§ 3302. Definitions

As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly requires a different meaning:

(1) "Holding tank" means a container or device designed to provide for the retention of wastes on board a vessel and to prevent the discharge of wastes into the waters of this State.

(2) "Law enforcement officer" shall mean a person designated in subdivision 4(11) of this title, and shall include deputy State game wardens and auxiliary State police officers.

(3) "Marine toilet" means any toilet on or within any vessel except those that have been permanently sealed and made inoperative.

(4) "Motorboat" means any vessel propelled by machinery, whether or not such machinery is the principal source of propulsion, but shall not include a vessel that has a valid marine document issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection or any federal agency successor thereto.

(5) "Operate" means to navigate or otherwise use a motorboat or vessel.

(6) "Owner" means a person, other than a lienholder, having the property in or title to a motorboat. The term includes a person entitled to the use or possession of a motorboat subject to an interest in another person, reserved or created by agreement and securing payment or performance of an obligation, but the term excludes a lessee under a lease not intended as security.

(7) "Person" means an individual, partnership, firm, corporation, association, or other entity.

(8) "Personal watercraft" means a Class A vessel which uses an inboard engine powering a water jet pump as its primary source of motive power and which is designed to be operated by a person or persons sitting, standing, or kneeling on, or being towed behind the vessel rather than in the conventional manner of sitting or standing inside the vessel.

(9) "Public waters of the State" means navigable waters as defined in 10 V.S.A. chapter 49, excepting those waters in private ponds and private preserves as set forth in 10 V.S.A. §§ 5204, 5205, 5206, and 5210.

(10) "Racing shell or rowing scull" means a manually propelled vessel that is recognized by national or international racing associations for use in competitive racing, and one in which all occupants row or scull, with the exception of a coxswain, if one is provided, and is not designed to carry and does not carry any equipment not solely for competitive racing.

(11) "Sailboard" means a sailboat whose unsupported mast is attached to a surfboard-like hull by a flexible joint.

(12) "Vessel" means every description of watercraft, other than a seaplane on the water or a racing shell or rowing scull occupied exclusively by persons over 12 years of age, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water.

(13) "Waste" means effluent, sewage, or any substance or material, liquid, gaseous, solid, or radioactive, including heated liquids, whether or not harmful or deleterious to waters of this State.

(14) "Waters of this State" means any waters within the territorial limits of this State. (Added 1983, No. 212 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1989, No. 65, § 1; 2001, No. 75 (Adj. Sess.), § 9; 2019, No. 14, § 63, eff. April 30, 2019.)