January 2, 2019 — The Coast Guard and a good Samaritan were searching Tuesday for two missing fishermen after their boat capsized early New Year’s Day off Block Island, Rhode Island, officials said.
The captain of the Mistress issued a mayday call at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday to say the fishing boat was taking on water near Block Island Wind Farm, which is nearly 4 miles from shore, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
December 11, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Offshore Wind Transit Working Group is inching closer to developing transit lanes for fishing vessels in Northeast Wind Energy Areas.
Members of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), as well as other fishing industry representatives, offshore wind developer lease-holders, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the U.S. Coat Guard, convened in Newport, Rhode Island, earlier this month for the Working Group meeting, which aimed to develop fishery transit lanes through the Wind Energy Areas (WEA) in federal waters off of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Currently there are concerns about commercial fishermen safely traveling across WEAs to access fishing grounds. According to RODA, safety risks “greatly increase” due to the long distances that fishing boats may be required to take in order to get around or through the WEAs. To solve the issue, the working group is developing transit lanes.
The goal is for the group to come up with a transit lane option that preserves the most important routes to the historic fisheries. Some route options have been identified, but so far nothing has been finalized.
This story was originally published by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.
December 6, 2018 — When Dakota Creek Industries took America’s Finest out for its first sea trial on Tuesday 4 December, it looked like the 264-foot vessel was taking a victory lap.
The Anacortes, Washington-based shipbuilder held an event that day to celebrate the Jones Act waiver elected officials were able to get for the processor-trawler. Later in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Coast Guard Authorization Act, which contained the labor provision, into law.
The process itself is not quite finished. The Coast Guard will get 30 days to review information to make sure neither Dakota Creek nor Fishermen’s Finest – the company that commissioned construction of the USD 75 million (EUR 65.9 million) vessel – committed a deliberate violation of the Jones Act in building the ship.
Coast Guard officials did not return a request for comment.
November 29, 2018 — The former captain of a New Bedford fishing boat owned by Carlos Rafael, a/k/a “The Codfather,” was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for interfering with a U.S Coast Guard (USCG) inspection of a fishing boat off the Massachusetts coast.
Thomas D. Simpson, 57, of South Portland, Maine, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to two years of probation, with the first four months to be served in home confinement with electronic monitoring, and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. In August 2018, Simpson pleaded guilty to one count of destruction or removal of property subject to seizure and inspection.
Simpson was the captain of the fishing vessel Bulldog, a New Bedford based commercial fishing vessel and one of several fishing vessels owned by Carlos Rafael. On Sept. 25, 2017, Rafael, often referred to as “The Codfather,” was sentenced in federal court in Boston to 46 months in federal prison on a variety of charges related to the operation of his commercial fishing business.
On May 31, 2014, the Bulldog was engaged in commercial fishing off the cost of Massachusetts when the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) boarded the vessel to perform a routine inspection of the Bulldog and its fishing equipment. At the time of the boarding, the Bulldog’s net was deployed in the water and the crew was actively fishing. The USCG Boarding Officer encountered Simpson in the Bulldog’s wheelhouse and instructed Simpson to haul in the fishing net for inspection. The fishing net is controlled from the wheelhouse by an electric winch, which Simpson activated, but instead of hauling the fishing net onto the vessel, he let out more of the cable which attaches the net to the vessel. When the USCG Boarding Officer realized that Simpson was letting the net out, he instructed Simpson to stop and to haul the net in. Simpson ignored the order and continued to let out cable until the net became detached from the Bulldog and sank.
November 29, 2018 — The US House of Representatives has passed a US Coast Guard reauthorization bill that includes provisions allowing Alaska’s Amendment 80 fleet to finally gain the use of one of its newest vessels while also protecting shrimpers in the Gulf of Mexico from being fined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for cleaning off their decks.
The Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018, S. 140, was passed by a unanimous voice vote late Tuesday, moving the two-year, $10 billion bill named after a retiring New Jersey congressman to president Donald Trump’s desk for a signature. The action happened with just a few weeks to spare in the 115th Congress.
The legislation passed the US Senate back on Nov. 14 by a 94-6 tally, as reported by Undercurrent News.
Included in S. 140 is a long-anticipated Jones Act waiver for America’s Finest, a 264-foot catcher-processor built by Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes, Washington, for Kirkland, Washington-based Fishermen’s Finest at a cost of about $75 million. More than 7% of the ship’s hull contains steel from the Netherlands, which violates the Jones Act requirement that US fishing vessels be made of no more than 1.5% foreign steel.
The provision, which allows Fishermen’s Finest to use the vessel to replace American No. 1, a 39-year-old, 160-foot vessel, was fought for by senator Maria Cantwell and representative Rick Larsen, both Washington state Democrats, with cooperation from senator Dan Sullivan and representative Don Young, both Alaska Republicans
November 20, 2018 — Overboard deaths have declined 47 percent in the fishing industry since 2000, possibly as result of better training, awareness and equipment.
