Last Global Commons

CTF 151 counter piracy ops off Somalia

Captains,

The United Nations Security Council adopted aResolution 1897 (2009) extending for twelve months authorization for States and regional organizations cooperating with the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to enter Somalia's territorial waters and use all necessary means to fight piracy and armed robbery at sea off Somalia's coast. The resolution also invites States and regional organizations to conclude special agreements with countries willing to take custody of and to prosecute suspected pirates.

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GULF OF ADEN - Coast Guard MST3 Sean Eversole, a member of the Maritime Safety and Security Team out of Miami Fla., practices boarding procedures with the USS Chosin (CG 65) visit, board, search and seizure team Dec. 16, 2009, in the Gulf of Aden. Chosin is the flagship of Combined Joint Task Force 151, a multinational task force established to conduct counterpiracy operations off the coast of Somalia. (U.S. Navy photo/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Edgington)

Four ways to be located

Captains,

Today's rescue reports include four different ways to be located: EPIRB, cell phone, distress signal, and marine radio. Smart mariners carry all four.

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EPIRB leads Coast Guard to distressed mariner

SABINE, Texas — Following a distress from an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) onboard a 34-foot sailing vessel, the Coast Guard found a missing 80-year-old man Tuesday who had departed Houston ten days ago. The Eighth Coast Guard District command center received the distress alert located approximately 115 miles south of Sabine at 9:30 a.m. The Coast Guard contacted the owner of the EPIRB and was notified by a family member that the 80-year-old owner of the sailing vessel, Enchantress, departed Houston approximately ten days ago and was headed toward Kemah, Texas. Coast Guard locates overdue boater in Chesapeake Bay BALTIMORE – The Coast Guard rescued a man aboard a disabled 21-foot recreational boat approximately three miles northeast of Thomas Point Park in the Chesapeake Bay, Wednesday. The boater’s friend contacted Coast Guard Sector Baltimore watchstanders at 10 p.m., Tuesday, reporting that he did not report to work. In a phone conversation between the boater and his friend earlier that day, he indicated he was going fishing. Sector Baltimore watchstanders contacted the boater’s cellular phone provider to try and triangulate his position and was able to determine that the last known call was at 7:56 a.m., Tuesday, and his approximate position was five miles from Thomas Point Shoal Light. Coast Guard responds to distress signal NEW ORLEANS — The Coast Guard responded to a distress signal from a 26-foot sailing vessel, 30 miles south of Venice, La., Tuesday. An MH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter and crew from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans was diverted from a training mission and arrived at the vessel's location at 8:36 p.m. A radio was lowered to the vessel and the 26-year-old man onboard. Coast Guard en route to disabled Gloucester boat 200 miles offshore BOSTON — A Coast Guard cutter is en route to help five Gloucester, Mass., fishermen on a disabled lobster boat more than 200 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass., Wednesday night. The owner of the 77-foot boat, suspecting contaminated fuel, radioed for help when the boat’s engines would not start at about 3:30 p.m. Initial communications with the boat were spotty, so a C-130 Hercules plane from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., already nearby for another mission, guided the vessel to an area where Sector Southeastern New England command center staff in Woods Hole, Mass., could maintain radio communication.

Icebreaking season begins in the Great Lakes

Captains,

An additional 140 ft ice breaker, USCGC Penobscot Bay, is making way to Lake Erie from Bayonne NJ to assist with this year's ice season (which has already begun). I'm following officially at our morning briefs and unofficially on facebook.

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Coast Guard prepares for 2009-2010 icebreaking season

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

The Ninth Coast Guard District is preparing for the 2009-2010 icebreaking season in the Great Lakes.

Coast Guard icebreaking operations are designed to facilitate the movement of commercial vessels to meet the reasonable demands of commerce on the Great Lakes and to assist the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with flood mitigation.

The Coast Guard conducts two major operations: Taconite and Coal Shovel. These operations ensure the most efficient movement of vessels through the entire Great Lakes region.

