922.102—Prohibited or otherwise regulated activities.
(a)
Except as may be necessary for national defense or to respond to an emergency threatening life, property, or the environment, or as may be permitted by the Director in accordance with § 922.48 and § 922.104, the following activities are prohibited and thus are unlawful for any person to conduct or to cause to be conducted within the Sanctuary:
(1)
(i)
Gathering, taking, breaking, cutting, damaging, destroying, or possessing any invertebrate, coral, bottom formation, or marine plant.
(B)
Taking, gathering, cutting, damaging, destroying, or possessing any crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci ).
(C)
Possessing or using poisons, electrical charges, explosives, or similar environmentally destructive methods.
(D)
Possessing or using spearguns, including such devices known as Hawaiian slings, pole spears, arbalettes, pneumatic and spring-loaded spearguns, bows and arrows, bang sticks, or any similar taking device.
(ii)
There shall be a rebuttable presumption that any items listed in this paragraph (a)(1) found in the possession of a person within the Sanctuary have been used, collected, or removed within or from the Sanctuary.
(2)
(i)
Operating a vessel closer than 200 feet (60.96 meters) from another vessel displaying a dive flag at a speed exceeding three knots.
(ii)
Operating a vessel in a manner which causes the vessel to strike or otherwise cause damage to the natural features of the Sanctuary.
(3)
Diving or conducting diving operations from a vessel not flying in a conspicuous manner the international code flag alpha “A.”
(4)
Littering, depositing, or discharging, into the waters of the Sanctuary, any material or other matter.
(5)
Disturbing the benthic community by dredging, filling, dynamiting, bottom trawling, or otherwise altering the seabed.
(6)
Removing, damaging, or tampering with any historical or cultural resource within the boundary of the Sanctuary.
(7)
Ensnaring, entrapping, or fishing for any sea turtle listed as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.
(8)
Except for law enforcement purposes, using or discharging explosives or weapons of any description. Distress signaling devices, necessary and proper for safe vessel operation, and knives generally used by fishermen and swimmers shall not be considered weapons for purposes of this section.
(9)
Marking, defacing, or damaging in any way, or displacing or removing or tampering with any signs, notices, or placards, whether temporary or permanent, or with any monuments, stakes, posts, or other boundary markers related to the Sanctuary.
(b)
In addition to those activities prohibited or otherwise regulated under paragraph (a) of this section, the following activities are prohibited and thus are unlawful for any person to conduct or to cause to be conducted landward of the straight line connecting Fagatele Point (14°22′15″ S, 170°46′5″ W) and Matautuloa Benchmark (14°22′18″ S, 170°45′35″ W).