(1) The master of a Saint Lucian ship shall not leave a seaman behind at any foreign port or place except when the seaman is discharged in accordance with this Act, unless the cause is unfitness or inability to proceed to sea, desertion, disappearance or otherwise, and the master has had the certificate of the Registrar of Seamen or proper officer endorsed on the crew agreement certifying the cause of the seaman being left behind.
(2) The Registrar of Seamen or proper officer to whom an application is made for a certificate under this section may examine the grounds on which a seaman is to be left behind and, for that purpose, may, if he or she thinks fit, administer oaths and grant or refuse the certificate as he or she thinks just, but a certificate may not be unreasonably withheld.