Operation Taconite, under the control of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., encompasses Lake Superior, the St. Marys River, the Straits of Mackinac, Lake Michigan and northern Lake Huron.

Coal Shovel, under the control of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Detroit, encompasses southern Lake Huron, St. Clair/Detroit River systems, and Lakes Erie and Ontario, and includes the St. Lawrence Seaway.

To ensure the highest state of readiness and the Coast Guard’s ability to complete this critical mission, an additional icebreaker from the First Coast Guard District, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Penobscot Bay, a 140-foot icebreaking tug, homeported in Bayonne, N.J., will be temporarily assigned to the Great Lakes region. Penobscot Bay will augment the other eight Coast Guard icebreakers that call the Great Lakes home.

A bit of important maritime history

Captains,

On August 4, 1791 the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, in his letter of instruction to the commanding officers of the first 10 cutters of the fledgling Revenue Marine, (precursor of today’s U.S. Coast Guard) wrote:

“They will always keep in mind that their countrymen are freemen, and, as such, are impatient of everything that bears the least mark of a domineering spirit. If obstacles occur, they will remember that they are under the particular protection of the laws and that they can meet with nothing disagreeable in the execution of their duty which these will not severely reprehend. They will endeavor to overcome difficulties, if any are experienced, by a cool and temperate perseverance in their duty--by address and moderation, rather than by vehemence or violence.”

U.S. Revenue Marine cutter

The officers of the Revenue Marine were authorized to board any vessel at sea without probable cause, to enforce customs laws and collect taxes. Hamilton’s words defined these commanding officers as servants of the people; the very people over whom they would exercise broad enforcement authority. Although entrusted with great authority under U.S. law, the commanding officers would adhere to a policy of restraint and the utmost level of professionalism.

Being servants of the people was a radical departure for sea captains in those days. The Revenue Marine and today’s U.S. Coat Guard would reverse the norms of the old world’s sea services by applying restraint, not domination.

In 1772, the year Alexander Hamilton arrived to New England from St. Croix, the old world was about to be taught a lesson and Hamilton absorbed it all. On June 9^th of that year, Rhode Island colonists set fire to the HMS Gaspee, a revenue schooner for the British crown. The Gaspee’s captain, Lieutenant William Dudingston had exercised his authority with

ruthless efficiency and distain. The Rhode Islanders had had enough. So when the Gaspee ran aground on the evening of June 9, they set her afire and pledged to resist all future government efforts to police them without their consent.

HMS Gaspee

Today we still keep in mind that our countrymen are freemen. We endeavor to overcome difficulties with a cool and temperate perseverance of duty. Thanks to Alexander Hamilton’s letter of instruction to the commanding officers of the first 10 cutters.

3 sailors rescued 600 NM east of Bermuda

Captains,

Yesterday's successful rescue at sea involved two rescue coordination centers, a 406mHZ EPIRB, a Coast Guard C-130 and AMVER. The Amver participating vessel, M/V Wellington Star, answered the call for assistance. With support from a USCG C-130 aircraft from Air Station Elizabeth City, three sailors were rescued after their yacht flipped over 600 miles northeast of Bermuda. Fortunately the sailors were wearing their survival suits.

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Coast Guard coordinates rescue of 3 people east of Bermuda

PORTSMOUTH VA - Saturday Coast Guard watchstanders in Portsmouth received an inmarsat satellite phone distress signal from a french sailing yacht at 4:45 p.m. Ten minutes later Rescue Coordination Center Gris Nez, in northern France, called reporting they had received a 406mHz radio beacon distress signal from the same yacht. Watchstanders attempted to call their satellite phone, began broadcasting an Inmarsat C SafetyNET Enhanced Group Call to all ships in the area and contacted nearby ships participating in the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System. After multiple calls, the Coast Guard made contact with the sailing yacht's crew and found that their yacht had flipped over from a wave and another flipped it back. The crew also reported they were wearing their survival suits. The watchstanders maintained regular contact while an Air Station Elizabeth City HC-130J Hercules aircraft crew took flight to search for the yacht and provide communications and support as two AMVER vessels were en route to provide assistance. The AMVER vessel Wellington Star arrived and the last person was safely transferred aboard at 12:37 a.m. Sunday. They are now en route to New Bedford, Mass.

