Saving Seafood

New Jersey: Boat found near crash site

August 25, 2015 — State police have located a sunken vessel in the Sandy Hook Channel near where a fishing trawler was reported missing. Divers are investigating Wednesday.

The Coast Guard watchstanders received word that a 40-foot steel fishing trawler called El Jefe started taking on water at 4:30 p.m. and then sank in the Sandy Hook Channel, officials said.

The Coast Guard, the NYPD, the FDNY, and the New Jersey State Police all sent boat crews to search for the boat and its crew. NYPD helicopters also searched for the vessel.

Read the full story at Fox 5: New York

Coast Guard aids fishing vessel southeast of Nantucket

August 24, 2015 — Crews aboard two Coast Guard cutters brought an 83-foot fishing vessel safely to anchorage off Nantucket at approximately 8 p.m. Sunday.
Watchstanders at the First Coast Guard District Command Center, were notified at 11:30 a.m. Saturday that the scallop fishing vessel Chaz’s Toy lost propulsion during a living marine resource boarding by the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba crew 120 miles southeast of Nantucket.

The crew of the 270-ft Escanaba issued a marine assistance request broadcast for Chaz’s Toysoliciting commercial or good Samaritan assistance for the vessel, which went unanswered.

The cutter took the vessel in stern tow at approximately 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The following morning, the crew of the 110-foot Tybee relieved the Escanaba crew and continued to bring the vessel toward shore.

Read the full story at the Inquirer and Mirror

Coast Guard tows scalloper to safety

August 18, 2015 — BOSTON, MA — A fishing vessel carrying 650 pounds of scallops had to be towed to port by the Coast Gaurd when it became disabled.

Coast Guard crews aboard the cutters Escanaba and Hammerhead brought the disabled scalloper safely to shore early Monday.

Coast Guard watchstanders at Woods Hole received a phone call from the captain of the vessel Challenge on Sunday morning, stating a line had fouled the vessel’s propeller, and it was disabled and adrift 70 miles southeast of Nantucket.

Search and rescue coordinators from the Sector Southeastern New England command center in Woods Hole diverted the Coast Guard Cutters Escanaba and Hammerhead to assist.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

 

Coast Guard rescues disabled fishing vessel off Nantucket

August 17, 2015 — Coast Guard crews aboard the cutters Escanaba and Hammerhead brought a disabled fishing vessel safely to shore early Monday.

Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England Command Center, in Woods Hole, received a phone call from the captain of the vessel Challenger Sunday morning, stating a line had fouled their propeller, and they were disabled and adrift 70 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Search-and-rescue coordinators from the Sector Southeastern New England command center diverted the Coast Guard cutters Escanaba and Hammerhead to assist.

The crew of the Escanaba arrived on scene and took the vessel, loaded with 650 pounds of scallops, in a stern tow at 9:30 a.m., Sunday. Later, at about 1 p.m. the crew of the Hammerhead relieved the Escanaba and continued to bring the fishing vessel toward shore.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

 

Bills seek to modify fishing-vessel safety law

June 20, 2015 — SEATTLE — Congress is working on changes to a significant part of 2010 legislation that sought to improve the safety of new fishing vessels.

The provision was part of a major overhaul of the federal fishing-industry safety laws included in the 2010 Coast Guard Reauthorization Act. It gave nongovernmental organizations, known as class societies, a new role in developing standards and monitoring construction of new fishing vessels of more than 50 feet in size.

That provision has run into opposition from fishermen concerned about the costs and the regulatory burdens of involving these organizations in the construction of new fishing vessels. Both the Senate Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2015 introduced Friday and a bill that already has gained passage in the House would remove class societies from a direct oversight role in the construction of smaller fishing boats.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times