Saving Seafood

House Lawmakers Challenge OMB’s Plan to Slash $1.3B From Coast Guard Budget

March 15, 2017 — A bipartisan group of 58 legislators has sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security subpanel to oppose the White House’s plan to implement a $1.3 billion reduction in the U.S. Coast Guard’s budget, Defense News reported Monday.

Joe Gould writes the Office of Management and Budget proposed to eliminate the Coast Guard’s Maritime Security Response Team for counterterrorism efforts and cancel funding support for the service branch’s ninth National Security Cutter ship.

The lawmakers led by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-California), chairman of the House Coast Guard and Maritime subcommittee, said in the letter that OMB’s proposed cut to the Coast Guard’s budget “should be dismissed” since it contradicts President Donald Trump’s aim to rebuild the military.

Read the full story at Executive Gov

Read the full letter here

Senators to Trump Administration: Don’t cut Coast Guard budget

March 15, 2017 — Mexico isn’t going to pay for that wall and neither will the Coast Guard, if a bipartisan group of U.S. senators have their way.

According to reports, the FY 2018 Presidential Budget Request could seek an almost 12 percent cut in the service’s budget, apparently in an effort to help pay for increased expenditures elsewhere in the Department of Homeland Security.

A letter sent by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Gary Peters (D-MI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and eighteen other senators urges Office of Management and Budget Administrator Mick Mulvaney not to make what could be a $1.3 billion dollar cut to the Coast Guard budget.

The senators note that President Trump has committed to stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the country, protecting its borders, investing in national security, and improving support to armed service members and their families. The Coast Guard plays an outsized role in all these areas and  the senators say thatits budget should be increased rather than gutted.

“We are concerned that the Coast Guard would not be able to maintain maritime presence, respond to individual and national emergencies, and protect our nation’s economic and environmental interests. The proposed reduction… would directly contradict the priorities articulated by the Trump Administration,” wrote the Senators. “We urge you to restore the $1.3 billion dollar cut to the Coast Guard budget, which we firmly believe would result in catastrophic negative impacts to the Coast Guard and its critical role in protecting our homeland, our economy and our environment.”

Read the full story at Marine Log

Read the full letter here

Sean Horgan: We need the resources of the Coast Guard

March 14, 2017 — The news last week that the Trump administration was considering cuts to the U.S. Coast Guard budget to pay for the Mexican border wall was about as welcome as the late-winter blizzard bearing down on Cape Ann.

From national security experts to local harbormasters, there seemed to be profound disbelief in the logic of undermining the Coast Guard’s mission of public safety on the nation’s waters — not to mention its responsibilities for the interdiction of illegal drugs and undocumented immigrants — by funneling any of its operational funds into the construction of the wall.

“It shouldn’t even be a consideration,” said Mark Ring, chairman of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission. “It’s a far cry from people lost at sea to somebody climbing a wall.”

News reports and congressional sources reported the White House’s Office of Management Budget plans to reduce Coast Guard spending by $1.3 billion during the next fiscal year to reinforce the nation’s southern border with a wall and additional border agents.

The Coast Guard now operates with a $9.1 billion annual budget. Reportedly, one area of spending under scrutiny is the $43 million allotted to the agency’s drug interdiction teams.

Major cuts are also planned to the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Administration to free money for border security.

Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Times

Coast Guard escorts boat that took on water off Chatham

February 27, 2017 — The Coast Guard was escorting an 83-foot fishing vessel Friday after it took on water 50 miles off Chatham.

Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a call from the crew of the Krystle James at around 11:30 a.m. saying water was entering the ship, reportedly through a hole in the hull, according to a statement from the Coast Guard. Six people were on board.

Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod sent a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to deploy a dewatering pump, and Coast Guard Station Chatham sent a lifeboat crew. The 42-foot lifeboat began escorting the vessel to land after the pump brought the flooding under control, according to the statement.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Bad hull, flooding led to fatal sinking of Orin C

February 24, 2017 — The deadly sinking of the Gloucester-ported Orin C nearly 15 months ago probably was caused by structural problems with the vessel’s wooden hull and subsequent flooding, according to reports from the National Transportation Safety Board and Coast Guard released Thursday.

The two reports detailed the marine tragedy that resulted in the drowning of 47-year-old Capt. David C. “Heavy D” Sutherland during the final stages of the Coast Guard’s rescue that saved crewmembers Rick Palmer and Travis Lane on the night of Dec. 3, 2015.

Neither Palmer nor Lane could be reached Thursday for comment.

The Coast Guard report did not recommend any changes to its training, rescue procedures or the equipping of its rescue vessels. That, however, does not mean it won’t make changes in the future, according to District 1 Deputy Commander Brad Kelly.

“That is something the Coast Guard is always looking at in trying to determine what should be included into all of our rescue platforms,” Kelly said. “That is an ongoing process.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Coast Guard calls off search for 6 fishermen on crab boat

February 14, 2017 — The search has been called off for the six veteran fishermen aboard a crabbing boat missing in the icy, turbulent Bering Sea.

