Ask a Maritime Attorney: What is the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s role?
June 2, 2022
Question:
Last month I was underway for a family outing on my boat, and I was stopped and boarded by the Coast Guard Auxiliary for a vessel safety check. The men who conducted the inspection were very professional and they wore uniforms that appeared to be the same as those that are worn by active-duty Coast Guard personnel. I had always thought that the Auxiliary was a civilian organization comprised of local boating volunteers. Is this right? Is the Auxiliary a type of Coast Guard Reserve service? What is their legal authority?
Answer
The Coast Guard Auxiliary operates under the direct authority of the Coast Guard Commandant, but its members are civilian volunteers, and as such, the organization is not a reserve branch of the service. They occupy a unique position in the public service community, subject to both civilian and military authority at the same time.
The Auxiliary operates under Title 14, Part II of the United States Code, which grants the organization “such rights, privileges, powers and duties as may be granted to them by the Commandant.” This allows the Coast Guard to delegate an extremely wide range of Coast Guard duties to the Auxiliary, so long as that duty does not involve the carrying or use of a weapon. Members of the Auxiliary, when assigned to specific duties, are vested with the same power and authority as members of the regular Coast Guard assigned to similar duties. (US Code of Federal Regulations, Title 33, section 5.31).
A Coast Guard “Auxiliarist” who is acting within the scope of his or her assigned duties enjoys many of the same benefits that are extended to active-duty Coast Guard personnel, including immunity from personal liability for negligence. The Auxiliary takes great care to avoid that type of incident, but if it were to occur, the Auxiliary member would be shielded from liability and the boat owner would need to consider a lawsuit against the federal government.
Members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary do wear the same uniform as regular Coast Guard officers, but they wear a modified insignia and do not use the corresponding military titles associated with ranks in the regular Coast Guard.
The Auxiliary was formed prior to World War II, and after the war their role was scaled back to the civilian duties most boaters are familiar with, such as courtesy safety inspections. Since 9/11, the role of the Coast Guard has changed, and the support function of the Auxiliary has expanded accordingly. The primary mission of the Auxiliary is still centered on the promotion of boater safety and education, but they also work on projects ranging from the processing of merchant mariner documents to Hurricane Katrina recovery operations.
Our reader’s experience with the boarding of his vessel is not uncommon. When Coast Guard Auxiliary personnel board a vessel to conduct a safety inspection, they are invariably professional and courteous. The inspection is usually quick and efficient, especially when the crew of the boat that is being inspected returns that courtesy.
David Weil is licensed to practice law in the state of California and as such, some of the information provided in this column may not be applicable in a jurisdiction outside of California. Please note also that no two legal situations are alike, and it is impossible to provide accurate legal advice without knowing all the facts of a particular situation. Therefore, the information provided in this column should not be regarded as individual legal advice, and readers should not act upon this information without seeking the opinion of an attorney in their home state.
David Weil is the managing attorney at Weil & Associates (www.weilmaritime.com) in Seal Beach. He is certified as a Specialist in Admiralty and Maritime Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization and a “Proctor in Admiralty” Member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, an adjunct professor of Admiralty Law, and former legal counsel to the California Yacht Brokers Association. If you have a maritime law question for Weil, he can be contacted at 562-799-5508, through his website at www.weilmaritime.com, or via email at dweil@weilmaritime.com.
The reply gives a good explanation of the CG Auxiliary, however, the role of the CGAUX in “boarding” and “inspecting” recreational vessels is somewhat more nuanced. While it is true that the CGAUX may assist the CG in any of it’s roles and missions, the CGAUX has no independent law enforcement authority. The CG’s law enforcement authority- and thus it’s authority to stop and inspect recreational vessels- is limited to active duty CG officers and petty officers (see 14 USC 522 as the primary CG law enforcement authority). The extension of CGAUX’s roles as cited by the author (33 CFR 5.31) has not included any direct law enforcement authority. It is highly likely that such an extension would not be legally sustainable. However, the CGAUX may assist active duty CG operations by (1) providing a platform (i.e. vessel) for a CG officer/petty officer to operate from or (2) assist in the manning of a CG vessel engaged in law enforcement operations. A CGAUX patrol vessel that does not have an active duty CG boarding officer onboard may not order another vessel to stop and submit to any inspection. The CGAUX does provide COURTESY safety inspections with the consent of a vessel operator. That may be what the original question referred to. In such a case one is free to accept the inspection or refuse (so long as it is solely the CGAUX who is asking and not the CG!). A good explanation of the CGAUX’s roles, missions and authorities (and limitations) can be found here: https://cgaux.org
We cannot board a boat without permission. I am an Auxiliarist for the Coast Guard Auxiliary. We support the Gold (regular) side in as the article mentioned. It also includes Public Affairs, radio operator, public visitation which is to help stock up or give information about Federal boating as well as state regulations as well.
Actually, we cannot board a boat while underway at all.
I think the other two commenters did well to explain the situation, but I wanted to simply those explanations a bit. In simplest terms, the Auxiliary has NO law enforcement authority, to include underway safety inspections. However, they do provide boats to regular Coast Guard personnel to perform their tasks.
It is very likely that the boarding was done by a Coast Guard boarding team member, and not the Auxiliary, and despite the boat used, a Coast Guard ensign would be flown on it to denote it being used under Coast Guard authority.
Please check your boarding form to see who performed the inspection.
If it is an Auxiliary form, you may report this as an infraction to the local Coast Guard sector and they will investigate.