Saving Seafood

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is a growing issue worldwide. FIU hosts conference in search of solutions

March 5, 2021 — Every time wild-caught fish is bought at a restaurant, store or waterfront dock, there is a one in five chance that it was caught outside of the law, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated – IUU – fishing is a growing issue worldwide. The global, economic and environmental effects are catastrophic, with coastlines around Latin America being some of the most impacted.

Recently during a telephonic press briefing, United States Coast Guard Vice Admiral Steven Poulin spoke on the urgency of the matter and the role the Coast Guard is playing in addressing this problem.

“IUU fishing undermines coastal state sovereignty,” Poulin said. “We in the Coast Guard are putting our strategies to address this problem into action.”

Southern Command is also making IUU fishing one of its priorities. At the IUU Fishing Conference on Feb. 3, Southern Command and other key groups emphasized the need for international cooperation, collaboration, leveraged technology, and transparency. Hosted by FIU’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy, the conference reached more than 3,000 viewers from more than 49 countries.

Read the full story at FIU News

US Coast Guard conducts long-range Indo-Pacific fisheries patrol

March 4, 2021 — The Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.-based Coast Guard cutter Kimball wrapped up a two-week expeditionary patrol in support of counter-illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fisheries enforcement, “furthering the United States’ commitment to regional security and partnerships,” according to Coast Guard officials.

The Kimball is one of the newest national security cutters to be home-ported in Hawaii. The advanced 418-foot ships displace 4,600 long tons. With a top speed in excess of 28 knots and a range of 12,000 nautical miles, it can maintain patrols up to 90 days, carrying a crew of up to 150.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Coast Guard cutter conducts long-range Indo-Pacific fisheries patrol

February 26, 2021 — The Honolulu-based Coast Guard cutter Kimball wrapped up a two-week expeditionary patrol in support of counter-illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries enforcement, “furthering the United States’ commitment to regional security and partnerships,” according to Coast Guard officials.

The Kimball is one of the newest national security cutters to be homeported in Hawaii. The advanced 418-foot ships displace 4,600 long tons displacement. With a top speed in excess of 28 knots and range of 12,000 nautical miles, they can maintain patrols up to 90 days, carrying a crew of up to 150.

The Kimball deployment was part of Operation Blue Pacific, with goals of maintaining stability and security throughout the Indo-Pacific region. The crew is trained in “targeted and intelligence-driven enforcement actions as well as counter predatory irresponsible maritime behavior,” according to the Coast Guard.

While patrolling 3,600 miles in the Philippine Sea, the Kimball’s law enforcement team conducted its first ever at-sea boarding. The mission included multilateral fisheries enforcement on behalf of international management groups such as the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Inquiry into the fatal Scandies Rose sinking begins in Seattle

February 23, 2021 — A two-week federal inquiry into the fatal sinking of the F/V Scandies Rose — lost on New Year’s Eve 2019 west of Kodiak Island — opens today in Seattle.

The U.S. Coast Guard and partner agencies will hold a virtual formal hearing to consider evidence related to the sinking of the Dutch Harbor-based fishing vessel until March 5.

The 130-foot crab boat sank near Sutwik Island, Alaska around 10 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2019 with seven crew members aboard. Two fishermen were rescued wearing gumby survival suits in a life raft, but five others were never found.

The search spanned over 20 hours, 1,400 square miles, and included four MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews, two HC-130 Hercules airplane crews and crew aboard the Coast Guard cutter Mellon.

The hearing will focus on the conditions before and at the time of the sinking, the Coast Guard said in a statement. This will include weather, icing, fisheries, the boat’s condition, owner and operator dynamics, the regulatory compliance record of the vessel and testimony from the survivors and others.

Read the full story at KTOO

WASHINGTON: Trident Seafoods declares ship ‘total loss’ after fire at Port of Tacoma

February 19, 2021 — Trident Seafoods lost one of its fleet overnight after a massive fire broke out while the ship was docked at the Port of Tacoma on Wednesday night.

Tacoma firefighters battled the fire into Thursday.

The vessel, the 233-foot Alaskan fish processor Aleutian Falcon, was moored at Trident Seafoods on Pier 12 near the mouth of the Hylebos Waterway.

On Thursday, Trident Seafoods told The News Tribune in an emailed statement: “The Aleutian Falcon, the company’s smallest seasonal processing vessel, was a total loss to the fire.”

The company said no one was injured.

“We are grateful to the Tacoma Fire Department for their swift response and watch on scene, and that no one was injured,” said Trident CEO Joe Bundrant in Thursday’s statement. “We will conduct a full investigation of cause.”

