Opinion ID: 420008
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: 42 U.S.C. Secs. 367 and 404

Text: 24 Sections 367 and 404 require most commercial seagoing vessels to carry a certificate of inspection and to be periodically inspected to ensure compliance with numerous statutes and regulations. Tender vessels are exempt from this pervasive regulatory scheme. To understand why, a brief background of the Alaskan fishing industry and the role of tenders within it is necessary. 25 Western Alaska is a vast, remote, sparsely populated area whose inhabitants are dependent on the fisheries for their livelihood. Until the 1940's, the principal activity in these areas was salmon fishing, which took place during a narrowly defined season. In the late 1940's and early 1950's, the industry expanded to include year-round halibut fishing and crab catching. As a result, small permanent communities grew up around the fishing ports and processing plants. 26 When the only activity in the area was seasonal salmon fishing, the fishermen and those who worked at the processing plants were supplied exclusively by tender vessels operated by the processors. The tenders hauled supplies, including fishing nets and other equipment, spare parts, fuel, food, and other cargo to the fishermen and workers and returned loaded with fish. In some communities the processor or cannery operated a community commissary whose stores were stocked by the same tender vessels. 27 With the development of year-round industry and permanent communities, the commissaries became privately owned, and other stores, bars, and other independent service facilities developed. The processors began to contract out the tendering operations. Western Pioneer is the successor to a number of smaller independent operators of tender vessels and is presently the single provider of tendering services in Western Alaska. 28 Until the early 1960's, the governmental agencies charged with enforcing the inspection laws simply did not enforce them against tenders. The reason for the nonenforcement is not altogether clear, but it was a result, at least in part, of the vessels' documentation, of the agencies' statutory interpretation, and of a recognition of the unique nature of Western Alaska fishing operations. In the early 1960's, the Coast Guard announced its intention to reverse the long-standing administrative treatment of tender vessels and subject them to inspection requirements. That announcement led to the passage in 1968 of the statutory exemptions contained in 42 U.S.C. Secs. 367 and 404. See Pacific Shrimp Co. v. United States, 375 F.Supp. 1036, 1041 (W.D.Wash.1974). The exemptions' original 1973 termination date has thrice been extended until it now stands at January 1, 1988. 29 Although all of the cargo carried to Western Alaska ports by Western Pioneer's vessels is delivered directly to fishing vessels and fishery facilities, the cargo may be ultimately destined for anyone living in an adjacent village or town. Many items carried by Western Pioneer are for the personal use of those employed by canneries and processors and for others residing within communities close by or adjacent to fishery processors. Thus, the issue is whether cargo whose ultimate user is not a fishing vessel or facility but which will be used within a community that has developed around a fishery is directly fishery related. 30 Congress' purpose in exempting tenders is evidenced by the House Report accompanying passage of the exemptions. It states in part: 31 In general, requirements of the Coast Guard with respect to fishing vessel standards have been less rigorous than those applied to strictly commercial vessels engaged in the carriage of cargo. For a number of years, the Coast Guard afforded the same treatment to cannery tender and tank vessels used for the transportation of fishing gear and fuel in connection with catching and canning of fish. 32 Recently, the Coast Guard has indicated that it believes that the auxiliary vessels engaged solely in transportation should not be extended the same leniency as the vessels actually engaged in the fishery. If the regulations are applied in their strictest form, it will seriously handicap our fisheries, since neither economic nor physical conditions warrant the use of other than the present type of vessels in the trade. These vessels are used for relatively short periods each year in connection with fishing runs and it would be completely uneconomical to demand that fully inspected vessels meeting all Coast Guard regulations be utilized for this service. 33 H.R.Rep. No. 1399, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. 1, reprinted in 1968 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 2598. 34 The foregoing legislative history suggests that Congress viewed tenders as distinctive vessels with a very narrow purpose, operating for relatively short periods each year in connection with the fishing runs and transporting fishing gear and fuel in connection with catching and canning of fish. Although Western Pioneer's vessels may be descendants of the unique vessels Congress intended to protect through the 1968 exemptions, their role has clearly expanded. Western Pioneer operates a fleet of independently owned vessels that will carry any item, to any customer, so long as the customer picks up the item at the fishery vessel or facility to which it was consigned. With the growth and development of the remote fishing villages and communities in Western Alaska has come a desire for goods and services only indirectly related to the fisheries. The connection is, in many instances, so tenuous that it consists merely of a storekeeper taking delivery of items of general merchandise from a fishery dock to be sold to family members of a cannery employee. While we understand Western Pioneer's argument that virtually everything in this remote region is dependent for support on the fisheries, we do not see as unreasonable the Coast Guard's interpretation that Western Pioneer's operations have evolved to a point beyond which Congress intended to exempt. This is particularly true because, as the district court reasoned, the statutes at issue here are safety legislation, exemptions to which must be strictly construed. See United States v. Blue Water Marine Industries, Inc., 661 F.2d 793, 796 (9th Cir.1981); Pacific Shrimp Co. v. United States, 375 F.Supp. 1036, 1042 (W.D.Wash.1974).