Safety

Effective Monday February 8, 2010 The US Coast Guard will cease transmission of the United States Long Range Aids to Navigation (LORAN-C) signal. The Coast Guard is urging all mariners to have a GPS navigation system onboard their vessel and become familiar with it prior to Feb 8. For more information contact:
Petty Officer 3rd Class Connie Terrell
AT 617-406-9011

This has, in many ways, been a tragic year for Gloucester fishermen — from the January sinking of the F/V Patriot and the loss of its crew, to the loss of lobsterman Jaime Ortiz in October.

It's also been a difficult year for the U.S Coast Guard, which justifiably drew fire for its delayed response to the Patriot's demise. And it was a bit unsettling to learn that a Coast Guard plane that briefly played a role in last week's towing rescue of a stranded Gloucester-based lobster boat was on the scene because it was carrying out enforcement of federal fisheries regulations.

But the Coast Guard's efforts in leading the 77-foot Michael & Kristen to safety after it lost engine power more than 200 miles out sea last week was indeed nothing short of heroic.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

An official with the Maine Department of Marine Resources says finding the wreckage of a fishing boat that sank last March could help determine why seven fisherman and two vessels have been lost in the area in the last year.

On Monday divers from the Maine State Police, the Marine Patrol and Marine Resources found the hull of what they believe is the fishing vessel All American.

The Bangor Daily News says the boat was found upside down at the bottom of Cobscott Bay.

The All American sank on March 25. The body of one crew member was found the same day. The other remains missing.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

The Coast Guard has reiterated its recommendation that more commercial fishing boats should be subject to regulations intended to prevent them from capsizing and sinking, a spokesman said today.

The recommendation was part of a report on the investigation into the sinking of the Costa & Corvo, which caused the death of Captain Antonio Mesquita of New Bedford on Nov. 13., 2008.

In the report, investigators recommended that stability requirements for commercial fishing boats should be applied to boats 50 feet or greater in length. Currently, the requirements only apply to boats 79 feet long or longer. The Costa & Corvo, which investigators determined had capsized, was only 71 feet long.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe. 

A New Bedford-based fishing boat capsized and sank last year because it became unstable when a full fishing net was being lowered onto the deck, the Coast Guard said in a report released today, November 20.

The 71-foot dragger Costa & Corvo sank about 118 miles east of Nantucket on Georges Bank on Nov. 13, 2008. The captain, Antonio Mesquita, of New Bedford, was never found, but three crew members were rescued by a nearby fishing boat.

"Our condolences go out to the family of Mr. Mesquita, who lost his life in this tragedy," Captain Ray Perry, the comander of Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England, said in a statement.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe. 

In the pre-dawn ocean darkness 60 miles off the New Jersey coast, the captain of a Massachusetts fishing boat heard a brief, panicked radio transmission, lasting less than a second.

The voice, with a southern accent, sounded scared and appeared to say a single word: "Mayday!"

It may have been the lone cry for help that anyone heard from the Lady Mary, a scallop boat based in New Jersey and North Carolina that sank March 24 off Cape May, killing six of the seven crew members aboard.

Antonio Alvernaz, captain of the Kathryn Marie, testified yesterday at a Coast Guard hearing investigating the cause of the disaster. The panel has heard several theories, including the possibility that the Lady Mary’s gear might have gotten snagged on something on the ocean floor, or that the vessel may have been struck by a passing boat.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

A scallop boat that sank off New Jersey in March, killing six of the seven crew members aboard, might have been the victim of a fatal hit-and-run crash on the high seas, its owner’s lawyer said Monday.

Stevenson Weeks, lawyer for Lady Mary owner Royal Smith Sr., said extensive damage to the boat’s rudder, propeller and other equipment indicates that some other vessel hit it and kept going. Smith lost two sons in the tragedy.

Weeks said he based his suspicion on "the nature of the damage and the physics involved."

Weeks spoke during a break in a Coast Guard hearing investigating the March 24 sinking of the Lady Mary about 60 miles off the coast of Cape May. He said striking another vessel and leaving the scene can be a crime, just as it is in a motor vehicle.

Read the complete story at The South Coast Today.

Two missing fishermen were found and rescued by the Coast Guard late Wednesday night, said petty officer Connie Terrell.

The men were found in relatively good condition at around 9 p.m. in the Cape Cod Bay between Sandwich and East Sandwich.

The boat, the Carol and Allison out of Wellfleet, sunk at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, about an hour after the two called the Coast Guard station in Provicetown to request assistance, Terrell said.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

The Coast Guard is searching for two fishermen after the pair reported they were taking on water about eight miles east of the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal in Cape Cod Bay on Wed, October 27.

The crew of the 36-foot fishing boat Carol and Allison, based out of Wellfleet, used a cell phone to contact Coast Guard Station Provincetown at 3:21 p.m., requesting assistance. The crew of a nearby tug reported they heard the boat issue a Mayday call, but the cell phone communication between the Carol and Allison crew and the Coast Guard was lost after the initial call, authorities said.

Boat crews aboard 47-foot motor life boats from Coast Guard stations Cape Cod Canal and Provincetown went to the boater’s location but were unable to find the vessel or the crew. The stations and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod are searching the area, and an urgent marine broadcast is being issued requesting boaters in the area to keep a look out and report any helpful information to the Coast Guard.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

Two years after hosting a safety forum for local fishermen, Rep. Barney Frank announced the House has passed a Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill containing safety improvements for the industry.

The bill, which passed Friday by a vote of 385-11, creates a fishing safety training grant program, calls for federally funded research to improve fishing safety technology and updates requirements for onboard safety drills and equipment. In addition, the bill sets new safety standards for smaller vessels.

"Fishing is a dangerous business, but there is a lot that can be done to minimize the hazards faced by fishermen," Frank, D-Mass., said in a press release. "This bill makes safety training and research a high priority, and it provides the resources necessary to make a difference."

Read the complete story at The South Coast Today.