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Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-73not60

§403a Creation or Continuance of Obstruction of Navigable Waters

Title 33 › Chapter 9— PROTECTION OF NAVIGABLE WATERS AND OF HARBOR AND RIVER IMPROVEMENTS GENERALLY › Subchapter I— IN GENERAL › § 403a

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

It is illegal to put or keep any object that blocks the use of waters by boats or ships, unless the object is clearly allowed by law. Bridges, piers, docks, wharves, and similar business structures are allowed. Each week an illegal blockage stays in place counts as a separate offense. People and companies who break this rule (or who break the four earlier parts of the act) can be charged with a misdemeanor. A court can fine them up to $5,000, send a person to jail up to one year, or do both. A federal court can also order the obstruction removed, and the Attorney General can start those court actions.

Full Legal Text

Title 33, §403a

Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The creation of any obstruction, not affirmatively authorized by law, to the navigable capacity of any waters, in respect of which the United States has jurisdiction, is hereby prohibited. The continuance of any such obstruction, except bridges, piers, docks, and wharves, and similar structures erected for business purposes, whether heretofore or hereafter created, shall constitute an offense and each week’s continuance of any such obstruction shall be deemed a separate offense. Every person and every corporation which shall be guilty of creating or continuing any such unlawful obstruction in this act mentioned, or who shall violate the provisions of the last four preceding sections of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment (in the case of a natural person) not exceeding one year, or by both such punishments, in the discretion of the court, the creating or continuing of any unlawful obstruction in this act mentioned may be prevented and such obstruction may be caused to be removed by the injunction of any district court exercising jurisdiction in any district in which such obstruction may be threatened or may exist; and proper proceedings in equity to this end may be instituted under the direction of the Attorney-General of the United States.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This act, referred to in text, is act Sept. 19, 1890, ch. 907, 26 Stat. 426. Sections 6 to 9 of the Act are not classified to the Code. For complete classification of this act to the Code, see Tables. Codification Text of section, which was previously omitted from the Code, was restored in view of conflicting court decisions as to whether or not section had been repealed or superseded. See eg. United States v. Wishkah Boom Co., 136 F. 42 (9th Cir. 1905), (appeal dismissed [1906] 202 U.S. 613); United States v. Wilson, 235 F.2d 251 (2d Cir. 1956).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

33 U.S.C. § 403a

Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable Waters

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60