Navigation Offenses in California

In Division 2, Chapter 4 of the California Harbors and Navigation Code, there are specified offenses in navigation. Section 300 states that a person who willfully and maliciously cuts, breaks, injures, sinks, or sets adrift a vessel of less than ten gross tons that is the property of another is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Section 301 says that a person who willfully and maliciously cuts, breaks, or injures a vessel of ten gross tons and upwards that is the property of another is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Section 302 provides that a person who willfully and maliciously sinks or sets adrift a vessel of ten gross tons and upwards that is the property of another is guilty of a felony.

Section 303 specifies that a person who willfully and maliciously burns, injures, or destroys any part of a pile or raft of wood, plank, boards, or other lumber, or cuts loose or sets adrift the raft or part of the raft, that is the property of another, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Section 304 states that a person in command or charge of a vessel, who, within this state, willfully wrecks, sinks, or otherwise injures or destroys it or any of its cargo, or willfully permits the same to be wrecked, sunk, or otherwise injured or destroyed, with intent to prejudice or defraud a person, is guilty of a felony.

Section 306 specifies that a person person who prepares, makes, or subscribes a false or fraudulent manifest, invoice, bill of lading, ship’s register, or protest, with intent to defraud another, is guilty of a felony.

Section 307 states that a person who moors a vessel to, or hangs on with a vessel to, a buoy or beacon, except a designated mooring buoy, is guilty of an infraction, punishable by a fine of not more than $100. In addition, a person who willfully removes, damages, or destroys a buoy or beacon, placed by competent authority in any navigable waters of this state, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Section 308 says that a person who moors a vessel of any kind, to a buoy or beacon, except a designated mooring buoy, placed in the waters of the state by authority of the United States Coast Guard is, for every offense, guilty of a misdemeanor.

Section 309 provides that a person found guilty of a misdemeanor violation is subject to a fine not to exceed $1,000 or imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed six months, or both.

Section 310 states that a person found guilty of a felony violation as provided in this chapter is subject to a fine not to exceed $5,000 or imprisonment for 16 months, two or three years, or both that fine and imprisonment.