Understanding Coast Guard 6505

Captains

RADM Manson Brown announced the release of the Coast Guard's investigation of the loss of CG 6505 of Air Station Barbers Point Hawaii during rescue basket training. Being "Always Ready" is dangerous work in itself.

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“We do very dangerous work, often in harsh environments,” said Brown. “Our training procedures must appropriately challenge our crews to a degree necessary to maximize mission success for actual cases. Mariners rely on us to be there when they encounter the perils of the sea.”

Rescue basket hoist training involves a helicopter lowering a rescue basket to the deck of a Coast Guard boat and then hoisting the basket back to the right side door of the helicopter.

The detailed results and recommendations from the investigation are issued to the public through the Commandant’s Final Action Memo on the Administrative Investigation and through the Final Decision Letter on the Mishap Investigation. Both documents are available in the Coast Guard’s FOIA Reading Room at www.uscg.mil/foia/reading-room.asp or can be downloaded here.

Keep the crew inside the lifelines

Captains

Majesty of Seas crewman, Robert Mado is a lucky man, but why did he go overboard? The investigation pends. Hope he is OK after treading water for over two hours.

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MIAMI -- The Coast Guard rescued a cruise ship crewmember who went overboard Friday morning.

A smallboat crew from Coast Guard Station Miami Beach, Fla., located 31-year-old Robert Mado treading water around 6:15 a.m., roughly five miles off the Fowey Rocks near Biscayne Bay, Miami. Mado was transferred to Fireboat One from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

Mado went overboard from the Royal Caribbean, Majesty of the Seas, early Friday morning. The Majesty of the Seas crew broadcast a distress call around 4:30 a.m.

Also assisting in the search was:

* An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Miami
* A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission boat crew

USCGC DAUNTLESS visit

Captains,

Yesterday, USCGC DAUNTLESS got underway from Portsmouth VA. I accepted CDR Andrew's generous offer to go along as they made the transit through Hampton Roads to Little Creek. USCGC DAUNTLESS is a medium endurance cutter equipped with the CG's newest over-the-horizon cutter boat for at-sea boardings and a flight deck for HH-65 helicopter deployments. Expect to see CGC DAUNTLESS on patrol in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.

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USCGC DAUNTLESS

GALVESTON, TEXAS 77553-1942

Commanding Officer: CDR James E. Andrews
Executive Officer: LCDR Patrick A. Culver
Command Chief: MKC Michael A. Vorholt

Keeping out the carp

Captains

Protecting marine ecosystems takes many forms and a cooperative effort.

Thursday I assisted Major General Peabody of Army Corps of Engineers, Mr. Cam Davis of EPA, and Mr. Charles Wooley of US Fish and Wildlife Service in a meeting with the Michigan Congressional Delegation in Washington DC. The issue of the day was Asian Carp. Will this invasive species get into the Great Lakes? Yesterday's AP article, Asian carp raises fear and loathing on Great Lakes, provides a good summary of the current situation. The State of Illinois, our Federal interagency team and Michigan delegation, led by Congressman Dingle and Senator Levin are committed to minimizing the risk.

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Humpback Whale freed of tangled rope

Captains,

Only the most dedicated professionals rescue tangled whales, but everyone should be conscious of how loose gear and debris threatens marine mammals. Save the whales. Secure your gear.

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Freeing whale of rope took fortune and grit

By Rosemarie Bernardo

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 08, 2009

Luck and persistence helped federal and state officials free a young humpback whale entangled in hundreds of feet of plastic rope.

COURTESY NOAA

Federal and state workers freed the entangled yearling humpback whale on Sunday. About 350 feet of rope was removed, seven feet of which was wrapped between and around the whale's mouth.

