Saving Seafood

Coast Guard rescues 80-year-old man off Hatteras Island

December 19, 2016 — WILMINGTON, N.C. — An 80-year-old man was rescued by the Coast Guard Sunday morning after his skiff went adrift about eight miles northeast of Hatteras Island.

The Coast Guard was first notified about the man around 5 p.m. Saturday by Dare County 911 dispatchers who reported that the man had not returned to his family as expected after heading out on the water around 8 a.m.

Officials in Coast Guard Sector North Carolina Command Center in Wilmington immediately issued an urgent marine information broadcast and began coordinating search crews.

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City launched at 5:42 p.m., and a Coast Guard 24-foot Special Purpose Craft-Shallow Water crew from Station Hatteras Inlet launched at about 5:28 p.m., according to the Coast Guard.

Both crews were on scene searching in Pamlico Sound by about 6:23 p.m., joining Hatteras Island Rescue crews and Hatteras Island Fire crews.

Crews searched through the night and were joined by others Sunday at first light. Searching Sunday were SPC-SW crews from Coast Guard Stations Oregon Inlet and Hatteras Inlet, as well as an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City.

Eventually, the man was found adrift in his 18-foot skiff about eight miles northeast of Hatteras Island around 8:25 a.m., unconscious but breathing, by a Hatteras Island Rescue skiff crew. The crew brought him to Avon Harbor where Dare County EMS met them and took the man to Avon Medical Center.

The man was then taken by helicopter from Avon to Sentara Norfolk general Hospital, arriving just after 10 a.m.

Read the full story at ABC 13

Atlantic Striped Bass Fishing in the EEZ: Restrictions Support Sustainability of Species

November 12, 2015 — The following was released by the NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement:

In an effort to ensure the healthy population of the striped bass in the Mid-Atlantic region, NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) is raising awareness of the federal regulations governing striped bass in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and increasing targeted enforcement efforts to protect the species from illegal poaching activities.

“Right now, the striped bass are beginning to migrate south from the northern states,” said Lt. Wynn Carney, OLE supervisory enforcement officer. “The striped bass will follow the bait south near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and in spring they will begin making their way up our streams and rivers to lay eggs.” 

According to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, overfishing and poor environmental conditions lead to the collapse of the Atlantic striped bass fishery in the 1980s.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the species, the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act, found in Title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations part 697.7, was promulgated. Thus, during the months of November through February, NOAA Office of Law Enforcement is joining state and federal marine law enforcement organizations in supporting a focused enforcement effort, targeting vessels retaining and fishing for striped bass in the EEZ. Marine law enforcement officers, including OLE and the U.S. Coast Guard, in the Mid-Atlantic will be ticketing fishermen who violate these regulations and who target striped bass within the EEZ.

“I am excited about the Mid-Atlantic States conducting a focused enforcement effort,” said Carney. “It’s significant that we’re working together toward a common goal.”

For maximum enforcement, officers will be conducting at-sea, aerial, and dock-side inspections.

For more information, call your local OLE field office or visit http://www.asmfc.org/species/atlantic-striped-bass.

Searchers looking for missing Portland water taxi and its captain

November 11, 2015 — A search is underway for the captain of a Portland-based water taxi who has not been seen since Wednesday afternoon.

The Maine Marine Patrol, the Coast Guard and the Portland Police Department are looking for the 24-foot boat, which is owned by Portland Express Water Taxi, and Adam Patterson, who was believed to be on the boat.

Police Lt. Robert Ridge said the company’s owner, Gene Willard, reported the boat and Patterson missing at 2 p.m. Ridge said Patterson, has been living on the boat.

“We’re treating it as a missing persons case,” Ridge said, and no one else was believed to be on the boat.

Willard, who works as a captain for the Casco Bay Lines ferry service, could not be reached for comment late Wednesday night.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Fishermen rescued from burning boat off Maine coast

August 27, 2015 — PORTLAND, Maine —Two Maine fishermen were safely rescued Wednesday evening from their burning boat about six miles from Jeffreys Ledge off the coast of Maine.

The Coast Guard said a crew member of the Gretchen Marie, a 40-foot fishing boat based out of Portland, contacted the Coast Guard around 7:40 p.m. to say there was a fire on board and heavy smoke was coming from the boat’s pilothouse.

Station South Portland sent a motor boat to the area and removed the fishermen from the boat. The fishermen used their own equipment to put out a fire in the boat’s engine before the Coast Guard arrived, according to Petty Officer 1st Class Kurt Hein.

Read the full story at WMTW

New Jersey: Coast Guard launches search for sunken fishing boat in Sandy Hook Channel

August 26, 2015 — STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies were searching for a fishing boat that reportedly capsized off the coast of New Jersey on Tuesday evening, authorities said.

A witness notified the Coast Guard Sector New York command center that a 40-foot steel fishing trawler known as “El Jefe” had begun taking on water at around 4:30 p.m. in the Sandy Hook Channel and sunk shortly after, according to a statement issued by the Coast Guard.

Read the full story at Silive.com