Title NAV, Navigation

§ 1. Short title. This chapter shall be known as the navigation law, and shall apply to navigation and the use of navigable waters of the state and regulations hereby created.

§ 10. Duties of the commissioner of parks, recreation and historic preservation and the commissioner of environmental conservation. The commissioner of parks, recreation and historic preservation shall administer the provisions of this chapter, except as such administration may …

§ 100. Definitions. Within the provisions of this article, the words "motor boat" shall be deemed to mean and include a mechanically propelled pleasure vessel having a source of power other than steam. The words include a craft, temporarily or permanently equipped with detachabl…

§ 101. Motor boat regulation zone. As soon as practicable, the commissioner shall place on the mainland at some convenient point at or near the water's edge at Fishers Landing, Jefferson county, New York, and not more than one mile westerly thereof, a signboard facing the water …

§ 102. Rules governing the operation of motor boats. The following rules for the operation of motor boats within such zone are hereby established: 1. No motor boat shall be operated within a harbor line at a speed exceeding five miles per hour. The waters of the Saint Lawrence r…

§ 103. Violations. (a)(1) Any person who violates any of the provisions of section one hundred two of this article or any local law, ordinance, order, rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this article, shall be guilty of a violation unless such conduct is declared to be a misd…

§ 104. Defacing or removing serial numbers or identification marks on outboard motors. Any person who: 1. Wilfully, removes, defaces, covers, alters or destroys the manufacturer's serial number or any other distinguishing number or identification mark on any outboard motor, or 2…

§ 110. Licenses. The local governing body of each county or city in this state may grant licenses for keeping ferries in their respective counties and cities, to such persons as the respective local governing body may deem proper, for a term not exceeding five years. No license …

§ 111. Undertaking. Every person applying for such license shall, before the same is granted, execute and file with the clerk of the local governing body of a county or city his undertaking with one or more sureties, approved by such local governing body, to the effect that he w…

§ 112. Appendages for rope ferries. Any person licensed to keep a ferry may, with the written consent of the town superintendent of the town where such ferry may be, erect and maintain within the limits of the highway, at such point as shall be designated in such consent, a post…

§ 113. When schedules to be posted. Every person licensed to operate or control any ferry in this state, or between this state and any other state, operating from or to a city of fifty thousand inhabitants or over, shall post in a conspicuous and accessible position outside and …

§ 114. Ferries. A person who: 1. Maintains a ferry for profit or hire upon any of the waters of this state without authority of law; or 2. Having entered into a recognizance to keep or maintain a ferry, violates the condition of such recognizance, Is guilty of a misdemeanor. Whe…

§ 115. Ferries and ferry terminal. In the event that a village is disconnected geographically by water from the mainland of the state and which is not connected by any bridge or viaduct wholly or partly within its corporate limits with such mainland, the board of trustees of a v…

§ 115-a. Ferry service. A village which owns property which is disconnected geographically by water from the mainland area of the village and the mainland of the state, which such property is not connected by any bridge or viaduct with such mainland area, may acquire, by purchas…

§ 12. Inspector; qualifications. The commissioner may appoint an inspector or inspectors, who shall have a practical knowledge of the construction, equipment and management of vessels and who shall possess such experience and qualifications as required to carry out and fulfill t…

§ 120. Dams and bridges. No dam shall be erected on any river or stream in this state, recognized by law or use as a public highway for the purpose of floating and running lumber, logs or other timber, over or upon the same, unless there be built in such dam an apron, at least f…

§ 121. Booms and other obstructions to be opened on notice; penalty for failure. Every person who shall build any boom or other obstruction in the waters of any river or stream, for the purpose of stopping or securing lumber, logs or other timber shall within ten days after the …

§ 122. Acquisition for public use. Any person desiring to use a river or stream in this state, which is or shall be recognized by law or use as a public highway, for running logs, timber or wood, by floating or flooding, may institute proceedings for the acquisition of the right…

§ 123. Marks on logs and timber to be recorded. Every person who shall run any logs or timber down any river or stream recognized by law or use as a public highway shall select some mark different from any mark previously recorded, and shall put the same on each log or stick of …

§ 123-a. Defacing marks on logs or lumber. A person who (a) unlawfully cuts out, alters, or defaces any mark, made on any log or lumber floating in any of the waters of this state or lying upon land, whether or not such mark be recorded pursuant to the provisions of the navigati…

§ 124. Persons prohibited from landing logs, timber or lumber. No person shall stop, take up or draw to, or lodge on the shore of any river or stream used for floating logs, timber or lumber, or on any island therein, any lumber, logs, timber, boards or planks floating in such r…

§ 125. Application of article. This article shall not apply to the Hudson river, the Allegheny river and its tributaries, nor the Delaware river and its tributaries, nor the waters located in Franklin county, nor the Oswegatchie river and its tributaries, nor the Grasse river an…

§ 13. Inspector; duties. The inspector shall annually, and at such other times as they shall deem it expedient, or as the commissioner may direct, inspect every public vessel, except vessels which navigate on waters over which the United States exercises active control. The insp…

§ 130. Powers and duties of sheriff. The sheriff of every county in which any wrecked property shall be found, when no owner or other person entitled to the possession of such property shall appear, shall severally take all necessary measures for saving and securing such propert…

§ 130-a. Applicability to abandoned historic shipwrecks. This article deals with recovery and salvage of only those wrecks which are not abandoned historic shipwrecks.

