---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 7318"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "7318"
heading: "Radiotelegraph operators on Great Lakes"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/7318"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen"
  - "Part E — Merchant Seamen Licenses, Certificates, and Documents"
  - "Chapter 73 — Merchant Mariners’ Documents"
---

# §7318. Radiotelegraph operators on Great Lakes

- (a) A radiotelegraph operator on the [Great Lakes](/usc/46/9301.md?p=2) only shall have a first-class or second-class radiotelegraph operator’s [license](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-2) issued by the Federal Communications Commission.
- (b) An endorsement as radiotelegraph operator on the [Great Lakes](/usc/46/9301.md?p=2) only ends if the holder ceases to hold the [license](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-2) issued by the Commission.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 545.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |
| --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source section (U.S. Code) |
| 7318 | 46:229c<br>46:229g<br>46:643(a) |

Section 7318 specifies that radiotelegraph operators on the Great Lakes shall have a first-class or second-class radiotelegraph operator’s license issued by the FCC and need not be licensed as a radio operator by the Coast Guard. However, an endorsement as radio telegraph operator has to be noted on his merchant mariners’ document. If the holder ceases to have a valid FCC license, then the endorsement is terminated automatically without recourse to suspension and revocation proceedings.