQ 112171: Coastwise trade; Voyage to nowhere; Charter fishing; 46 U.S.C. App. 289

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                            HQ 112171

                          May 20, 1992


VES-3-02-CO:R:IT:C  112171 GFM

CATEGORY: Carriers

Mr. John Harrison Klein
Vice-President
Qualifier 105 Sportfishing
P.O. Box 60729
San Diego  CA  92166

RE:  Coastwise trade; Voyage to nowhere; Charter fishing; 46
     U.S.C. App.  289

Dear Mr. Klein:

     Reference is made to your letter, received in our office
March 28, 1992, which requests a ruling regarding the
transportation between a coastwise point and international waters
of passengers engaged in charter fishing activities conducted
aboard a non-coastwise-qualified vessel during a "voyage to
nowhere."

FACTS:

     It is proposed that a foreign-flagged vessel, not qualified
to engage in the coastwise trade, would board passengers at San
Diego, California and proceed to Mexican waters.  Once there,
the passengers would engage in charter fishing activities before
being returned to, and disembarking at, the same point at which
they boarded the vessel.

ISSUE:

     Whether the carriage of passengers into international waters
during a voyage to nowhere on board a non-coastwise-qualified
vessel for purposes of charter fishing constitutes a violation of
existing law.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     The Act of June 19, 1886, as amended (24 Stat. 81; 46
U.S.C. App.  289, sometimes called the coastwise passenger
law), provides that:

          No foreign vessel shall transport passengers
          between ports or places in the United States
          either directly or by way of a foreign port,
          under a penalty of $200 for each passenger so
          transported and landed.

     For your general information, we have consistently
interpreted this prohibition to apply to all vessels except
United States-built, owned, and properly documented vessels (see
46 U.S.C.  12106, 12110, 46 U.S.C. App.  883, and 19 C.F.R.
4.80).

     In interpreting the coastwise laws as applied to the
transportation of passengers, the Customs Service ruled in
Treasury Decision 22275 that the carriage of passengers entirely
within territorial waters, even though the passengers disembark
at their point of embarkation and the vessel touches no other
point, is considered coastwise trade subject to the coastwise
laws.

     However, in accordance with 29 Opinions of the Attorney
General 318, the transportation of passengers to the high seas
or foreign waters and back to the point of embarkation,
assuming the passengers do not go ashore, even temporarily,
at another United States point, often called a "voyage to
nowhere," is not considered coastwise trade.  The territorial
waters of the United States consist of the territorial sea,
defined as the belt, three nautical miles wide, adjacent to
the coast of the United States and seaward of the territorial
sea baseline.

     With regard to charter fishing operations, however, certain
restrictions are imposed.  The Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat
Inspection (the predecessor agency to the Customs Service in the
administration of the coastwise and other navigation laws) ruled
in 1936 (Circular Letter No. 103, June 3, 1936), that the
carriage of fishing parties to the high seas or foreign waters
and back to the passenger's point of embarkation, is an
engagement in coastwise trade for which proper coastwise
documentation is required.  This position was subsequently
affirmed by the Customs Service in Treasury Decision 55193(2),
published in 1960.  Subsequent administrative rulings have
consistently supported this position.


     The proposal at hand contemplates just such an impermissible
carriage of fishing parties into foreign waters and a return of
those parties to the initial point of embarkation.  As a result,
it is clear that this proposal would constitute a violation of
existing law.

HOLDING:

     Following a thorough review of the facts and analysis of the
law and applicable precedents, we have determined that passengers
may not be taken on a non-coastwise-qualified vessel from a
coastwise point, into international waters, and back to the same
coastwise point for the purpose of engaging in charter fishing
activities.

                              Sincerely,




                              B. James Fritz
                              Chief
                              Carrier Rulings Branch