3.15.080 Survival Craft Required for Certain Vessels

(a) Required Floatation Equipment. Certain vessels must carry Coast Guard approved floatation equipment, called a "survival craft," that can be used like a raft if a vessel must be abandoned.

(1) Minimum Requirement.

Less than 36 feet long Buoyant Apparatus is required when:

Crew of 4 or more persons anywhere on Lake Superior, or

Crew of or fewer persons and more than 12miles from the shore of the mainland or an island.

36 Feet or Longer Buoyant Apparatus is required when:

Crew of or fewer persons and less than 12 miles from the shore of the mainland or an island.

Inflatable Buoyant Apparatus is required when:

Crew of 4 or more persons anywhere on Lake Superior, or Crew of 3 or fewer persons and more than 12 miles from the shore of the mainland or an island.

"Buoyant Apparatus" means a Coast Guard approved floatation device (other than a lifeboat, life raft or personal floatation device) that is designed to support a specified number of persons in the water, and is constructed so that it retains its shape and requires no adjustment or preparation for use. The types of buoyant apparatus generally in use are the box- float type and the peripheral-body type.

"Inflatable Buoyant Apparatus" means a Coast Guard approved buoyant apparatus that depends on inflated compartments for buoyancy and is designed to support a specified number of persons completely out of the water.

"Crew" includes the people engaged in the commercial fisheries activities and not biologists, enforcement personnel or others performing natural resource management or regulatory duties.

(2) Substitutions. Other Coast Guard approved survival craft may be used in place of a buoyant apparatus to satisfy this requirement. These are: lifeboats, inflatable life rafts, inflatable buoyant apparatus and life floats. In addition, a boat (such as a skiff or other small open vessel), called an "auxiliary craft," that is carried on board and that is integral to and necessary for normal fishing operations may be used instead of a survival craft.

(b) Other Requirements. A survival craft must be readily accessible during an emergency, capable of holding all crew members on board and stowed so as to float free if the vessel sinks. Where an auxiliary craft that is substituted has a Coast Guard required capacity plate, it must not be loaded in excess of the rated capacity.