§ 4.15 Fishing vessels touching and trading at foreign places.

(a) Before any vessel documented with a fishery license endorsement shall touch and trade at a foreign port or place, the master shall obtain from the port director a permit on Customs Form 1379 to touch and trade. When a fishing vessel departs from the United States and there is an intent to stop at a foreign port (1) to lade vessel equipment which was preordered, (2) to purchase and lade vessel equipment, or (3) to purchase and lade vessel equipment to replace existing vessel equipment, the master of the vessel must either clear for that foreign port or obtain a permit to touch and trade, whether or not the vessel will engage in fishing on that voyage. 28 Purchases of such equipment, whether intended at the time of departure or not, are subject to declaration, entry, and payment of duty pursuant to section 466 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1466). The duty may be remitted if it is established that the purchases resulted from stress of weather or other casualty. 28 If such a vessel puts into a foreign port or place and only obtains bunkers, stores, or supplies suitable for a fishing voyage, it is not considered to have touched and traded there. Fish nets and netting are considered vessel equipment and not vessel supplies. 29-61 [Reserved] (b) Upon the arrival of a documented vessel with a fishery endorsement which has put into a foreign port or place, the master shall report its arrival, make entry, and conform in all respects to the regulations applicable in the case of a vessel arriving from a foreign port. (c) If a vessel which has been granted a permit to touch and trade arrives at a port in the United States, whether or not the vessel has touched at a foreign port or place, such permit shall forthwith be surrendered to the port director. (d) No permit to touch and trade shall be issued to a vessel which does not have a Certificate of Documentation with a fishery license endorsement.