(a) Location. The following areas are security zones: All waters within the Captain of the Port Houston-Galveston Zone commencing at U.S. territorial waters through the Freeport Entrance Channel, from surface to bottom, one thousand (1000) yards ahead and astern and five hundred (500) yards on each side of any vessel that has a moving security zone established around it.
(b) Regulations. Entry into or remaining in the zones described in paragraph (a) of this section is prohibited unless authorized as follows:
(1) Moored vessels or vessels anchored in a designated anchorage area are permitted to remain moored or anchored if they come within a security zone described in paragraph (a) of this section. A moored or an anchored vessel in a security zone must remain moored or anchored unless it obtains permission from the Captain of the Port to do otherwise.
(2) Commercial vessels operating at the waterfront facilities within these zones.
(3) Commercial vessel transiting directly to or from waterfront facilities within these zones.
(4) Vessels providing direct operational/logistic support to commercial vessels within these zones.
(5) Vessels operated by the port authority or by facilities located within these zones.
(6) Vessels operated by Federal, State, county, or municipal agencies.
(7) All persons and vessels within the moving security zone must comply with the instructions of the Captain of the Port Houston-Galveston and designated on-scene U.S. Coast Guard patrol personnel. On-scene U.S. Coast Guard patrol personnel include commissioned, warrant, and petty officers of the U.S. Coast Guard.
(8) To request permission as required by these regulations, contact the Sector Houston-Galveston Command Center by telephone at (713) 671-5113. In Freeport, vessels should contact the Captain of the Port's designated on-scene representative for the moving security zone on VHF Channel 16, or by telephone at (979) 233-7551.
(c) Certain vessel definition. For the purposes of this section, certain vessel means any vessel within the 12 nautical mile U.S. Territorial Waters and bound for the Port of Freeport that is deemed to be in need of a moving security zone by the Captain of the Port, Houston-Galveston for security reasons. In making this determination, the Captain of the Port considers all relevant security factors, including but not limited to the presence of unusually harmful or hazardous substances and the risk to population or infrastructure.
(d) Informational broadcasts. The Captain of the Port Houston-Galveston will inform the public when moving security zones have been established around certain vessels via Broadcast Notice to Mariners on VHF channel 16 and 13. Vessels that have a moving security zone in place around them will display the international signal flag or pennant number five.
(e) Authority. In addition to 46 U.S.C. 70034 and 46 U.S.C. 70051, the authority for this section includes 46 U.S.C. 70116.
[USCG-2008-0125, 75 FR 8490, Feb. 25, 2010]