CG looking at who really owns the boats

[CaptAndrew]

CG is looking for comments on how companies verify the US Citizenship requirement for documented boats. I guess publicly traded companies are owned by shareholders and there is no requirement for citizenship in order to buy shares in any company. When (if) they find out will they do anything?

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011...2011-28447.pdf

[Steamer]

This brings up other issues that are not immediately obvious. One of them is the concept of the "corporate veil" that separates a "beneficial owner" from the corporation that is registered as the owner.

While an argument can be made that "if you don't have anything to hide why should you object?" an equally valid argument might be made that not every piece of information falls under the umbrella of what the government is entitled to know.

[Jaime5798]

CG is looking for comments on how companies verify the US Citizenship requirement for documented boats. I guess publicly traded companies are owned by shareholders and there is no requirement for citizenship in order to buy shares in any company. When (if) they find out will they do anything?

[seadog!]

"The documentation laws (Jones Act) are meant to be restrictive and are intended to limit the persons who are eligible to document vessels under US law and acquire trading privileges."

If you are Trico Marine, with more than a dozen boats that fall under this category, you'll file for bankruptcy and pay $6,000,000.00 in fines.