Charter Boat Safety in California

Division 3, Chapter 5, Article 4 of the California Harbors and Navigation Code deals with charter boat safety. Section 773 contains several legislative findings and declarations.

Section 773.1 names this the “Charter Boat Safety Act of 1983.” Section 773.2 provides definitions for the following terms: “for-hire vessel,” “charter boat,” “operator,” “charterer,” “Coast Guard,” “life preserver,” and “person.”

Section 773.3 prohibits any person from taking or offering to take seven or more passengers on a charter boat unless the vessel is licensed by the United States Coast Guard.

Section 773.4 prohibits any operator or charterer to prevent any person from complying with, or direct any person to violate, any provision of this article, or direct the captain to get underway over the captain’s objection that the condition of the vessel, or the weather, or a combination of both, makes the trip inadvisable.

In addition, it is a full and complete defense to a charge of violating this section that, given the then-existing conditions of the vessel and the weather, the captain’s or other person’s compliance, however obtained, did not violate and would not have violated any provision of this article or any regulation of the Coast Guard, and was and would have been consistent with all safety precautions and procedures recommended by the Coast Guard. This section defines the terms “direct” and “captain.”

Section 773.5 states that the operator of a charter boat, or the operator’s employee or agent, must require each passenger to don a life preserver under any of the three specified conditions. The following terms are defined: “an increase in the possibility” and “normal operation.”

Section 773.6 states that an operator who directs the passengers to the life preservers while announcing that the passengers are required for their safety to don them in specified conditions.

Section 773.7 requires the operator or an employee agent of a charter boat, prior to getting underway, to orient each passenger concerning emergency procedures. A public announcement must be made at the beginning of each trip to afford all passengers knowledge of the specified information.

Section 773.8 requires a charterer or operator who organizes charter boat trips to inform each adult passenger as soon as practicable after the passenger contracts or pays for passage or boards the charter boat, whichever occurs first, that life jackets will be provided at the adult passenger’s request. Also, adult and minor passengers are to be informed that life jackets are required to be worn at the direction of the operator or the operator’s employee or agent.

Section 774 requires every charterer and every charter boat operator to include in all advertising for any charter trips in the coastal zone the statement that for the public safety all personal flotation devices carried aboard these United States Coast Guard Certificated Vessels are inspected and approved by the United States Coast Guard.

Section 774.1 prohibits an operator of a for-hire vessel to leave or enter Morro Bay after being directed by the harbormaster of the harbor not to do so because of the condition of the weather, the sea, the vessel, or a combination thereof.

Section 774.2 requires the operation of specified statutes to be suspended if the Coast Guard or other appropriate federal agency has adopted and is enforcing a substantially similar regulation which conflicts with those sections.

Section 774.3 provides that any violation of any provision of this article is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than six months in the county jail, or a fine of not more than $1,000, or both the fine and imprisonment.

Section 774.4 states that this article does not impose any mandatory duties upon any public entity to monitor sea or weather conditions or to warn or prevent vessels from leaving or entering a harbor entrance during unsafe conditions. Also, no public entity or employee is liable for any injury which results from any act, or omission to act, prohibiting an operator for a for-hire vessel from leaving or entering a harbor.

Division 8, Part 2, Chapter 1, Article 1 deals with the petition and hearing processes in the formation of a harbor improvement district.

Section 5820 specifies that any portion of a county in this state, the exterior boundaries of which include a bay, harbor, inlet, or navigable water of the Pacific Ocean, may be formed into a district for the improvement or development of a harbor.

Section 5821 provides that, whenever fifty or more persons in any county of this State, the exterior boundaries of which include a harbor, desire to form a district within the county for the improvement or development of a harbor, they may present a petition in writing signed by them to the board of supervisors of the county.

Section 5822 requires the petition to show six specified items.

Section 5823 requires the petition to contain a request that the territory included within the boundaries be formed into a harbor district for the purpose of the improvement or development of the harbor.

Section 5824 requires each signer of the petition to be a registered voter, resident, and freeholder within the proposed district.

Section 5825 requires the petition to be published for at least two weeks preceding the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation printed in the county, together with a notice signed by not exceeding three of the petitioners. The notice is required to specify certain information.