16 U.S.C. § 1857 — Prohibited acts

It is unlawful— (1) for any person— (A) to violate any provision of this chapter or any regulation or permit issued pursuant to this chapter; (B) to use any fishing vessel to engage in fishing after the revocation, or during the period of suspension, of an applicable permit issued pursuant to this chapter; (C) to violate any provision of, or regulation under, an applicable governing international fishery agreement entered into pursuant to [section 1821(c) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1821/c&num=0&edition=prelim); (D) to refuse to permit any officer authorized to enforce the provisions of this chapter (as provided for in [section 1861 of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1861&num=0&edition=prelim)) to board a fishing vessel subject to such person’s control for purposes of conducting any search or inspection in connection with the enforcement of this chapter or any regulation, permit, or agreement referred to in subparagraph (A) or (C); (E) to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with any such authorized officer in the conduct of any search or inspection described in subparagraph (D); (F) to resist a lawful arrest for any act prohibited by this section; (G) to ship, transport, offer for sale, sell, purchase, import, export, or have custody, control, or possession of, any fish taken or retained in violation of this chapter or any regulation, permit, or agreement referred to in subparagraph (A) or (C); (H) to interfere with, delay, or prevent, by any means, the apprehension or arrest of another person, knowing that such other person has committed any act prohibited by this section; (I) to knowingly and willfully submit to a Council, the Secretary, or the Governor of a State false information (including, but not limited to, false information regarding the capacity and extent to which a United States fish processor, on an annual basis, will process a portion of the optimum yield of a fishery that will be harvested by fishing vessels of the United States) regarding any matter that the Council, Secretary, or Governor is considering in the course of carrying out this chapter; (J) to ship, transport, offer for sale, sell, or purchase, in interstate or foreign commerce, any whole live lobster of the species Homarus americanus, that— (i) is smaller than the minimum possession size in effect at the time under the American Lobster Fishery Management Plan, as implemented by regulations published in part 649 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor to that plan implemented under this subchapter, or in the absence of any such plan, is smaller than the minimum possession size in effect at the time under a coastal fishery management plan for American lobster adopted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission under the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act ([16 U.S.C. 5101](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section5101&num=0&edition=prelim) et seq.); (ii) is bearing eggs attached to its abdominal appendages; or (iii) bears evidence of the forcible removal of extruded eggs from its abdominal appendages; (K) to to 11 So in original. steal or attempt to steal or to negligently and without authorization remove, damage, or tamper with— (i) fishing gear owned by another person, which is located in the exclusive economic zone, or (ii) fish contained in such fishing gear; (L) to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, sexually harass, bribe, or interfere with any observer on a vessel under this chapter, or any data collector employed by the National Marine Fisheries Service or under contract to any person to carry out responsibilities under this chapter; (M) to engage in large-scale driftnet fishing that is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, including use of a fishing vessel of the United States to engage in such fishing beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation, unless such large-scale driftnet fishing— (i) deploys, within the exclusive economic zone, a net with a total length of less than two and one-half kilometers and a mesh size of 14 inches or greater; and (ii) is conducted within 5 years of December 29, 2022; (N) to strip pollock of its roe and discard the flesh of the pollock; (O) to knowingly and willfully fail to disclose, or to falsely disclose, any financial interest as required under [section 1852(j) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1852/j&num=0&edition=prelim), or to knowingly vote on a Council decision in violation of [section 1852(j)(7)(A) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1852/j/7/A&num=0&edition=prelim); (P) (i) to remove any of the fins of a shark (including the tail) at sea; (ii) to have custody, control, or possession of any such fin aboard a fishing vessel unless it is naturally attached to the corresponding carcass; (iii) to transfer any such fin from one vessel to another vessel at sea, or to receive any such fin in such transfer, without the fin naturally attached to the corresponding carcass; or (iv) to land any such fin that is not naturally attached to the corresponding carcass, or to land any shark carcass without such fins naturally attached; (Q) to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce any fish taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any foreign law or regulation or any treaty or in contravention of any binding conservation measure adopted by an international agreement or organization to which the United States is a party; or (R) to use any fishing vessel to engage in fishing in Federal or State waters, or on the high seas or in the waters of another country, after the Secretary has made a payment to the owner of that fishing vessel under [section 1861a(b)(2) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1861a/b/2&num=0&edition=prelim). For purposes of subparagraph (P), there shall be a rebuttable presumption that if any shark fin (including the tail) is found aboard a vessel, other than a fishing vessel, without being naturally attached to the corresponding carcass, such fin was transferred in violation of subparagraph (P)(iii) or that if, after landing, the total weight of shark fins (including the tail) landed from any vessel exceeds five percent of the total weight of shark carcasses landed, such fins were taken, held, or landed in violation of subparagraph (P). In such subparagraph, the term “naturally attached”, with respect to a shark fin, means attached to the corresponding shark carcass through some portion of uncut skin. (2) for any vessel other than a vessel of the United States, and for the owner or operator of any vessel other than a vessel of the United States, to engage— (A) in fishing within the boundaries of any State, except— (i) recreational fishing permitted under [section 1821(i) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1821/i&num=0&edition=prelim); (ii) fish processing permitted under [section 1856(c) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1856/c&num=0&edition=prelim); or (iii) transshipment at sea of fish or fish products within the boundaries of any State in accordance with a permit approved under [section 1824(d) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1824/d&num=0&edition=prelim); (B) in fishing, except recreational fishing permitted under [section 1821(i) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1821/i&num=0&edition=prelim), within the exclusive economic zone, or for any anadromous species or Continental Shelf fishery resources beyond such zone, unless such fishing is authorized by, and conducted in accordance with, a valid and applicable permit issued pursuant to section 1824(b), (c), or (d) of this title; or (C) except as permitted under [section 1856(c) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1856/c&num=0&edition=prelim), in fish processing (as defined in paragraph (4)(A) of such section) within the internal waters of a State (as defined in paragraph (4)(B) of such section); (3) for any vessel of the United States, and for the owner or operator of any vessel of the United States, to transfer at sea directly or indirectly, or attempt to so transfer at sea, any United States harvested fish to any foreign fishing vessel, while such foreign vessel is within the exclusive economic zone or within the boundaries of any State except to the extent that the foreign fishing vessel has been permitted under [section 1824(d) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1824/d&num=0&edition=prelim) or [section 1856(c) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1856/c&num=0&edition=prelim) to receive such fish; (4) for any fishing vessel other than a vessel of the United States to operate, and for the owner or operator of a fishing vessel other than a vessel of the United States to operate such vessel, in the exclusive economic zone or within the boundaries of any State, if— (A) all fishing gear on the vessel is not stored below deck or in an area where it is not normally used, and not readily available, for fishing; or (B) all fishing gear on the vessel which is not so stored is not secured and covered so as to render it unusable for fishing; unless such vessel is authorized to engage in fishing in the area in which the vessel is operating; and (5) for any vessel of the United States, and for the owner or operator of any vessel of the United States, to engage in fishing in the waters of a foreign nation in a manner that violates an international fishery agreement between that nation and the United States that has been subject to Congressional oversight in the manner described in [section 1823 of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title16-section1823&num=0&edition=prelim), or any regulations issued to implement such an agreement; except that the binding provisions of such agreement and implementing regulations shall have been published in the Federal Register prior to such violation.