Articles Posted in Maritime Issues

Washington Gubernatorial hopefuls Jay Inslee and Rob McKenna are offering some ideas about how to bolster the region’s maritime industry but didn’t specifically say how they would pay for those improvements.

Both candidates spoke at the Bering Seas Fisheries Conference in Seattle on Tuesday, April 26, telling commercial fisherman, shipbuilders and others in the crowd that they would work to improve freight mobility and workforce training opportunities to keep Washington state competitive with Asia and others.

The Republican McKenna said he’ll work to lower the regulatory burden for businesses, open the state-run workers compensation program to competition, and boost K-12 and higher education spending.

After searching through the night for approximately 7 hours, the Coast Guard suspended a search for a person in the water near the Columbia River entrance on the border of Oregon and Washington, Saturday.

Coast Guard Sector Columbia River, located in Astoria, received a call from the outbound 591-foot bulk carrier motor-vessel Matisse as it was headed out to sea, reporting a person from the vessel had fallen overboard near the Columbia River entrance wearing a yellow work helmet but no life jacket at approximately 12:50 a.m.

Coast Guard Sector Columbia River launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Astoria and a 47-foot response boat crew from Station Cape Disappointment in Ilwaco, Wash. The crews arrived on scene and searched along with the crew of the Matisse and the crew of the Bar Pilot Vessel Columbia.

On Saturday, April 21, 2012 ten crewmembers were rescued from the burning vessel Hsin Man Chun, a 70-foot Taiwanese fishing vessel. The Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue partners, coordinated in the rescue after the crewmembers were forced to abandon ship 700 miles west of Guam.

A Navy P-3 Orion long-range search aircraft from Patrol Squadron 1 stationed at Kadena Air Base, Japan, overflew the vessel and reported eight crewmembers in a life raft and two more on the bridge of the burning vessel. The P-3 crew deployed two life rafts to assist the crewmembers that remained behind. They passed the location of the distressed crewmembers to the Semirio, a Marshallese flagged bulk carrier diverted to the area by the Coast Guard.

The Semirio was only 40 miles away from the distressed vessel and was asked to assist. Once on scene, the 950-foot bulk carrier launched a small boat and successfully rescued all 10 crewmembers. The Semirio is one of many foreign flagged vessels operating in the Pacific that voluntarily participate in the AMVER System.

The Coast Guard concluded its first hearing Thursday to determine the cause of the March 10, 2012 sinking of the fishing vessel Lady Cecilia 17 miles off the Washington coast. Witnesses gave testimony on the history and condition of the vessel along with recollections of the crew and their experience. The investigation will continue and the hearing is expected to reconvene in approximately one month.

The Lady Cecelia and its crew went missing off the coast of Washington, March 10, 2012, prompting an extensive search by the Coast Guard, which located a debris field but no sign of the vessel or the men. There was no distress call from the vessel, but a signal was sent from the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, or EPIRB, a device mounted on the roof of the boat’s cabin that sends out a signal if it comes into contact with water. When the Coast Guard reached the scene less than 2 hours later, there was nothing but an oil slick, an empty life raft and some crab pots to mark where the 70-foot trawler and 4 crewmembers disappeared.

There is speculation from Coast Guard personnel that the Lady Cecelia could have been hit by a rogue wave, while other fisherman have said it might have been struck by a passing cargo ship. The girlfriend of one of the deceased crewmembers reports that he had concerns about the safety of the Lady Cecilia prior to leaving, but went to sea nonetheless.

Earlier today the Coast Guard medevaced a crewmember from the 75-foot clamming vessel Enterprise approximately 6 miles east of Manasquan Inlet, N.J. The man was injured when he was struck in the head by a dislodged pipe caused by “equipment failure”. Due to the man’s condition, it was not possible to transfer him to the Coast Guard vessel that reported to the scene and instead the Coast Guard escorted the Enterprise back to Point Pleasant beach where the man’s care was transferred to awaiting emergency medical personnel.

Seamen injured in the course of their employment are entitled to maintenance and cure regardless of who is at fault for their injury. Maintenance is a daily allowance for room and board and cure is the reasonable cost of medical services necessary to treat the injury. The seaman may also be entitled to recovery under the Jones Act or the seaworthiness doctrine.

On Saturday, April 14, 2012 the sailing vessel Low Speed Chase was transiting around the Farallon Islands during a race when it was struck by a series of large waves that rolled the vessel multiple times, causing crew members to enter the water and ultimately running the vessel aground. The vessel remains intact on the rocks. The Coast Guard rescued three crewmembers and recovered the body of one crewmember. Four remain missing. After conducting a search over an area of over 5,000 square miles, the Coast Guard suspended its search on Sunday evening.

On March 30, 2012 an immense marina fire in Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham took two lives and destroyed an estimated 10 vessels and a boathouse. The victims, a married couple, died from smoke inhalation aboard their 42-foot powerboat when the fire trapped them inside. The vessel sank during the blaze and their bodies were not recovered until April 6 due to high winds and sunken debris hindering the recovery effort.

The fire was reported at 5:30 a.m. on March 30 and officials received a portion of a call from the couple before their deaths. By the time fire crews arrived flames had spread to several boats and eventually the roof of the marina collapsed. Fuel tank explosions could be heard as thick, black plumes of smoke rose from the marina and drifted into Bellingham. The 10 vessels lost in the fire were primarily high end fiberglass pleasure boats approximately 40 feet in length. Officials say that the blaze was difficult to fight due to the lack of a fire boat. Until last year, Bellingham had a fire boat but the city decommissioned it due to a determination that its cost was not justified.

On Tuesday, April 10, 2012, the coast guard medically evacuated a 97-year-old passenger from the cruise ship Celebrity Silhouette in New York Harbor. The woman reportedly fell and suffered a head injury while the vessel was anchored off Staten Island, New York. The woman was in stable condition at the time she was transferred off the cruise ship and was taken to a hospital shoreside. Passengers of cruise ships may have claims against the cruise company if they suffer injuries caused by negligence of the vessel.

The Coast Guard responded to two accidents involving towing vessels on Friday, April 6, 2012.

The towing vessel Altro Donna sank after an allision with a piling near Commodore Dock in Marreo, Louisiana where it was transporting eight empty red-flag barges with three crewmembers onboard. The Altro Donna reportedly had a tank onboard with an estimated 11,500 gallons of diesel fuel and 52 gallons of lube oil. The crewmembers were safely evacuated before the vessel sank and there are currently salvage and pollution cleanup operations underway.

Also on Friday, the Tug Katherine G capsized near Liberty Island in New York Harbor. A Good Samaritan ferry crew safely rescued from the water the two crewmembers that were aboard the tug. U.S. Currently the Coast Guard is investigating any possible pollution and a salvage plan is being formed.