State and local authorities often patrol the exact same waters as USCG,
enforcing state and local laws. State and Local laws are not permitted
to exceed or countermand Federal laws. Also note that in many places,
the Federal Government has officially ceded control of Federal navigable
waters to local authorities. Witness the anchoring battles in Florida.
Bill Bina
On 1/26/2018 9:38 AM, Frederick G Street via CnC-List wrote:
Matt — it’s my understanding that the federal government has sole
authority over the Great Lakes Inland Waterways for purposes of
navigation. Are you saying that’s not the case?
From a US DOJ site which includes parts of the US code:
Great Lakes Jurisdiction
Also included within the "special territorial and maritime
jurisdiction of the United States" by 18 U.S.C. § 7(2) are the Great
Lakes and their connecting waterways…
Federal jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 7(2) over American vessels is
not affected by the existence of concurrent state jurisdiction…
It seems like the Supremacy clause in the Constitution would mean that
Federal law will supplant local jurisdictions in all cases. The
jurisdictions may overlap, but the Federal rules will always trump
local ones.
— Fred
Fred Street -- Minneapolis
S/V Oceanis (1979 C&C Landfall 38) -- on the hard in Bayfield, WI :^(
On Jan 26, 2018, at 7:49 AM, Matthew L. Wolford via CnC-List
<cnc-list@cnc-list.com <mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> wrote:
I just reviewed your note below and the article writer’s legal
conclusion about PFBC legal authority (sometimes called
“jurisdiction”). For clarification, my understanding is that the
PFBC’s authority to regulate boats extends to navigable waters of the
Commonwealth, while the USCG authority extends to navigable waters of
the United States. In the case of Lake Erie (and Presque Isle Bay),
the authority of the two agencies overlaps. In other words, portions
of Lake Erie are both waters of the Commonwealth and waters of the
United States, so both agencies have enforcement authority. I
suspect it’s the same in other States, but you would need to look at
the applicable State statute(s).
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