§ 334.784 East Pearl River, within the acoustic buffer area of the John C. Stennis Space Center, and adjacent to lands, in Hancock County, Mississippi; danger zone.

(a) The area. A danger zone is established in and to the extent of waters of the United States, as defined in 33 CFR part 329, in the following reaches of the East Pearl River south of a point located at latitude 30.4030° N., longitude −89.6815° W., to a point below the confluence of Mikes River, located at latitude 30.3561° N., longitude −89.6514° W. The datum for these coordinates is NAD 1983.

(b) The regulation.

(1) No person, vessel, or other watercraft, other than a vessel owned and operated by the United States, shall enter or remain in the danger zone, or within a portion or portions thereof, when closed to public access, as provided in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, except by permission of the Commanding Officer, Naval Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport or such other person(s) as he or she may designate.

(2) The danger zone, or a portion or portions thereof, will be closed, for riverine, weapons, or other dangerous naval training, by placement of Government picket boats at the northern and southern boundaries in the East Pearl River, or at such other location(s) within the danger zone as may be determined to be sufficient to protect the public. Prior to closure, picket boats will transit the area(s) to be closed, to ensure that no persons, vessels, or other watercraft are present. Once the danger zone, or location(s) within the danger zone, has been cleared, picket boats will remain in position, upstream and downstream, until it is safe to re-open the area(s) to public access.

(3) Riverine, weapons, and other dangerous naval training may occur on any day of the week, typically, but not exclusively, in periods of two to eight hours, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Training may occur at night, in darkness.

(c) Enforcement. The restrictions on public access in this section shall be enforced by the Commanding Officer, Naval Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport or by such other person(s) as he or she may designate.

[82 FR 49114, Oct. 24, 2017]