Chapter 91

Section 43. After receiving title, the claimant may remove the vessel, destroy it or sell it. Removal costs shall be borne by the previous owner if that owner has been identified and otherwise shall be borne by the claimant. If the new owner intends to destroy or otherwise dispos…

Section 43A. If an abandoned vessel or an unlawful or unauthorized structure or thing is deposited or suffered to remain in the tide waters of the commonwealth and if the department deems it is, or is liable to cause or become, an obstruction to the safe and convenient navigation…

Section 43B. A person who willfully abandons a vessel shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000, except where a vessel, scow, lighter or other structure is or has been grounded within the limits of a harbor or on the shores of the commonwealth by reason of accident, em…

Section 43C. A person who obtains or attempts to obtain title to a vessel through fraudulent means shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000.

Section 43D. The department, in consultation with the office, shall promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out the provisions of sections 38 to 43C, inclusive.

Section 44. An insurer of a vessel who has paid the loss thereon shall not, by reason of such insurance, be held liable to remove such vessel, or to pay the cost and expenses of such removal, unless he has exercised some act of ownership or control over such vessel or some part o…

Section 45. The department shall make application to the government of the United States for reimbursement of any amounts expended under any provision of the seven preceding sections, which, in the opinion of the department, might properly be paid by the United States.

Section 46. The owners of any vessel, scow, lighter or similar floating structure lying within the limits of any harbor of the commonwealth shall not, without first obtaining a license therefor from the department, cause or permit the same to be broken up or altered to such an ex…

Section 46A. Whoever, without first obtaining the license required by section forty-six, causes or permits the work of breaking up or altering of any vessel, scow, lighter or other structure, as described in said section, shall be subject to a penalty of not less than five dollar…

Section 47. Upon the application of the owner of any vessel, scow, lighter or similar floating structure, the department may issue a license authorizing him to break up such vessel or other floating structure upon the following conditions: first, that the written consent of the o…

Section 48. Whenever a licensee under either of the two preceding sections fails to comply with the terms of his license, the department may proceed to complete the work and remove from tide water all materials composing the vessel or other structure, and the cost thereof shall, …

Section 49A. If a whale or other mammal is deposited or remains in the tidewaters or on the shores of the commonwealth, the department shall, if it determines that said whale or other mammal is or may be injurious to the public health, remove or cause to be removed therefrom such…

Section 49B. The department shall remove or cause to be removed any wharf or pier located in the tide waters or tide lands of the commonwealth, which in the opinion of the department is dilapidated, unsafe, a menace to navigation or is a source of floating debris that is, or is l…

Section 5. With the consent of the governor and council, the department may take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine or acquire by purchase or otherwise, and hold, such real property and such rights and easements therein as the department may from time to time consider n…

Section 50. No foreign corporation shall engage in the business of wrecking or salvaging in the navigable waters of the commonwealth without first obtaining a license therefor from and filing a bond with the department. The license, effective for one year from the date of its iss…

Section 51. The preceding section shall not impair any right or authority derived from, or exercised under, any law of the United States, or any right, license or privilege lawfully granted by any department thereof.

Section 52. The department shall supervise the transportation and dumping of all material dredged in the tide waters of the commonwealth, or of any other material which may be placed in scows or boats to be transported and dumped in tide water, and may employ necessary inspectors…

Section 53. Every license or permit issued to any person to dredge in the tide waters of the commonwealth shall contain a provision that the transportation and dumping of the dredged material shall be done under the supervision of the department as provided in the preceding secti…

Section 54. Every contractor or other person shall, at least three days before commencing any piece of dredging in tide water, give written notice to the department of the location and amount of the proposed work, and the time at which it is expected work will begin and, except w…

Section 55. Whoever violates any provision of sections fifty-two, fifty-three and fifty-four or of any license or permit granted under said sections, (a) shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars for each day that such violation occurs or continues…

Section 56. The four preceding sections shall not apply to the dredging, transporting and dumping of material by the United States, its officers or other duly authorized agents.

Section 57. The supreme judicial court shall have jurisdiction in equity, upon information filed by the attorney general, of violations of this chapter.

Section 58. Any officer qualified to serve criminal process may, within his jurisdiction, arrest without a warrant any person found in the act of committing a misdemeanor in or upon any of the rivers, harbors, bays or sounds within the commonwealth.

Section 59. Whoever pumps, discharges or deposits, or causes to be pumped, discharged or deposited, into or on the waters of any lake or river or into or on tidal waters and flats, any crude petroleum or any of its products or any other oils or any bilge water or water from any r…

Section 59A. Whoever, by himself or his agent, so negligently pumps, discharges or deposits any crude petroleum or any of its products or any other oils or any bilge water or water from any receptacle containing any of the said substances into or on the waters of any lake or rive…

Section 59B. No marina shall be operated without a license issued by the division of water pollution control. Said division shall not issue any such license unless such marina provides (1) adequate facilities for the collection, treatment and disposal of sewage or other sanitary …

Section 6. The department may lease for a period not exceeding twenty years, under such covenants and conditions as it prescribes, storage facilities, wharves, piers, bulkheads, docks, sheds, warehouses, foreshores and industrial locations in Boston harbor within its charge. It m…

Section 63. No person, organization or corporation may remove, displace, damage or destroy underwater archaeological resources as defined in section one hundred and eighty of chapter six, except in conformity with the provisions of this section. Any qualified person, organization…

Section 64. (a) The department of conservation and recreation shall create a state uniform beach warning and safety flag program to be used at all public coastal beaches maintained and guarded by the department. The program shall provide for a uniform size, shape, color and defin…

Section 7. All piers and other similar structures in Boston harbor built by the department or its predecessors shall be equipped, either by the department or by the lessees thereof, with fireproof sheds, railway tracks, cranes and other machinery and accommodations for the conven…

Section 8. The department shall take all proper measures to obtain from Boston, without expense to the commonwealth, a conveyance of all the present right, title and interest of said city in and to Apple Island, and the flats appurtenant thereto, and in and to any other flats and…

Section 9. The department shall make, and, so far as practicable, put into execution, comprehensive plans providing, on the lands now owned or hereafter acquired by the commonwealth in Boston harbor, adequate piers, capable of accommodating the largest vessels, and in connection …

Section 9A. The department may adopt a program of construction or reconstruction of piers and other waterfront terminal facilities at any port of the commonwealth after holding hearings, public or private, due notice whereof shall have been given, at which hearings all persons in…