Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions govern the construction of this division:

(a) “Ballast tank” means a tank or hold on a vessel used for carrying ballast water, whether or not the tank or hold was designed for that purpose.

(b) “Ballast water” means water and suspended matter taken on board a vessel to control or maintain trim, draft, stability, or stresses of the vessel, without regard to the manner in which it is carried.

(c) “Biofouling” means the attachment or association of marine organisms to the wetted portion of a vessel or its appurtenances, including, but not limited to, sea chests, propellers, anchors, and associated chains.

(d) “Board” means the State Water Resources Control Board.

(e) “Coastal waters” means estuarine and ocean waters within 200 nautical miles of land or less than 2,000 meters (6,560 feet, 1,093 fathoms) deep, and rivers, lakes, or other water bodies navigably connected to the ocean.

(f) “Commission” means the State Lands Commission.

(g) “EEZ” means exclusive economic zone, which extends from the baseline of the territorial sea of the United States seaward 200 nautical miles.

(h) “Exchange” means to replace the water in a ballast tank using either of the following methods:

(1) “Flow through exchange,” which means to flush out ballast water by pumping three full volumes of mid-ocean water through the tank, continuously displacing water from the tank, to minimize the number of original coastal organisms remaining in the tank.

(2) “Empty/refill exchange,” which means to pump out, until the tank is empty or as close to 100 percent empty as is safe to do so, the ballast water taken on in ports, or estuarine or territorial waters, then to refill the tank with mid-ocean waters.

(i) “Land” means the material of the earth, whether soil, rock, or other substances, that sits landward of, or at an elevation higher than, the mean high-tide line of the ocean, including any rock outcroppings or islands located offshore.

(j) “Mid-ocean waters” means waters that are more than 200 nautical miles from land and at least 2,000 meters (6,560 feet, 1,093 fathoms) deep.

(k) “Nonindigenous species” means any species, including, but not limited to, the seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material capable of reproducing that species, or any other viable biological material that enters an ecosystem beyond its historic range, including any of those organisms transferred from one country into another.

(l) “Pacific Coast Region” means all coastal waters on the Pacific Coast of North America east of 154 degrees W longitude and north of 20 degrees N latitude, inclusive, of the Gulf of California.

(m) “Person” means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, business concern, or corporation, including, but not limited to, a government corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or association. “Person” also means a city, county, city and county, district, commission, the state, or a department, agency, or political subdivision of the state, an interstate body, or the United States and its agencies and instrumentalities, to the extent permitted by law.

(n) “Port” means any port or place in which a vessel was, is, or will be anchored or moored, or where a vessel will transfer cargo.

(o) “Sediments” means matter settled out of ballast water within a vessel.

(p) “Waters of the state” means surface waters, including saline waters, that are within the boundaries of the state.

(q) “Wetted portion of a vessel” means all parts of a vessel’s hull and structures that are either submerged in water when the vessel is loaded to the deepest permissible legal draft or associated with internal piping structures in contact with water taken onboard.

(r) “Vessel” means a vessel of 300 gross registered tons or more.

(s) “Voyage” means any transit by a vessel destined for a California port from a port outside of the coastal waters of the state.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 443, Sec. 1. (AB 912) Effective January 1, 2020. Note: Sections 71500 et al. are located in Division 37, which follows Section 71271.)