Coastwise Trade; Valueless Material; Seawater; 46 U.S.C. App. 883.

HQ 111418 March 11, 1991 VES-3-17 CO:R:IT:C 111418 JBW CATEGORY: Carriers Catriona V. Smith Lone Star Hatchery, Inc. Route 2, Box 469 San Benito, Texas 78586 RE: Coastwise Trade; Valueless Material; Seawater; 46 U.S.C. App. 883. Dear Ms. Smith: This letter is in response to your request, dated November 1, 1990, for a ruling on the application of the coastwise laws to the use of barge and push-boat for the transportation of seawater. FACTS: Lone Star Hatchery, Inc., operates a shrimp hatchery at Port Isabel, Texas. You state that Loan Star Hatchery intends to purchase a barge and a push-boat to transport seawater from the Brazos Santiago Pass to the hatchery site. Both of these points are in intercoastal waters. ISSUE: Whether the transportation of seawater between points in intercoastal waters is coastwise trade as defined in 46 U.S.C.A. App. 883 (West Supp. 1990). LAW AND ANALYSIS: The coastwise laws of the United States prohibit the transportation of merchandise between points in the United States embraced within the coastwise laws in any vessel other than a vessel built and documented under the laws of the United States and owned by persons who are citizens of the United States. 46 U.S.C.A. App. 883 (West Supp. 1990)(referred to as "the Jones Act"). Generally, the coastwise laws apply to points within the territorial sea of the United States, defined as the belt, three nautical miles wide, seaward of the territorial sea baseline, and to points located in internal waters, landward of the territorial sea baseline, in cases where the baseline and the coastline differ. Headquarters Ruling Letter 111275, dated November 13, 1990. These waters include the intercoastal waters of the United States. The term merchandise is defined in the coastwise statute to include valueless materials. 46 U.S.C. App. 883. The statute further provides that the transportation of valueless material, regardless of its commercial value, from a point or place in the United States or a point or place on the high seas within the Exclusive Economic Zone, as defined in the Presidential Proclamation of March 10, 1983, to another point or place in the United States or a point or place on the high seas within the Exclusive Economic Zone falls within the ambit of the coastwise statute. Applying these rules, we determine that the transportation of seawater between points in the intercoastal waters would be a transportation under 46 U.S.C. App. 883. Headquarters Ruling Letter 109788, dated February 21, 1989. Only vessel documented with a coastwise endorsement may engage in such transportation. 46 U.S.C. 12106 (1988). HOLDING: The transportation of seawater between points in intercoastal waters is a coastwise transportation under 46 U.S.C.A. 883. Sincerely, B. James Fritz Chief Carrier Rulings Branch