12:7C-8 Definitions.

2. The following terms whenever used or referred to in this act shall have the following meanings unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:

a. "Vessel" means a boat, ship, or any other watercraft, regardless of whether it is, or was, used for recreational, commercial, or industrial purposes, or any other purpose, other than a seaplane on the water, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on the water, except a boat or watercraft which is subject to the provisions of P.L.1969, c.264 (C.12:7C-1 et seq.), and includes any trailer used to transport or store it.

b. "Owner" means a person or any other legal entity, other than a lienholder, having a property interest in or title to a vessel. The term includes a person entitled to the use or possession of a vessel subject to an interest of another person, reserved or created by agreement and securing payment or performance of an obligation, but the term excludes a lessee under a lease not intended as security.

c. "Lienholder" means any person or any other legal entity holding a security interest in or to a vessel.

d. "Security interest" means an interest which is reserved or created by an agreement which secures payment or performance of an obligation and is valid against third parties generally.

e. "Commission" means the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.

f. "Waters of this State" means all waters within the jurisdiction of this State, both tidal and nontidal, and the marginal sea adjacent to this State to a distance of three nautical miles from the shoreline.

g. "Removal costs" means any or all costs associated with the removal, raising, towing, transporting, cleaning, storage, or destruction of any vessel from land or water and shall include the reimbursement of any or all costs incurred by the applicant in the course of acquiring title to an abandoned vessel, including acquiring title to any trailer abandoned with the vessel.

h. "Municipal waterway" means any portion of a body of water located within a municipality or any portion of a body of water over which a municipality or harbor commission legally exercises jurisdiction.

L.1975, c.369, s.2; amended 1995, c.401, s.46; 2008, c.52, s.5.