Not the most unbiased source, but some more information regarding problems with the Jones Act from Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd:

Quote:SEA SHEPHERD IS BARRED FROM BRINGING AID TO PUERTO RICO
Amazing. President Trump says his response to Puerto Rico has been slow because Puerto Rico is in the middle of an ocean ("a very big ocean").

Sea Shepherd's ship the JOHN PAUL DEJORIA is unloading relief supplies on the dock in Dominica this morning. The Caribbean is not a "bigly" ocean. It is a sea.

The JOHN PAUL DEJORIA departed from Key West two days before Hurricane Irma hit, bound for Cancun, Mexico. In response to the damage to the islands in the Caribbean, our ship left Cancun for Curacao to load supplies. From there to Martinique to load more supplies to be unloaded today in Dominica. The next project is to load supplies for Antigua and Barbuda.

Trump has cited the Jones Act that prohibits non-U.S. flag vessels from bringing supplies to Puerto Rico. This means that Sea Shepherd is prohibited from landing supplies in Puerto Rico. He waived the Jones Act for Texas and Florida but not for Puerto Rico.

Ironically although the JOHN PAUL DEJORIA flies the flag of Barbados the ship is the former USCG patrol vessel Block Island, which means American built.

Sea Shepherd's Operation Good Pirates of the Caribbean will be aiding Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda and Sint Maarten. Because of U.S. law we cannot aid Puerto Rico.