5.__No creation of dedicated fund.__Nothing in this section creates a dedicated fund.

§339-B.__Recognition

The department may engage in efforts to encourage and recognize superior environmental protection efforts made by the owners or operators of commercial passenger vessels that exceed the requirements established by law.

§339-C.__Exemption for vessels in innocent passage

This subchapter does not apply to a commercial passenger vessel that operates in the coastal waters of the State solely in innocent passage. For purposes of this section, a vessel is engaged in innocent passage if its operation in coastal waters of the State, regardless of whether the vessel is a United States or foreign-flag vessel, would constitute innocent passage under the:

1.__Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone.__Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, April 29, 1958, 15 U.S.T. 1606; or

2.__United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982.__ United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, December 10, 1982, UNDOC A/Conf. 62.122, 21 I.L.M. 1261 (1982), were the vessel a foreign-flag vessel.

§339-D.__Activities of department

The department may engage in the following activities relating to commercial passenger vessels operating in the coastal waters of the State:

1.__In-water monitoring.__Direct in-water monitoring of discharges or releases of sewage, gray water and other wastewater and direct monitoring of the opacity of air emissions from those vessels;

2.__Environmental effects.__Monitoring and studying of direct or indirect environmental effects of those vessels; and

3.__Research.__Researching ways to reduce effects of the vessels on coastal waters and other coastal resources.