Title 88, NAVIGATION AND HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS

Unless specifically provided by statute this chapter and the rules adopted thereunder shall be implemented and enforced, including penalties, violations, citations, appeals, and other administrative procedures, pursuant to the Washington industrial safety and health act, chapter …

The owner or operator of every vessel inspected by the department shall pay the department a fee for each inspection. The fee shall be established by rule and shall cover the full cost of the inspection program including travel, per diem, and administrative and legal support cost…

(1) It is unlawful for any person to operate a vessel unless that person holds a valid license issued by the United States coast guard or the department to operate a vessel of that class. (2) It is unlawful for any person to operate a vessel unless the vessel is operated in compl…

The department shall adopt by rule, under chapter 34.05 RCW: (1) Procedures, standards, and fees for the licensing of operators of any vessel used as a charter boat, as defined under RCW 88.04.015, operating on state waters for rent, lease, or hire; (2) Standards and fees for the…

This chapter may be known and cited as the charter boat safety act. [ 1989 c 295 s 13.]

Every person who, in such manner as might, if not discovered, endanger a vessel, railway engine, motor, train, or car, shall show, mask, extinguish, alter, or remove any light or signal, or exhibit any false light or signal, is guilty of a class B felony and shall be punished by …

Every person who, being the master or commander of any vessel or boat arriving from a foreign country, shall knowingly bring into this state a person who has been or is a foreign convict of any offense, which, if committed in this state would be punishable under the laws thereof,…

Every person who shall willfully break, injure, deface, or destroy any lighthouse station, post, platform, step, lamp, or other structure pertaining to such lighthouse station, or shall extinguish or tamper with any light erected by the United States upon or along the navigable w…

Every person not duly licensed thereto, who shall pilot or offer to pilot any vessel into, within or out of the waters of Juan de Fuca Strait or Puget Sound, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor: PROVIDED, That nothing herein shall prohibit a master of a vessel acting as his or her o…

The legislature finds and declares that it is the policy of the state of Washington to prevent the loss of human lives, loss of property and vessels, and to protect the marine environment of the state of Washington through the sound application of compulsory pilotage provisions i…

(1) The board of pilotage commissioners of the state of Washington is hereby created and shall consist of the assistant secretary of marine operations of the department of transportation of the state of Washington, or the assistant secretary's designee who shall be an employee of…

The department of transportation of the state of Washington shall be the office of the board, and all records shall be kept in the office of the department. Each pilotage commissioner shall be compensated in accordance with RCW 43.03.240 and shall be reimbursed for travel expense…

(1) The board of pilotage commissioners shall: (a) Adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 34.05 RCW, necessary for the enforcement and administration of this chapter; (b)(i) Issue training licenses and pilot licenses to pilot applicants meeting the qualifications provided for in RCW 88…

Any member of the board shall have power to administer oaths in any matter before the board for consideration or inquiry and to issue subpoenas requiring witnesses to appear before the board. Such subpoenas shall be signed by a member of the board and issued in the name of the st…

This chapter shall apply to the pilotage districts of this state as defined in this section. (1) "Puget Sound pilotage district", whenever used in this chapter, shall be construed to mean and include all the waters of the state of Washington inside the international boundary line…

(1) The utilities and transportation commission shall under RCW 81.116.010 through 81.116.060 periodically, but not more frequently than annually, establish the pilotage tariffs for pilotage services provided under this chapter: PROVIDED, That the utilities and transportation com…

The pilotage account is created in the state treasury. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be used only for the purposes of the board of pilotage commissioners as prescribed under this chapter and by the utilities and tra…

Every vessel not exempt under this section that operates in the waters of the Puget Sound pilotage district or Grays Harbor pilotage district is subject to compulsory pilotage under this chapter. (1) A United States vessel on a voyage in which it is operating exclusively on its c…

(1) A person may pilot any vessel subject to this chapter on waters covered by this chapter only if licensed to pilot such vessels on such waters under this chapter. (2)(a) A person is eligible to be licensed as a pilot or a pilot trainee if the person: (i) Is a citizen of the Un…

(1) The board shall have power on its own motion or, in its discretion, upon the written request of any interested party, to investigate the performance of pilotage services subject to this chapter and to issue a reprimand, impose a fine against a pilot in an amount not to exceed…

The license of a pilot is terminated upon the pilot reaching the age of seventy. [ 2008 c 128 s 6; 1979 ex.s. c 207 s 4.]

