2023 Alaska Statutes › Title 5. Amusements and Sports › Chapter 25. Watercraft › Article 3. General Provisions. › Sec. 05.25.100. Definitions.

In this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise,
(1) “aids to navigation” means buoys, beacons, or other fixed objects in the water that are used to mark obstructions to navigation or to direct navigation through safe channels;
(2) “barge” means a boat that is
(A) motorized or nonmotorized;
(B) designed to be towed; and
(C) used for carrying freight;
(3) “boat” means watercraft used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water, except for
(A) a ship's lifeboat;
(B) a seaplane;
(C) an inspected passenger vessel; and
(D) a single air mattress, single inner tube, or other water toy;
(4) “boat dealer” means a person engaged wholly or in part in the business of selling or offering for sale, buying or taking in trade for the purpose of resale, or exchanging, displaying, demonstrating, or offering for sale three or more boats within 12 consecutive months and who receives or expects to receive money, profit, or any other thing of value;
(5) “certificate of number” means the document bearing the identification number issued to a boat by the Department of Administration under this chapter, by a federal agency, or by the state of principal use under a federally approved numbering system;
(6) “commissioner” means the commissioner of natural resources;
(7) “department” means the Department of Natural Resources;
(8) “operate” means to navigate or to be in actual physical control of a boat used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water of the state;
(9) “owner” means a person who has a property interest other than a security interest in a boat and the right of use or possession of the boat; “owner” does not include a lessee unless the lease is intended as security;
(10) “ownership” means a property interest other than a security interest;
(11) “passenger” means a person on board a boat who is not the master, operator, crew member, or other person engaged in a capacity in the business of the boat;
(12) “regulatory marker” means an anchored or fixed marker in or on the water, or sign on the shore or on a bridge over the water, other than aids to navigation; “regulatory marker” includes swimming markers, bathing markers, speed zone markers, identification markers, danger zone markers, boat keep-out areas, special anchorage areas, and mooring buoys;
(13) “serviceable condition” as applied to personal flotation devices means
(A) metal or plastic hardware is not broken, deformed, or weakened by corrosion;
(B) webbings or straps are not ripped, torn, or separated from an attachment point;
(C) there are no rotted or deteriorated structural components that fail when tugged;
(D) there are no rips, tears, or open seams in fabric or coatings that are large enough to allow the loss of buoyant material;
(E) buoyant material has not become hardened, nonresilient, permanently compressed, waterlogged, or oil-soaked, and does not show evidence of fungus or mildew;
(F) there is no loss of buoyant material or evidence of buoyant material that is not securely held in position;
(G) there is a properly armed inflation mechanism, complete with a full inflation medium cartridge and all status indicators showing that the inflation mechanism is properly armed, unless the PFD is worn inflated;
(H) inflatable chambers are all capable of holding air;
(I) oral inflation tubes are not blocked, detached, or broken;
(J) the manual inflation lanyard or lever is not inaccessible, broken, or missing;
(K) inflator status indicators are not broken or otherwise non-functional;
(14) “undocumented boat” means a boat that does not possess a valid certificate of documentation issued by the United States Coast Guard under 46 U.S.C. 12101 - 12123;
(15) “validation decal” means a decal that has the state of registration and registration expiration year clearly marked;
(16) “water of the state” has the meaning given in the term “navigable water” in AS 38.05.965; “water of the state” also includes the marginal sea adjacent to the state and the high seas within the territorial limits of the state, irrespective of the ownership of the land underlying those waters.