Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-110

§6906 Prohibited Acts

Title 16 › CHAPTER 88 — WESTERN AND CENTRAL PACIFIC FISHERIES CONVENTION › § 6906

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

It is illegal for anyone to break the rules or permits made under this chapter. That includes fishing with a revoked or suspended permit; refusing to let an authorized officer board or inspect a vessel; assaulting, blocking, or intimidating officers, observers, or data collectors; resisting arrest; trading in fish caught in violation of the rules; hiding or helping someone escape arrest; knowingly giving the Secretary false information (including false claims about how much a U.S. processor will handle); failing to keep or give required catch reports; refusing to stop when hailed by a U.S. official; and importing fish that have been denied entry under related regulations. If fish covered by these rules are offered for entry into the United States, the Secretary of Commerce must be shown proof that the fish are not barred from entry under section 6905(a).

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §6906

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general
It is unlawful for any person—
(1)to violate any provision of this chapter or any regulation or permit issued pursuant to this chapter;
(2)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;
(3)to refuse to permit any officer authorized to enforce the provisions of this chapter to board a fishing vessel subject to such person’s control for the purposes of conducting any search, investigation, or inspection in connection with the enforcement of this chapter or any regulation, permit, or the Convention;
(4)to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with any such authorized officer in the conduct of any search, investigations, or inspection in connection with the enforcement of this chapter or any regulation, permit, or the Convention;
(5)to resist a lawful arrest for any act prohibited by this chapter;
(6)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 paragraph (1) or (2);
(7)to interfere with, delay, or prevent, by any means, the apprehension or arrest of another person, knowing that such other person has committed any chapter prohibited by this section;
(8)to knowingly and willfully submit to the Secretary false information (including 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 fishery vessels of the United States), regarding any matter that the Secretary is considering in the course of carrying out this chapter;
(9)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;
(10)to engage in fishing in violation of any regulation adopted pursuant to section 6905(a) of this title;
(11)to ship, transport, purchase, sell, offer for sale, import, export, or have in custody, possession, or control any fish taken or retained in violation of such regulations;
(12)to fail to make, keep, or furnish any catch returns, statistical records, or other reports as are required by regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter to be made, kept, or furnished;
(13)to fail to stop a vessel upon being hailed and instructed to stop by a duly authorized official of the United States;
(14)to import, in violation of any regulation adopted pursuant to section 6905(a) of this title, any fish in any form of those species subject to regulation pursuant to a recommendation, resolution, or decision of the Commission, or any tuna in any form not under regulation but under investigation by the Commission, during the period such fish have been denied entry in accordance with the provisions of section 6905(a) of this title.
(b)Entry certification
In the case of any fish described in subsection (a) offered for entry into the United States, the Secretary of Commerce shall require proof satisfactory to the Secretary that such fish is not ineligible for such entry under the terms of section 6905(a) of this title.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2015—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 114–81 substituted “suspension, of” for “suspension, on”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 6906

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110