The fishing vessel Destination went missing early Saturday after an emergency signal from a radio beacon registered to the ship. The signal originated from 2 miles off St. George, an island about 650 miles west of Kodiak Island.

The Coast Guard released a statement Monday night saying the search has been suspended.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the six crewmembers during this extremely difficult time,” said Rear Adm. Michael McAllister, commander of the Coast Guard 17th District. “The decision to suspend a search is always difficult and is made with great care and consideration.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KTTC

Lobstermen rescued offshore after wave causes boat to sink

January 16, 2017 –YORK, Maine — The Coast Guard says it rescued two lobster fishermen off the coast of Maine after their vessel began to sink.

The sinking happened Friday when a wave hit the 45-foot lobster boat Miss Mae & Son about 17 miles off shore from York. The Coast Guard says the boat’s pumps couldn’t keep up with the water.

The Coast Guard says the fishermen jumped into the water when a response boat arrived and the boat’s crew was able to pull them on board. The water temperature was 42 degrees Fahrenheit.

The fishermen were returned to Portsmouth Harbor without injuries. The Coast Guard says the fishermen did the right thing by signaling for help and bringing survival gear.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Times

As anniversary nears, reports on deadly sinking unfinished

November 29, 2016 — Saturday will mark the one-year anniversary of the sinking of the Orin C and the death of Gloucester fisherman David “Heavy D” Sutherland, but the final federal reports on the deadly incident still will not be released until January.

Representatives of the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board on Monday confirmed the new timetable for releasing the findings of the separate investigations and restated the government’s intention to release the reports simultaneously.

“We were really pushing to have a completed report before the anniversary of the tragedy to help bring some closure up here,” said Lt. Karen Kutiewicz of the Coast Guard’s District 1 Headquarters in Boston. “That was our goal. Unfortunately, it’s not the reality.”

The draft of the Coast Guard’s internal casualty investigation was completed earlier this year and forwarded during the summer to Washington, D.C., for review by officials at Coast Guard headquarters.

In July, the NTSB said it expected to release the conclusions of its investigation “sometime in the fall.”

An NTSB spokesman on Monday said the agency has not yet concluded its investigation and does not expect to have the final report until mid-January.

“Our reports are lengthy and detailed and often can take more than a year to complete,” said NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss. “The investigative process is not always quick or predictable.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Coast Guard rescues 6 from sinking fishing boat off New Bedford

November 21, 2016 –The U.S. Coast Guard and local responders rescued six people Sunday from a 72-foot scallop boat sinking five miles off New Bedford.

A person aboard the Captain Jeff scallop boat used a VHF radio at 9:30 a.m. to alert the Coast Guard in Woods Hole and report their boat was taking on water.

A 47-foot motor life boat crew from Coast Guard Station Menemsha and a helicopter crew from Air Station Cape Cod responded. The Buzzards Bay Task Force also responded to help the six people.

At the scene, a rescue swimmer was deployed from the helicopter onto the Captain Jeff with equipment to control the flooding.

After the Coast Guard rescue swimmer realized the equipment wasn’t working, he assisted all six people off the scallop boat and onto a task force boat.

The crew was taken into New Bedford to be evaluated by awaiting emergency services personnel. There were no reported injuries.

Read the full story at Metro

Fishermen who fled slavery in San Francisco sue boat owner

September 22, 2016 — SAN FRANCISCO — Two Indonesian fishermen who escaped slavery aboard a Honolulu-based tuna and swordfish vessel when it docked at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf are suing the boat’s owner for tricking them into accepting dangerous jobs they say they weren’t allowed to leave.

Attorneys for Abdul Fatah and Sorihin, who uses one name, say in a lawsuit filed in federal court Thursday that they were recruited in Indonesia seven years ago to work in Hawaii’s commercial fishing fleet without realizing they would never be allowed onshore. They have since been issued visas for victims of human trafficking and are living in the San Francisco area.

The lawsuit alleges that San Jose, California, resident Thoai Nguyen, owner and captain of the Sea Queen II, forced Sorihin and Fatah to work up to 20-hour shifts, denied them medical treatment and demanded thousands of dollars if they wanted to leave before their contracts expired. Nguyen did not return calls seeking comment.

The lawsuit seeks payment for debts the men incurred, fees they paid and promised compensation but does not specify a value, and asks for unspecified damages for “mental anguish and pain.”

It comes two weeks after an Associated Press investigation found around 140 fishing boats based in Honolulu, including Sea Queen II, were crewed by hundreds of men from impoverished Southeast Asia and Pacific Island nations. The seafood is sold at markets and upscale restaurants across the U.S. A legal loophole allows them to work without visas as long as they don’t set foot on shore. The system is facilitated by the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as Customs and Border Protection who require boat owners to hold workers’ passports.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KWWL