(1) Pilots shall have a mandatory rest period of at least ten hours with an opportunity for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep after completion of an assignment; excluding multiple assignments within a harbor area, as defined by the board of pilotage commissioners, provided the c…

The board shall prescribe, pursuant to chapter 34.05 RCW, rules governing the size and type of vessels which a newly licensed pilot may be assigned to pilot on the waters of this state and whether the assignment involves docking or undocking a vessel. The rules shall also prescri…

Any pilot or pilot trainee licensed pursuant to this chapter may appear or testify before the legislature or board of pilotage commissioners and no person shall place any sanction against said pilot or pilot trainee for having testified or appeared. [ 2008 c 128 s 9; 1977 ex.s. c…

(1) Every pilot licensed under this chapter shall file with the board not later than the tenth day of January, April, July, and October of each year a report for the preceding quarter. The report shall contain an account of all moneys received for pilotage by him or her or by any…

The preservation of human life and property associated with maritime commerce on the pilotage waters of this state is declared to be in the public interest, and the limitation and regulation of the liability of pilots licensed by the state of Washington, and of any countywide por…

(1)(a) A pilot licensed to act as such by the state of Washington, and any countywide port district located partly or entirely within the Grays Harbor pilotage district as defined by RCW 88.16.050(2) authorized to provide pilotage services with pilots employed by or under contrac…

No pilot shall charge, collect or receive and no person, firm, corporation or association shall pay for pilotage or other services performed hereunder any greater, less or different amount, directly or indirectly, than the rates or charges herein established or subsequently estab…

Any person not holding a license as pilot under the provisions of this chapter who pilots any vessel subject to the provisions of this chapter on waters covered by this chapter shall pay to the board the pilotage rates established by the utilities and transportation commission un…

A master, pilot, or pilot trainee who deviates from the provisions of this chapter or Title 363 WAC in order to comply with any federal or international law or treaty, such as 46 U.S.C. Sec. 2304 et seq., or any other provision of law of the state, or who deviates in order to ens…

Any ship operator or ship husbanding agent may submit a request in writing to the board that a particular pilot not be assigned to pilot that company's vessels. The request shall be based on specific safety concerns of the ship operator or ship husbanding agent. The board shall n…

Each vessel, its tackle, apparel and furniture and the owner thereof shall be jointly and severally liable for the compensation of any pilot employed thereon and such pilot shall have a lien upon such vessel, her tackle, apparel and furniture for such compensation. [ 1935 c 18 s …

(1) In all cases where no other penalty is prescribed in this chapter, any violation of this chapter or of any rule or regulation of the board shall be punished as a gross misdemeanor, and all violations may be prosecuted in any court of competent jurisdiction in any county where…

(1) The master of any vessel which employs a Washington licensed pilot shall certify on a form prescribed by the board of pilotage commissioners that the vessel complies with: (a) Such provisions of the United States coast guard regulations governing the safety and navigation of …

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter is for any reason held to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this chapter. This chapter may be cited as the "Pilotage Act." [ 1967 c 15 s 10; 1935 c 18 s 17;…

Because of the danger of spills, the legislature finds that the transportation of crude oil and refined petroleum products by tankers on the Columbia river and on Puget Sound and adjacent waters creates a great potential hazard to important natural resources of the state and to j…

Except as otherwise provided in RCW 88.16.070(3), any registered oil tanker of five thousand gross tons or greater, shall be required: (1) To take a Washington state licensed pilot while navigating Puget Sound and adjacent waters and shall be liable for and pay pilotage rates pur…

(1) Any oil tanker, whether enrolled or registered, of greater than 125,000 deadweight tons shall be prohibited from proceeding beyond a point east of a line extending from Discovery Island light south to New Dungeness light, unless authorized by the United States coast guard, pu…

An oil tanker under escort of a tug or tugs pursuant to the provisions of RCW 88.16.190 shall not exceed the service speed of the tug or tugs that are escorting the oil tanker. [ 1990 c 116 s 26.] Notes: Findings—Severability—1990 c 116: See notes following RCW 90.56.210.

Any vessel designed for the purpose of carrying as its cargo liquefied natural or liquefied petroleum gas shall adhere to the provisions of RCW 88.16.190(2) as though it were an oil tanker. [ 2008 c 128 s 14; 1991 c 200 s 603; 1977 ex.s. c 337 s 16.] Notes: Effective dates—1991 c…

(1) The board of pilotage commissioners may adopt rules to implement this section. The rules may include tug escort requirements and other safety measures for oil tankers of greater than forty thousand deadweight tons, all articulated tug barges, and other towed waterborne vessel…

(1)(a) By December 31, 2025, the board of pilotage commissioners, in consultation with the department of ecology, must adopt rules regarding tug escorts to address the peculiarities of Puget Sound for the following: (i) Oil tankers of between five thousand and forty thousand dead…

Any person owning land adjoining any navigable waters or watercourse, within or bordering upon this state, may erect upon his or her own land any wharf or wharves, and may extend them so far into said waters or watercourses as the convenience of shipping may require; and he or sh…

(1) Whenever any person shall be desirous of erecting any wharf at the terminus of any public highway, or at any accustomed landing place, he or she may apply to the county commissioners of the proper county, who, if they shall be satisfied that the public convenience requires sa…

Whenever any person or persons shall be desirous of erecting a wharf at the terminus of any street of any incorporated town or city in the state, he or she or they may apply to the municipal authorities of such town or city who, if they shall be satisfied that the public convenie…

All wharves now standing, or hereafter to be built, in this state, shall be deemed insufficient, incomplete and unfinished unless they have good and substantial banisters or railing on the sides thereof, or a strip of hewn timber at least eight by ten inches square, well secured …