(a) The owner or operator of a commercial passenger vessel shall maintain daily records related to the period of operation while in the state, detailing the dates, times, and locations, and the volumes and flow rates of any discharges of sewage, graywater, or other wastewaters into the marine waters of the state, and provide electronic copies of those records on a monthly basis to the department not later than five days after each calendar month of operation in state waters.
(b) While a commercial passenger vessel is present in the marine waters of the state, the owner or operator of the vessel shall provide an hourly report of the vessel's location based on Global Positioning System technology and collect routine samples of the vessel's treated sewage, graywater, and other wastewaters being discharged into marine waters of the state with a sampling technique approved by the department.
(c) While a commercial passenger vessel is present in the marine waters of the state, the department, or an independent contractor retained by the department, may collect additional samples of the vessel's treated sewage, graywater, and other wastewaters being discharged into the marine waters of the state.
(d) The owner or operator of a vessel required to collect samples under (b) of this section shall ensure that all sampling techniques and frequency of sampling events are approved by the department in a manner sufficient to ensure demonstration of compliance with all discharge requirements under AS 46.03.462.
(e) The owner or operator of a commercial passenger vessel shall pay for all reporting, sampling, and testing of samples under this section.
(f) If the owner or operator of a commercial passenger vessel has, when complying with another state or federal law that requires substantially equivalent information gathering, gathered the information required under (a), (b), or (d) of this section, the owner or operator shall be considered to be in compliance with that subsection so long as the information is also provided to the department.
(g) [Repealed, § 9, ch. 56, SLA 2007]
(h) On request, the owner or operator of a commercial passenger vessel discharging wastewater under AS 46.03.462(b) shall provide the department with information relating to wastewater treatment, pollution avoidance, and pollution reduction measures used on the vessel, including testing and evaluation procedures and economic and technical feasibility analyses.
(i) The department may exempt from the requirements of (a) - (d) of this section the owner or operator of a small commercial passenger vessel who has a plan for alternative terms and conditions of vessel discharges approved under AS 46.03.462(k).