(Washington, DC, December 15, 2005) — Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen announced today that she has written once again to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as well as spoken with Assistant Secretary Pam Turner about a series of recommendations that came out of a Town Meeting she held with members of the Charter Boat and Charter Yacht industry.

Specifically the Delegate requested that the Secretary exempt privately owned and operated yachts from being designated as commercial vessels when the owner hires a crew.  She also asked that the Department reduce the number of forms used to comply with the Advance Passenger Information System, (APIS) from seven to one. 

“As we continue to press for relief from the regulations impacting our charter boats and charter yacht operators, I wanted to add the requests that we received when we held a Town Meeting with the industry to the list of issues that we want Secretary Chertoff to consider,” Christensen said.  “We also wrote to the Small Business Administration to ask them to examine and evaluate the Regulatory Flexibility Act to determine if the APIS regulations have caused an adverse impact to our small businesses in the charter boat and charter yacht industry,”  Christensen also said. 

The Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection
Office is expected to send an official to meet with the boating community after the holiday season.