Saving Seafood

Prepping for busier season

May 14, 2021 — Your sailboat or center console runabout probably doesn’t have much in common with the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Key Largo that calls Gloucester its homeport.

The Key Largo is 110 feet long and supports a crew of 17. It features state-of-the-art technology and a trident mission of search-and-rescue, homeland security and fisheries enforcement as far as 200 miles offshore. Its power plant consists of two Paxman turbo-charged, 2,800-horsepower diesel engines that can send the Key Largo through the water at 38 knots.

The Island-class patrol boat also sports two Browning .50-caliber machine guns and an MK38 25-mm machine gun that allow the 32-year-old cutter, when necessary, to announce its presence with authority. If your boat does boast comparable firepower, it’s not just the Coast Guard that would like a little chat.

There is one area where you and you vessel of choice share the nautical realm with Lt. Tara Pray and her crew on the Key Largo — a necessary commitment to safety whenever you venture onto the water.

“In 2020, there were 50 recreational boating deaths in the Northeast, which was a significant increase from the 30 in 2019,” Pray said Wednesday morning while standing on the bridge of the Key Largo as it was tied up at the Everett R. Jodrey State Fish Pier. “In a way, that goes back to the increase in popularity and the pent-up demand for recreational boating.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MAINE: Maritime Shorts

May 3, 2021 — The Maine Fishermen’s Forum is hosting a safety seminar on May 4. The seminar will be 90 minutes long and include several guest speakers.  

“In the last fifteen months, Maine’s fishing community lost eight men to several fishing related tragedies. Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in America,” the forum wrote on the event posting. “There are several simple precautions which dramatically improve your chances of surviving an accident at sea and coming home safely to your family.”  

This roundtable discussion will be hosted by Maggie Raymond of Associated Fisheries of Maine and panelists include U.S. Coast Guard Commander Jason Boyer, Brian Smith, a commercial fishing vessel examiner and Mike Russo, a fishing accident survivor.   

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Coast Guard aids fisherman injured on boat off Nantucket

March 29, 2021 — The U.S. Coast Guard came to the aid of a fisherman seriously injured on a commercial fishing vessel miles offshore in Massachusetts early Sunday.

The guard said the crew of the Connecticut-based vessel Furious notified them around 3:30 a.m. that a crewmember had sustained a serious hand injury while the boat was roughly 60 miles south of Nantucket.

The guard dispatched a helicopter crew from Cape Cod, which hoisted the injured 41-year-old fisherman off the boat by around 7 a.m.

The fisherman, who was not named, was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

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

In A New Initiative, The U.S. Coast Guard Targets Illegal Fishing

September 28, 2020 — After a long absence, fish and fishery patrols are back as a U.S. Coast Guard priority. In a little-noticed event earlier this month, the U.S. Coast Guard announced a new focus on “Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing,” sketching out a broad plan to track and, in time, start rolling back the systemic—and often State-based—depredation of seas worldwide.

While the announcement was crafted to reflect a mere status-oriented “Outlook” on the scourge of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, the rollout at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington had all the trappings of a fully committed, “all-of-government” strategy. Flanked by Admiral Craig S. Faller, head of Southern Command, Tim Gallaudet, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Dr. Benjamin Purser, a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the State Department, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Karl L. Schultz, put rogue fishing fleets on notice.

The “Outlook” itself heralds another foresighted Coast Guard effort to focus attention on complex but easily-ignored maritime challenges. To maritime observers, the pattern, by now, should be familiar, as the U.S. Coast Guard is using the same successful template it used to raise awareness of emerging national security issues in the Arctic and the Western Hemisphere. In essence, the Coast Guard, through its latest “Outlook,” is affirming that large-scale economic encroachment at sea and other resource-extraction activities inconsistent with international norms is a destabilizing influence that needs to be controlled. It is signaling that Coast Guard resources will begin putting their “arms around” the problem. But rather than try to do it all, America’s racing-stripe Navy has set out a compelling case for any interested party—both inside and outside of the U.S. government— to join the fight against illegal fishing.

Read the full story at Forbes

OREGON: Fishermen first aid and safety training returns to Newport

October 9, 2019 — Commercial fishing is a dangerous and challenging occupation. Everyone wants to be safe, but the risk of injury is always there. Adding to the challenges of being at sea in hazardous conditions is the difficulty in finding first aid training that fits the needs of commercial fishermen. The U.S. Coast Guard requires that one or more crewmembers be first aid and CPR trained, but most first aid courses are “land-based” and assume you have quick access to an ambulance and hospital — not what you experience at sea, in poor weather and rough seas, working long hours on physically demanding tasks.

With this in mind, a team from Oregon State University and Oregon Sea Grant developed Fishermen First Aid and Safety Training (FFAST), designed around the principles of wilderness first aid to better enable fishermen to prevent and treat injuries they are likely to encounter at sea. The course meets U.S. Coast Guard requirements for on-board first aid training and complements a U.S. Coast Guard required training commonly known as the “Drill Conductor Course,” where fishermen learn how to conduct safety drills on a regular basis to prepare the crew for emergencies. The training takes into account the small crews, common injuries, vessel environments, cold water, rough seas and delayed emergency response times typical to Pacific Northwest fisheries.

