Saving Seafood

Cape Coast Guard Crew Rescues Maine Fishermen

August 17, 2016 — SOUTHWEST HARBOR — The Coast Guard rescued four fishermen Wednesday morning after the fishing vessel Lydia & Maya started taking on water about 40 miles south of Southwest Harbor.

According to a news release, the Coast Guard received a broken transmission at about midnight from a crew member aboard the vessel saying it was taking on water. A distress signal soon followed, indicating the crew was in the water.

Coast Guard Station Southwest Harbor launched a boat crew, and Air Station Cape Cod launched a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew, according to the release.

The helicopter arrived on the scene at about 2 a.m. to find four people in a life raft shooting off flares and using a signal light. The helicopter lowered a rescue swimmer, and the fishermen were hoisted into the helicopter.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

46 people rescued from sinking vessel off Alaska

July 28, 2016 — ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Latest on the rescue of 46 crew members who abandoned a fishing vessel in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on Tuesday (all times local):

9 p.m.

Officials say two Good Samaritan vessels have rescued 46 people who abandoned a fishing boat in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Lauren Steenson says there were no reports of any injuries as the crew members were transferred from life rafts to the vessels in a fairly calm Bering Sea.

She says the ships then embarked on a 13-hour voyage to Adak, Alaska, a port in the Aleutians.

The Good Samaritan ships Spar Canis and the Vienna Express rushed to the scene as did two other merchant vessels, all responding to a Coast Guard’s emergency broadcast for help.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Rescue Ships Arrive After 46 Abandon Fishing Vessel in Alaska Waters

July 27, 2016 — ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Latest on the rescue of 46 crew members who abandoned a fishing vessel in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on Tuesday (all times local):

Officials say two Good Samaritan vessels have rescued 46 people who abandoned a fishing boat in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Lauren Steenson says there were no reports of any injuries as the crew members were transferred from life rafts to the vessels in a fairly calm Bering Sea.

She says the ships then embarked on a 13-hour voyage to Adak, Alaska, a port in the Aleutians.

The Good Samaritan ships Spar Canis and the Vienna Express rushed to the scene as did two other merchant vessels, all responding to a Coast Guard’s emergency broadcast for help.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Bloomberg

Fast-moving trap line cuts short budding life of young Maine lobsterman

July 21, 2016 — Jon and Melinda Popham got married aboard the Melinda Ann, a former pleasure craft that Jon had converted into a lobster boat. He named it for his bride, and planned to build their future on it.

“He told me he wanted me to stay home and raise our (2-year-old) son, he was worried about making sure we had the best of everything. He loved (fishing) and he was doing well, he told me this year would be epic,” Melinda Popham said Wednesday.

The Popham family’s dream life was shattered Saturday when Jon Popham, 28, of Machiasport died after falling out of the Melinda Ann near Jonesport. Although the Coast Guard hasn’t released many details about the accident, Melinda Popham said Wednesday that her husband was apparently pulled overboard and dragged under the water when his foot got caught in the line of a 15-trap trawl. One of his sternmen, Timmy White, dove in with a knife to try to cut him free.

By the time White and the other sternman, Jesse Frisbee, had pulled Popham out of the water, he was unresponsive. His crew gave him CPR, as did a Coast Guard rescue crew. The Melinda Ann was 2 miles from Jonesport when the accident happened early Saturday afternoon.

Melinda Popham sobbed at times Wednesday while recounting the details of her husband’s death. But her mood brightened somewhat when she talked about how funny he was, how hardworking, and what deep faith in God he had. She said he would want people reading about his death to know how important his faith was.

“He always said he wanted to go out with a bang,” Melinda Popham said. “He’d be proud to know he could share his faith with people.”

Read the full story in the Portland Press Herald

Vessel rescues 19 fishermen from burning boat off Bermuda

June 30, 2016 — HARTFORD, Conn. — A plume of black smoke alerted the crew of a cargo vessel to possible distress. As they pulled closer in the Atlantic Ocean, they found a fishing boat engulfed in flames and the sailors in the water.

The ship, K. Coral, hoisted 17 fishermen aboard. Two others drifted away while clinging to a makeshift raft made from fishing buoys. Lookouts searched for several hours, through nightfall and heavy wind and rain, before the crew pulled them both to safety as well.

