Title 16ConservationRelease 119-73not60

§7706 Prohibited Acts

Title 16 › Chapter 96— NORTH PACIFIC FISHERIES CONVENTION › § 7706

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

It is illegal to break the federal fishing rules or to use a fishing vessel without a valid permit, or after your permit has been suspended or revoked. You must let authorized officers or inspectors board and check your vessel when asked. You may not assault, resist, block, intimidate, or otherwise interfere with officers, inspectors, observers, or data collectors, and you may not resist a lawful arrest. You cannot buy, sell, transport, import, export, or possess fish that were taken in violation of the rules, or help someone avoid arrest for illegal fishing. You must give honest information to the Secretary and keep and provide required catch records and reports. You must stop your vessel when hailed by a U.S. official. You may not submit false labels or papers for fish, and you must allow inspectors appointed under the Commission’s procedures to board.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §7706

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

It is unlawful for any person—
(1)to violate this chapter or any regulation or permit issued under this chapter;
(2)to use any fishing vessel to engage in fishing activities without, or 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 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 North Pacific Fisheries Convention;
(4)to assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with any such authorized officer in the conduct of any search, investigation, or inspection in connection with the enforcement of this chapter or any regulation, permit, or the North Pacific Fisheries Convention;
(5)to resist a lawful arrest for any act prohibited by this chapter or any regulation promulgated or permit issued under this chapter;
(6)to ship, transport, offer for sale, sell, purchase, import, export, or have custody, control, or possession of, any fisheries resources taken or retained in violation of this chapter or any regulation or permit 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 act prohibited by this section;
(8)to 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 fishing vessels of the United States), regarding any matter that the Secretary is considering in the course of carrying out this chapter;
(9)to 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 or under contract to any person to carry out responsibilities under this chapter;
(10)to engage in fishing activities in violation of any regulation adopted pursuant to this chapter;
(11)to fail to make, keep, or furnish any catch returns, statistical records, or other reports required by regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter to be made, kept, or furnished;
(12)to fail to stop a vessel upon being hailed and instructed to stop by a duly authorized official of the United States;
(13)to import, in violation of any regulation adopted pursuant to this chapter, any fisheries resources in any form of those species subject to regulation pursuant to a recommendation, resolution, or decision of the Commission, or any fisheries resources in any form not under regulation but under investigation by the Commission, during the period such fisheries resources have been denied entry in accordance with this chapter;
(14)to make or submit any false record, account, or label for, or any false identification of, any fisheries resources that have been, or are intended to be imported, exported, transported, sold, offered for sale, purchased, or received in interstate or foreign commerce; or
(15)to refuse to authorize and accept boarding by a duly authorized inspector pursuant to procedures adopted by the Commission for the boarding and inspection of fishing vessels in the Convention Area.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 7706

Title 16Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60