The Aleutian Falcon is moored at Trident’s Tacoma facility between its time in Alaska supporting summer salmon fisheries. When operating, the vessel with a crew of 120 supplemented Trident’s shore-based and larger processing vessel operations throughout Alaska, according to the company.

Read the full story at The News Tribune

CDC requires commercial fishing crews to be masked at all times in U.S. waters

February 17, 2021 — Fishermen must wear masks while they are underway, even while sleeping, and the Coast Guard intends to enforce it.

That’s an edict issued as a public health emergency by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a Marine Safety Bulletin issued on Feb. 1. It requires the wearing of masks at all times in U.S. waters on all commercial vessels “when boarding, disembarking, and for the duration of travel” to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The action states that “conveyance operators traveling into or within the U.S. may transport only persons wearing masks and must use best efforts to ensure that masks are worn.”

Best efforts include allowing entry to a vessel only to those who wear masks, instructing persons that failure to comply constitutes a violation of federal law, and removing any person who refuses to comply. Exemptions apply to children under 2 years old, a person with a disability who cannot safely wear a mask or a person for whom wearing a mask would create a risk to workplace health, safety or job duty, or if an operator is “the sole occupant of the vehicle.”

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: ‘Brutal’ start to 2021 crabbing

February 17, 2021 — It was a hectic and hazardous opening weekend for commercial crab fishermen and the Coast Guard monitoring the fleet.

Commercial crabbing kicked off in Washington with a majority of fishermen dropping their first load of pots late last week for a 73-hour day soak period.

Fishermen reported encountering challenging conditions during their initial trips offshore with rogue waves, freezing rain and dense fog combined with usual turbulence of crossing the Columbia River Bar in boats loaded with crab pots.

Fishermen described the opening weekend conditions as “gnarly,” “brutal,” and in some instances “the worst they’ve ever seen.” One said he was simply grateful there weren’t any deaths despite some close calls.

Read the full story at The Chinook Observer

Coast Guard suspends search for missing boater

February 8, 2021 — In the first 24 hours after a 30-foot recreational crab boat was found empty and stuck on the pillars of the Buckman Bridge, personnel in the water and from the air searched more than 72 square miles of the St. Johns River looking for the missing boater. That area is roughly the same size as Washington, D.C.

Shortly before 8 p.m., the U.S. Coast Guard said that it suspended its search for the missing man.

The Coast Guard, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission joined local responders in the search shortly after an off-duty police officer reported seeing a boat spinning aimlessly in a circle in the St. Johns River just before 8 a.m. Thursday. Minutes later, it crashed into the bridge.

FWC, the lead agency, identified the missing man as 20-year-old Michael Vaughn III, of St. Augustine, who was out crab fishing by himself. Local fishermen, who said they know Vaughn, pray that he’s found. One of them told News4Jax he believes the younger Vaughn was out on the water alone around 6 a.m. Thursday.

Read the full story at News4Jax

New Coast Guard Cutter Named For Heroic Sailor Buried In Unalaska

February 5, 2021 — Near the base of Mount Newhall in Unalaska, among several weathered Russian Orthodox crosses, a tall stone marks the grave of seaman Charles Moulthrope.

Moulthrope was buried in Unalaska in 1896, at the age of 23, after he died during service in nearby waters. But 125 years later, his name lives on, as a recently commissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutter now carries the name Charles Moulthrope.

This will be the first modern Coast Guard cutter named for an enlisted member of the Revenue Cutter Service. The ship is meant to bring recognition to the sacrifices made by Moulthrope and other sailors who served in this precursor of the U.S. Coast Guard, according to Senior Chief Petty Officer Sara Muir.

“The first ten revenue cutters were ten oceangoing cutters,” Muir said. “We’re talking about wooden vessels with sails that were built at the behest of the United States Congress in the early 1790s, largely to crack down on smuggling.”

Moulthrope is recognized for heroically saving his crewmates, while they were serving off the Oregon coast.

Read the full story at KUCB

Maine man charged with false distress call to Coast Guard

February 1, 2021 — A Maine man is charged with making a false distress call to the Coast Guard on Dec. 3, 10 days after four fishermen, including Michael Porper of Gloucester, were lost at sea when the fishing vessel Emmy Rose sank off Cape Cod.

Nathan Libby of Rockland, Maine is charged with making the mayday call to the Coast Guard around 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 3 via VHF-FM radio channel 16.

The caller over several minutes described a 42-foot fishing vessel and its three-man crew, saying the boat was taking on water off Spruceheads, Maine, the rudder was broken and the dewatering pumps could not keep up with flooding.

Based on the call, the Coast Guard began a search that spanned more than five hours, which included the use of a Coast Guard rescue crews from Rockland, Maine, a Maine Marine Patrol vessel, and a helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times