The ship arrived this week to unload steel in New Haven, Connecticut, where a delegation from the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday honored the captain and crew for carrying out the rescue last week 900 miles southeast of Bermuda.

Park Hyog Soo, the South Korean captain of the Panama-flagged K. Coral, said in Wednesday an email to The Associated Press that the entire effort felt like something out of a movie.

“Until now I, and my crew, still can’t believe that we had rescued 19 people,” he said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WRCB

Shell line leaks 88,200 gallons into the Gulf, Coast Guard says

May 13, 2016 — NEW ORLEANS — About 88,200 gallons of oil have leaked from a Shell flow line into the Gulf of Mexico about 90 miles off the coast of Louisiana, the US Coast Guard said.

Chief Petty Officer Bobby Nash said the leak has been secured and cleanup crews will be dispatched. The leak was reported Thursday.

Shell spokeswoman Kimberly Windon, in a statement late Thursday, said a helicopter saw an oil sheen near the Glider subsea tieback system at Shell’s Brutus platform shortly before 8 a.m.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

Water rescue needed during at-sea training

May 13, 2016 — Almost 40 fishermen and others who work on the water participated in safety and survival training Thursday at the Coast Guard’s Station Gloucester. Little did they know that session would provide a real-life safety incident.

According to Nina Groppo of the Fishing Partnership and Support Services, one of the participants encountered a problem during an in-water drill when his survival suit inadvertently opened as he was trying to get into a life raft and instructors had to fetch him out of the water.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Vessel owners fined for fishing in protected areas

May 4, 2016 — BOSTON — The owners of two fishing vessels paid civil fines after fishing in protected areas in 2013 and 2014.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration resolved the civil penalty cases after the crews of the vessels were found to have violated the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, according to a press release from the U.S. Coast Guard.

Following up on a referral from NOAA law enforcement officers, on March 21, 2014, a crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod spotted the fishing vessel Warrior, of New Bedford, fishing for scallops in Closed Area II Essential Fish Habitat, according to the release. The area, about 120 miles east of Cape Cod, is one of five closed fishing areas in New England that cover 8,000 square miles of protected waters, according to the release.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Coast Guard tows Gloucester dragger 90 miles into Portland, Maine

April 29, 2016 — The U.S Coast Guard, with a good Samaritan boat serving as its closer, towed the Gloucester-ported Paulo Marc into Portland, Maine, this morning after the 63-foot boat became disabled due to engine problems, according to the Coast Guard.

The Paulo Marc, owned by a Maine-based limited liability company with David J. Osier listed as the permit holder, was trawling for groundfish about 90 miles off the coast of Maine at about 1 p.m. Wednesday when engine trouble related to a failed reduction gear left it wallowing in the water without power.

“It was pretty hectic for a little while,” Osier said this morning. “I was looking for another boat to tow it in, but that’s become hard because there’s just not that many draggers left out there fishing.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Coast Guard Warns of Consequences for False Mayday Calls

April 27, 2016 — The following was released by the US Coast Guard:

WARRENTON, Ore. – The Coast Guard is warning individuals who make false mayday reports to the Coast Guard, that there are consequences to those actions.

Coast Guard Sector Columbia River Command Center personnel have received four potentially false mayday calls in the last two weeks.

“Hoax calls waste valuable time and resources, but most importantly it potentially puts responding personnel in danger and can interfere with legitimate search and rescue cases,” said Lt. Cmdr. Erika Barron, command center chief, Sector Columbia River. “With busy spring and summer boating seasons, false distress calls can divert essential resources when they are needed elsewhere to ensure the safety of the public.”

The Coast Guard reminds the public that making a hoax call to the Coast Guard is a crime punishable by up to 6 years in prison; a $250,000 criminal fine, a $5,000 civil fine, and reimbursement to the Coast Guard for operating costs incurred. The hourly standard rates for Coast Guard assets can be found at Coast Guard Reimbursable Standard Rates.

If a mayday call, actual or potentially false, is heard, boaters are encouraged to contact their local Coast Guard unit and relay what they heard.