TREATMENT OF CERTAIN VESSELS.

SEC. 202. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN VESSELS.Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a)(4) of section 12102 of title 46, United States Code, and the first proviso of section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920 (46 App. U.S.C. 883), a vessel of less than five hundred gross tons that was sold to and operated by a nonprofit corporation organized under United States law, the majority of whose directors are United States citizens, for use by that corporation exclusively as an oceanographic research vessel, shall be deemed to be owned by a citizen of the United States for documentation purposes, and has not been “sold foreign” unless the vessel has been placed under the registry of a nation other than the United States during the period of ownership by that corporation.