§ 131. Sale of wreck. If the property so saved shall be perishable, so\nas to render the sale thereof expedient, the officer, in whose custody\nthe same shall be, shall apply to the county court of the county, or the\ncity court of the city, where such property may be, by a veri…

§ 132. Delivery of wreck or proceeds to claimant. If, within a year after such wrecked property shall have been found and saved, any person shall claim the same or the proceeds thereof, as owner or consignee, or the agent of the owner or consignee, and shall establish his claim …

§ 133. Claimant's undertaking. No such order shall, however, be made unless the claimant shall deliver to such court an undertaking with one or more sufficient sureties to be approved by the court, such claimant or his representative, within two years after the date of the under…

§ 134. When owner may sue. The rejection by the court of any claim for wrecked property shall not preclude the claimant from maintaining an action for the recovery of such property or its proceeds against the officer in whose hands the same shall be; but if the plaintiff in any …

§ 135. Claim for salvage. Every officer to whom any order duly made, for the delivery of the wrecked property, or its proceeds, shall be directed, shall present to the claimant exhibiting such order a written statement of the claims for salvage and expenses on such property and …

§ 136. Detention of wreck. All sheriffs, and all persons employed by them, and all other persons aiding and assisting in the recovery and preservation of wrecked property, shall be entitled to a reasonable allowance as salvage for their services, and to all expenses incurred by …

§ 137. Appointment of appraisers. If the amount of salvage and expenses on property saved shall not be adjusted by agreement of the parties, the owner or consignee of such property, or the master or supercargo, having charge thereof at the time the same was wrecked, or a claiman…

§ 138. Sale and disposition of property. 1. If within a year after\nwrecked property shall have been saved, no person shall have appeared to\nclaim the same, or if the salvage and expenses on such property shall\nnot have been paid within three months after the same shall have b…

§ 139. Publication of notice of wrecked property. Every sheriff, into whose possession any wrecked property shall come, shall immediately thereafter publish a notice directed to all parties interested, for at least four weeks in succession, in one or more of the newspapers publi…

§ 139-a. Keeping wrecked goods a misdemeanor. A person who takes away goods or other property not his own from a stranded vessel, or any goods or other property cast by the sea upon the land or found in a bay or creek, or who knowingly becomes possessed of any such goods or othe…

§ 139-b. Defacing marks upon wrecked property. A person who defaces or obliterates the marks upon wrecked property, or in any manner disguises the appearance thereof, with intent to prevent the owner from discovering its identity, or who destroys or suppresses any invoice, bill …

§ 139-c. Officer unlawfully detaining wrecked property. An officer, whose duties pertain in any way to wrecked property, who, without authority of law, detains such property or proceeds thereof, after the salvage and expenses chargeable thereon have been paid or offered to him, …

§ 14. Inspector; licenses. The inspector is authorized and empowered to grant licenses as provided in article four of this chapter.

§ 140. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms shall mean and include: (a) Municipality. A county, city, town, or village; a county, city, town or village on behalf of an improvement district; or any two or more of the foregoing which are acting jointly in conn…

§ 140-a. Offenses against the navigation law. Any person having the charge, command or control of a vessel who: 1. Carries or permits a vessel to carry a greater number of passengers than is stated in the certificate of inspection of such vessel issued under section sixty-three …

§ 141. Harbors of refuge. (a) The commissioner, on behalf of the state, is hereby authorized to enter into agreements with the federal government and with municipalities, and municipalities are hereby authorized to enter into agreements with the commissioner, concerning the cons…

§ 142. Local marine facilities. (a) The commissioner is hereby authorized to enter into agreements with municipalities, and municipalities are hereby authorized to enter into agreements with the commissioner, concerning the construction, operation and maintenance of local marine…

§ 143. State marine facilities. The commissioner is hereby authorized, within amounts appropriated therefor as allocated by the director of the budget, to construct, reconstruct, improve, operate and maintain state marine facilities, including state marine facilities incidental …

§ 144. Rules and regulations. The commissioner may adopt rules and regulations governing approval, financing, construction, maintenance and operation of projects.

§ 15. Inspector; fees. The inspector is authorized to collect fees as provided in article four of this chapter.

§ 16. Inspector; reports. The inspector shall on or about the first day of January in each year, make a verified report to the commissioner containing a detailed statement of the name and registry number of each vessel examined and licensed, the name and registry number of each …

§ 17. Traveling navigation inspectors. The commissioner may appoint not to exceed three traveling navigation inspectors whose qualifications shall include a full knowledge of the navigation law and regulations established thereunder and a practical experience in the navigation o…

§ 170. Legislative intent. The legislature finds and declares that New York's lands and waters constitute a unique and delicately balanced resource; that the protection and preservation of these lands and waters promotes the health, safety and welfare of the people of this state…

§ 171. Purposes. It is the purpose of this article to ensure a clean environment and healthy economy for the state by preventing the unregulated discharge of petroleum which may result in damage to lands, waters or natural resources of the state by authorizing the department of …

§ 172. Definitions. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 1. "Administrator" means the chief executive, within the department of audit and control, of the New York environmental protection and spill compensation fu…