Eric Christensen // PVA Director of Regulatory Affairs & Risk Management
On Dec. 18, 2025, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 was signed into law. Contained within the NDAA was the U.S. Coast Guard Authorization Act (CGAA) of 2025. Section 7315 of the CGAA, Requirements to Report Sexual Offenses, made changes to the Safer Seas Act originally passed in the fiscal year 2023 NDAA. The amendments included adding a definition of harassment that was lacking in the Safer Seas Act and requiring coordination between the Coast Guard and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for the dissemination of education and outreach materials.
Additionally, the Coast Guard released its FY 2024 annual report “Sexual Misconduct on U.S. Vessels.” This report, mandated by Congress starting in 2022 provides information on reports received by the Coast Guard and actions taken by the Coast Guard and Department of Justice (DOJ).
Definition Of Harassment
The below amendments are pulled directly from the legislation passed under the FY2026 NDAA:
SEC. 7315. REQUIREMENT TO REPORT SEXUAL OFFENSES.
Section 10104 of title 46, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)(1) by striking “harassment, sexual harassment, or sexual assault in violation of employer policy or law” and inserting “sexual harassment or sexual assault in violation of employer policy or law or harassment”; and
(2) by adding at the end, the following:
(h) HARASSMENT DEFINED—In this section, the term “harassment” means—
(1)(A) unwelcome remarks about an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or other physical or physiological attribute, or other unwelcome verbal or physical conduct towards an individual based on 1 or more of those categories, as prohibited by any federal law, including—
(i) title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.);
(ii) the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.);
(iii) the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.); and
(iv) title II of the Genetic Information Nondisclosure Act (42 U.S.C. 2000ff et seq.); and
(B)(i) submission to such remarks or conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of employment, pay, career, benefits, or entitlements of an individual; or
(ii) submission to or rejection of such remarks or conduct by an individual is used as the basis for decisions affecting that individual’s job, pay, career, benefits, or entitlements; or
(iii) such remarks or conduct have the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance; and
(C) such remarks or conduct are so severe or pervasive that a reasonable person would perceive, and the alleged harassed individual does perceive, the environment as hostile or offensive.
(i) RESPONSE TO INCIDENTS—Nothing in this section shall be construed to impede the ability of the responsible entity of the vessel to take immediate personnel action in response to an incident described in subsection (a)(1) to preserve the safety and security of individuals on the vessel.
(j) EDUCATION AND OUTREACH—Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Coast Guard, after consultation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, shall—
(1) develop and disseminate informational guidance to seafarers, vessel owners and operators, employers of seafarers, and other relevant stakeholders, which shall—
(A) describe, in general terms—
(i) the purpose, functions, and powers of the Commission
(ii) the role of the Commission in addressing employment discrimination complaints; and
(B) identify the publicly available websites and contact information for the Commission; and
(2) make available trainings or other presentations to inform seafarers of employment and anti-discrimination rights under the laws administered by the Coast Guard and the Commission.”
While defining harassment is helpful since that was a source of confusion for vessel owners and operators on what to report, by moving the word harassment to after “in violation of employer policy or law,” Congress has limited the obligation of owners and operators to report only harassment based on established protected classes (race, color, religion, sex, age, etc.) and not necessarily company policy on hazing or bullying. The type of harassment defined above is also covered under the EEOC process, but where EEOC looks at the company, the Coast Guard will focus on the alleged perpetrator. As directed above, the Coast Guard will be working with the EEOC to develop education and outreach materials to share with the maritime industry to address incidents of harassment.
Companies still have the ability to take appropriate action against crew and employees that violate company policies separate from federal reporting mandates. See RESPONSE TO INCIDENTS above.
2024 Annual Report Of Sexual Misconduct On U.S. Vessels
The Coast Guard released their FY 2024 report in April 2025. The report covers Oct. 1, 2023, through Sept. 30, 2024.
The Coast Guard saw a significant increase in reports for sexual assault, sexual harassment, and harassment on U.S. vessels since the start of the reporting requirements in 2022. This is likely due to outreach efforts by the Coast Guard to U.S. vessel operators and associations, like PVA, to get the word out to mariners. Reports to the Coast Guard went up 91 percent from 150 reports (FY 2023) to 287 reports (FY 2024). The Coast Guard completed and referred 15 sexual assault criminal cases to the DOJ and other authorities for consideration. Although the 15 referrals were subsequently denied for criminal prosecution by DOJ, the cases were transferred to the Suspension & Revocation (S&R) National Center of Expertise (NCOE) for administrative enforcement investigations against the perpetrators’ MMCs.
PVA developed and has on their website under Regulatory Compliance Tools in the Member Resources section a form to report and document actions taken following a SASH incident.
The number of completed S&R cases, representing investigations with potential administrative actions against credentials, increased from 10 in FY 2023 to 184 in FY 2024. Of those 184 cases, 150 lacked S&R jurisdiction, which means the individual did not hold a merchant mariner credential (MMC) or they were not serving under the authority of their credential.
When asked how many of these cases involved incidents on board domestic small passenger vessels, the Coast Guard stated, “crewmembers and passengers on board domestic small passenger vessels (T and K boats) comprise less than two percent of the SASH (sexual assault and sexual harassment) and harassment reports received by the Coast Guard since the enactment of the Safer Seas Act in 2022.”
How Is Information Provided To The Coast Guard?
The Coast Guard consolidated reporting for all types of sexual misconduct and established multiple reporting options. The reporting options include:
- Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) Tips App, and/or CGIS email address CGISTIPS@uscg.mil.
- The Coast Guard also maintains a 24/7 watch, which can field reports of sexual misconduct via the National Command Center (NCC) phone number at 202-372-2100.
PVA developed and has on their website under Regulatory Compliance Tools in the Member Resources section a form to report and document actions taken following a SASH incident.
The National Maritime Center (NMC) will deny the issuance or renewal of a MCC due to sexual misconduct convictions. These convictions must be disclosed on the mariner application Form CG-719B. In FY 2024 NMC denied 69 credential applicants due to sexual assault convictions, an increase from 43 denied credential applicants in FY 2023. Please keep in mind that Coast Guard administrative S&R investigations into sexual harassment and harassment offenses are not considered convictions, so it is appropriate for an applicant to answer “no” if they don’t have a conviction on their record.
In addition, the Coast Guard works with the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) who continuously monitors transportation worker identification credential (TWIC) holders for felony convictions. When an individual with a TWIC is wanted, arrested, or convicted of a felony that would disqualify them from being able to hold a TWIC, including rape or aggravated sexual abuse, TSA suspends their TWIC and provides their name to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard follows up with S&R action on a mariner’s MMC for certain felony crimes, including acts of sexual misconduct. Note: The Coast Guard uses the term sexual misconduct, which includes allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment, to remove the burden on survivors of having to decipher the nuanced legal definitions of harassment or assault.
While PVA members and the domestic passenger and small passenger vessel industry writ large are not responsible for the vast majority of SASH incidents and reports, we must remain vigilant and immediately address behavior that has no place in our industry. SASH and harassment negatively impact crew morale, performance, and customer service. At best, a company could lose a valuable employee due to inappropriate behavior of peers and supervisors, at worst a company could lose a vessel or someone’s life. PVA staff will continue to provide support to our members and remain up to date on any best practices available.
Eric Christensen is the PVA Director of Regulatory Affairs & Risk Management