---
kind: "section"
citation: "47 U.S.C. § 25"
title: "47"
title_heading: "Telecommunications"
number: "25"
heading: "Fishing vessels; duty to keep nets from cables"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/47/25"
units:
  - "Chapter 2 — Submarine Cables"
---

# §25. Fishing vessels; duty to keep nets from cables


The master of any fishing vessel who shall not keep his implements or nets at a distance of at least one nautical mile from a vessel engaged in laying or repairing a cable; or the master of any fishing vessel who shall not keep his implements or nets at a distance of at least a quarter of a nautical mile from a buoy or buoys intended to mark the position of a cable when being laid or when out of order or broken, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten days, or to a fine not exceeding $250, or to both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court. Fishing vessels, on perceiving or being able to perceive the said signals displayed on a telegraph ship, shall be allowed such time as may be necessary to obey the notice thus given, not exceeding twenty-four hours, during which period no obstacle shall be placed in the way of their operations.


## Source credit

(Feb. 29, 1888, ch. 17, § 5, 25 Stat. 42.)