But falls overboard are still the second leading cause of death among fishermen, with solitary operators at the most risk, according to studies by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
“By far we see the highest numbers in the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery,” followed by the Maine lobster fleet and Northwest salmon gillnetters, said Samantha Case, an epidemiologist with NIOSH who summarized researchers’ findings at Sunday’s opening of the annual Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle.
A session titled “Throw Me a Rope” was the first of several PME safety seminars, where Case and NIOSH colleague Theodore Teske talked about how fishing captains can better protect themselves and their crews.
The good news is overboard falls have declined steadily since the turn of the century. That year marked a major commercial fishing safety push by the Coast Guard, after a series of accidents off the East Coast that killed 10 fishermen in early 1999.
That brought renewed pressure for safety examinations, proper equipment and safety training and drilling for crews. Anecdotally, industry culture has appeared to shift, with better equipment and preparedness evident on the boats, the NIOSH workers said.
Read the full story at National Fisherman
November 16, 2018 — This week, after more than a decade of activism from the fishing industry, Congress has moved to alleviate a major regulatory burden on commercial fishermen. Part of this year’s Coast Guard reauthorization bill once again exempts fishing vessels from requiring a permit for incidental discharge from boats, in a return to a long-standing EPA practice.
“The reauthorization is a common-sense step by Congress that provides necessary relief to fishermen without compromising the environment or water quality,” said Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association. “Now commercial fishermen can focus on core environmental issues without having to deal with unnecessary, court-imposed restrictions.”
The issue dates to a 2006 court case, where the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned EPA vessel discharge rules that had been in force since the passage of the Clean Water Act. Under the ruling, fishing vessels and other boats, regardless of size, were required to get vessel discharge permits from the EPA for routine, incidental discharges. This goes so far as to potentially include water from the fish hold, rainwater washing off the boat deck, and other minor discharges.
Notably, an incidental discharge does not include any discharges related to sewage, fuel, or ballast water. Fishing vessels are still, and have always been, required to adhere to all laws that regulate these types of discharges. The court ruling simply added a new, costly, and unnecessary layer of regulations for vessels to follow.
After years of temporary exemptions as a short-term way to address the ruling, the Coast Guard reauthorization, the “Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018,” finally creates a permanent solution. Fishing vessels will return to being exempt from incidental discharge requirements, and fishermen will no longer need to deal with the added expense and bureaucratic red tape that goes along with them.
“We have worked to fix this issue for our clients since 2006,” said Rick Marks, a Principal at Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh in Reston, VA. “Despite a challenging and sustained effort it is rewarding to finally see a victory for common sense delivered by the 115th Congress. Our thanks go to those coastal Members of Congress and their staff from around the country whose persistence finally paid off for commercial fishermen everywhere.”
November 14, 2018 — A Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod helicopter crew medevaced a sick 54-year-old man from the 87-foot fishing boat Generation Sunday night 42 miles off Nantucket. The captain of the Generation contacted the Coast Guard at approximately 5:20 p.m. and requested assistance for his sick crew member.
In a press release from the United States Coast Guard, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew arrived on scene and hoisted the patient to the helicopter. The aircrew flew the man to Massachusetts General Hospital for further care.
The patient was reported to be in stable condition at the time of the transfer.
October 30, 2018 — A 40-foot troller rolled and sank in high winds just outside of the Sitka harbor Saturday afternoon (10-27-18). The skipper was rescued unharmed.
According to Alaska Wildlife Troopers, 62-year old Calvin “Mark” Bigelow issued a distress call Saturday afternoon when his boat, the fishing vessel Safari, encountered high wind gusts near Kasiana Island. The Safari reportedly became unstable in the gusts, causing it to list and to take on water.
Troopers responded in their patrol boat Courage, and took Bigelow on board. The Safari at this time was capsized and rapidly sinking.
The incident unfolded in full view of residents of Sitka’s Halibut Point Road. Many drivers stopped along the highway to watch the rescue.
The US Coast Guard and salvage crews have responded to the scene for investigation, potential spill response, and recovery operations.
September 25, 2018 — One fisherman is dead and another was injured when another person aboard the Captain Billy Haver trawler allegedly attacked crew members.
“We just responded to a report of an attack on the 82-foot fishing vessel,” said Andrew Barresi, a petty officer with the U.S. Coast Guard.
The attack occurred Sunday and radio calls from the fishing vessel said the suspect allegedly used a knife or a hammer, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Times. The Coast Guard did not confirm this detail with the newspaper, and Barresi also couldn’t give a timeline for when things happened.
The Mein Schiff 6, a German cruise ship, responded to the fishing vessel, according to the Times. It took the two injured mariners aboard; a doctor pronounced one of them dead.
Coast Guard officials met the trawler, which was about 60 miles east of Nantucket, according to the Times, with the Legare, a 270-foot Coast Guard cutter. The suspect was taken into custody.