Page 54: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2005)

Annual World Yearbook

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54 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

By Dennis Bryant, Senior Counsel,

Holland & Knight LLP

Not long after the rules of the nautical road were standardized in the latter por- tion of the nineteenth century, it was recognized that there needed to be a clearly defined boundary between where masters of ships should adhere to the International Regulations for

Prevention of Collisions at Sea (COL-

REGS) and where the U.S. Inland

Navigation Rules were applicable.

Congress met the challenge in 1895 when it enacted the Boundary Line Act, giving the U.S. Coast Guard (originally the Secretary of the Treasury) authority to establish "appropriate identifiable demarcation lines dividing the high seas from harbors, rivers, and other inland waters of the United States, for the pur- pose of determining the applicability" of the navigation rules. The boundary or demarcation line for U.S. coastal waters was duly established and appears on U.S. nautical charts. Note - until 1980, the United States had three sets of internal navigation rules. In 1980,

Congress subsumed the Western Rivers rules and the Great Lakes rules into the

Inland Rules. The COLREGS

Demarcation Lines are defined at Title 33, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

Part 80.

Over time, the value of concept of a boundary line was recognized for pur- poses other than just the rules of the nautical road. In 1980, Congress offi- cially authorized the U.S. Coast Guard to "establish appropriate identifiable lines dividing inland waters of the

United States from the high seas" for other purposes. Wasting no time, in 1981, the Coast Guard promulgated its

Boundary Line regulations - now locat- ed at Title 46, CFR Part 7.

The new boundary lines are used to delineate the application of: the statute establishing the length of towlines (33

USC 152); the load line statute (46 USC 5102); the seagoing barge statute (46

USC 2101(32)); the seagoing motor vessel statute (46 USC 2101(33)); the statute regarding small freight vessels operating in Washington and southeast

Alaska (46 USC 3302(d)(1)(A) and (B)); the Officers' Competency

Convention Act (46 USC 8304); the statute regarding fire-retardant material on U.S. passenger vessels (46 USC /8 , / , Ó{Ê?ÀÊÃiÀÛ?ViÊ­1??Ìi`Ê-Ì>Ìiî\Ê£?nää?x{È?ÇxÈn ÊÕ??µÕiÊÃÞ?Ì?iÌ?VÊV??«?Ã?Ì???Ê>?`ÊÌ?iÊ??V?À«?À>Ì???Ê?vÊÃ??`ʏÕLÀ?V>?ÌÃ]Êi?ÃÕÀiÃÊÊ "À??Ì ÁÊ >À??iÊ i>À??}ÃÊ?«iÀ>ÌiÊÜ?Ì?Ê>?ÊiÝVi«Ì???>Þʏ?ÜÊV??ivv?V?i?ÌÊ?vÊvÀ?VÌ???Ê ??ÊÃi>Ü>ÌiÀ]Ê}Ài>Ãi]Ê??Ê>?`ÊiÛi?Ê??Ê`ÀÞÊÀÕ????}ÊV??`?Ì???ð UÊ?}?ʏ?>`ÊÌ?iÀ>?ViÊ?Êv?ÀÊ>««?V>Ì???ÃÊ??VÕ`??}Ê ÊÊÊVÀ>?iÊ?>ÃÌÊLi>À??}ÃÊ>?`ÊVޏ??`iÀÊ ÊÊÊÀ?`?i?`ÊLi>À??}Ã°Ê UÊ7>ÌiÀʏÕLÀ?V>Ìi`Ê?Êv?ÀÊÀÕ``iÀÊ>?`Ê«À?«iiÀÊ ÊÊÊÃ?>vÌÊLi>À??}ð UÊ?ÜÊvÀ?VÌ???Ê?ÊÃÕ?Ìi`ÊÌ?Ê?>ÌV?ÊV?ÛiÀÊ«>`ÃÊ>?`Ê ÊÊÊÃÌ>L??âiÀÊLi>À??}ð ?ÀÌ?É-?ÕÌ?Ê?iÀ?V>Ê/i\ʳ£­x{£®Ènn?xxÓ?Ê>Ý\ʳ£­x{£®Ènn?ÓäÇ? ÕÀ?«iÉ?``iÊEÊ>ÀÊ >ÃÌÊ/i\ʳ{{­ä®£Çä?ÊÎÇÈä{{Ê>Ý\ʳ{{­ä®£Çä?ÊÎÇ{n£? "À??Ì Á Ê>À??iÊ i>À??}à ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ6?Ã?ÌÊ?ÕÀÊÜiLÃ?ÌiÊ>Ì ÜÜÜ°?À??Ì?>À??i°Õà ÊÊÊÊÊ"À??Ì Á Ê>À??iÊ i>À??}ÃÊ>ÀiÊ?vviÀi`Ê>ÃÊ VÕÃÌ???i?}??iiÀi`ÊV??«??i?ÌÃÊ ­Ì?Ê(ÊÓ°Ó?®Ê>?`Ê>ÃÊÃi???v???Ã?i` ÌÕLiÃÊ>?`Ê«>ÌiÃÊÜ?Ì? ÃÌ?V?ÃÊÜ?À`Ü?`i° Û>?>LiÊ??ÊÌÜ? ?>ÌiÀ?>Ê}À>`iÃÊÌ?Ê «iÀviV̏ÞÊ?>ÌV? >««?V>Ì???ÊÀiµÕ?Ài?i?Ìð >ÃÃ?v?V>Ì???ÊÃ?V?iÌÞÊ>««À?Û>Ã Ó{Ê??ÕÀÊÃiÀÛ?ViÊ­1??Ìi`Ê-Ì>Ìiî /8 , /ÀiiL?À}Ê"À??ÌÊ ??«?Ã?Ìià WWWMARINESAFETYCOM #(!,,%.'%3!2%/52.)#(% .OMATTERWHATTHECHALLENGE WHETHERTRAININGOROPERATIONAL TESTING -ARINE3AFETY HAS THE PEOPLEANDTHERESOURCESTOGET THEJOBDONE %ACHOF-ARINE3AFETYSCENTERSHASMULTIPLE UP TO DATESIMULATORSWITHTHENECESSARYPROGRAMMERS ENGI NEERSANDMARINERSTOPERFORMEVERYASPECTOFTRAININGORTERMINALDESIGNANDOPERATIONTESTING&ORYEARS -3)HASASSISTEDSHIPPINGCOMPANIES PORTAUTHORITIES TERMINALOPERATORS ANDOTHERS BYTRAINING TESTING PROPOSEDCHANNELS PIERS MOORINGSANDDOCKINGOPERATIONS#ALLTODAYANDSEEWHATWECANDOFORYOU s4ERMINALDESIGNTESTING s3HIP0ORTSECURITYTRAINING s5NUSUALSIMULATION s.EWSHIPFAMILIARITY s&LEET WIDETRAINING s4RACTORTUGTRAINING s,IGHTERINGTRAINING s4RAININGONLOCATION s(UMAN3YSTEMS)NTERFACETESTING s34#72EFRESHER

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YEARBOOK

Crossing the Boundary Lines

MR JUNE 2005 #7 (49-56).qxd 6/3/2005 11:27 AM Page 54

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