Read the full story at the Newport News Times

Improving Safety Before a Trip Benefits Everyone on Commercial Fishing Vessels

October 9, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Ensuring a safety culture is critical to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Fisheries Sampling Branch mission. The branch manages fisheries observer and monitoring programs in the Greater Atlantic region from North Carolina to Maine. Assessing observer practices and procedures is an ongoing effort. That was reflected in a summer workshop organized by the branch to evaluate the process of completing the required observer’s pre-trip vessel safety checklist.

The August workshop brought together a diverse group of professionals. The 24 people who attended have a combined 440 years of experience working with observer programs and/or commercial fishing vessels. A report on the workshop is now available.

Participants came from the U.S. Coast Guard enforcement and vessel safety offices in two districts, the fishing industry, NOAA’s National Observer Coordination office, regional observer programs, observer provider companies, and the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. There were groundfish sector managers, observers, safety trainers, and gear specialists.

“The top nine life-saving items listed in our workshop report need to be present and operable every trip,” said Amy Martins, chief of the Fisheries Sampling Branch. “Observers and fishermen have offered suggestions for improvements to the safety checklist to make it safer and more efficient for everyone, plus we all benefit by cooperative efforts and shared expert advice.”

The Fisheries Sampling Branch plans to start testing and incorporating improvements to the safety checklist process beginning in the fall of 2019 and continuing into the spring of 2020. The proposed changes developed at the workshop will be evaluated to assess their effectiveness and may be changed if safety is thought to be compromised.

Read the full release here

Coast Guard finds federal fisheries violations aboard 5 recreational fishing vessels

July 17, 2019 — PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The following was released by the U.S. Coast Guard, along with a correction from a previous release:

Correction: the vessels found to be in violation by not having their Federal Fisheries Permit were recreational and not commercial fishing vessels.

The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Rollin Fritch found five recreational vessels fishing for highly migratory species without Federal Fisheries Permits, a violation discovered during the routine boarding process over the weekend near Oregon Inlet, N.C. 

Recreational fishing in federal waters without the appropriate permit violates the Magnuson-Stevens Act.  Fishermen found in violation of this act can be subject to fines up $3,750.

“Applying for and maintaining a Federal Fisheries Permit and abiding by appropriate catch limits facilitates NOAA’s ability to regulate overfishing keeping the species healthy,” said Lt. Brittany Fifer, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Rollin Fitch. “The Federal Fisheries Permit program levels the playing field for all fisherman.”

Information about fishing permits to include the acquisition process can be found on the National Marine Fisheries Service website. For any additional questions, please call 1-888-872-8862.

Patrols underway to enforce federal striped bass regulations in New Jersey

May 20, 2019 — As striped bass arrive in New Jersey waters, the U.S. Coast Guard is ready to issue fines to anglers who catch striped bass outside of the allowable boundary, officials say.

Striped bass are federally protected within the “Exclusive Economic Zone,” which begins three miles offshore. The prohibition allows striped bass “to grow and prevent overfishing,” said Lt. Matthew Kahley, an officer who deals with fisheries enforcement at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay in Philadelphia.

The fine is $500 per fish, and anglers caught with more than five fish could face even larger fines, according to NOAA spokesperson Kate Brogan. NOAA assists the Coast Guard with enforcing the regulation.

Read the full story at WHYY

MASSACHUSETTS: Right Whales Seen in High Numbers in Cape Cod Bay

May 19, 2019 — Whale researchers at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center are observing large numbers of North Atlantic right whales and other whale species in Northeast waters.

An aerial team flying for the Center out of the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station at Joint Base Cape Cod and from Hyannis, are continuing their long-term survey for right whales.

The effort supports a range of research and is part of an annual seasonal distribution and abundance survey of protected marine animals along the East Coast.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Hearing held on Oregon crab boat sinking that killed 3

May 14, 2019 — The captain of a crabbing vessel that sank in high waves, killing him and two other fishermen, had methamphetamine and alcohol in his system, according to testimony Monday at the opening of a five-day U.S. Coast Guard hearing.

Stephen Biernacki, 50, and crew members James Lacey, 48, of South Toms River, New Jersey, and Joshua Porter, 50, of Toledo, Oregon, all died Jan. 8 after their 42-foot crabbing boat was battered by waves up to 20 feet (6 meters) tall as it crossed the Yaquina Bar near Newport, Oregon, during the lucrative but fickle Dungeness crab season.

Toxicology tests found cannabis in Lacey’s system; Porter had no drugs or alcohol in his body when he died, according to results shared at the hearing, which was streamed live from Newport, Oregon.

The bar — where the Yaquina River meets the ocean current — can be so treacherous that the dangers of crossing it with a fully loaded crab boat were the premise of a spin-off of the “The Deadliest Catch,” a reality TV show about commercial fishermen that aired on the Discovery channel.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post