View more photos >>

The delicate operation was detailed yesterday by representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Coast Guard and state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Of concern were the stricken youngster's docile but massive mother swimming nearby — along with her male companion, who at one point appeared aggravated, rapidly circling the rescue boat and spouting.

"We had to watch that escort very carefully," said Ed Lyman, marine mammal response manager with NOAA's Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, who coordinated the rescue effort.

The operation Sunday at Penguin Bank, a submerged shelf extending from western Molokai, required slowing down the 25-foot whale so he could be safely approached by boat.

About 350 feet of rope was removed, seven feet of which was wrapped between and around the whale's mouth.

The agencies had been tracking the whale's movement since last Tuesday after it was spotted by a sunrise whale tour off of Maui. Rough sea conditions prevented team members from responding sooner.

The yearling was tagged with a telemetry buoy that had a GPS and satellite transmitter attached, helping officials track its movement. Sunday's sea conditions were ideal for crew members to rescue the yearling humpback whale after it was spotted from a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter.

Twelve humpback whales have been rescued since 2003. Officials said whale rescues are not always successful.

Int'l Maritime Organization to audit government maritime services

Captains,

Secretary General Mitropoulos, head of the International Maritime Organization in London, plans to audit government maritime services. Flag states like Panama and Liberia, port states like United States and China, and coastal states like Canada and Indonesia will certainly take notice of this announcement. U.S. Coast Guard has been active in the voluntary audit scheme for the last several years.

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IMO to make audits mandatory

04 Dec 2009

IMO's Efthimios Mitropoulos

THE IMO told Fairplay today its voluntary audit scheme will be made mandatory.

The scheme is intended to provide the IMO with information on members so it can determine which of them is in the greatest need of technical aid and which will benefit from “capacity building”, an IMO representative explained.

The audit scheme, designed to address safety and environmental concerns, will become mandatory in 2014.

In the meantime, IMO secretary-general Efthimios Mitropoulos will urge members to volunteer for audits “so that lessons can continue to be learned”, the IMO representative said.

Funds for the IMO to carry out this work are now in place too: the budget for the next two years is £61.1M ($101M).

Automatic emails from USCG to mariners

Captains,

The Coast Guard has made millions of dollars worth of improvements at the National Maritime Center. Here's another service professional mariners should appreciate - automatic email to follow your credential applications and renewals.

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NMC to Make Mariner Credentialing Easier and Faster

BY RHOPKINS ⋅ DECEMBER 3, 2009 ⋅

Today the National Maritime Center (NMC) launched a new service that will automatically send an email notification to mariners informing them of the status of their credential application as it is being processed by the Coast Guard. Mariners who provide an email address with their credential application will receive an email when their application passes through the following states of processing:
• Sent from an REC to the NMC
• Awaiting Medical Evaluation
• Being Evaluated by Medical
• Awaiting Professional Evaluation
• Being Evaluated for Professional Qualifications
• Awaiting Information
• Approved to Test
• Approved to Print
• Issued
• Confirmation of delivery and request for feedback

“This new automated service will help maintain confidence among mariners that their application is being actively worked by the Coast Guard,” said CAPT David Stalfort, Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard National Maritime Center.

There will also be reminder emails while in Awaiting Information or Approved to Test. The NMC will continue to upgrade this service as it undertakes other system improvements and welcomes customer feedback.

Mid-Atlantic Maritime Academy

Captains,

I visited the Mid-Atlantic Maritime Academy in Virginia Beach Friday. One of America's fastest growing maritime training institutions, Mid-Atlantic acquired the former Tidewater School of Navigation in 2007. Over sixty Coast Guard Approved Courses, Transas TGS4100 GMDSS simulation, and ARPA / Radar and ECDIS class room simulators were among the assets Mid-Atlantic Maritime acquired. Led by businessman Arthur Goldman, Mid-Atlantic added a full-scale Transas ship-handling simulator and a full engine room simulator capable of being integrated with the bridge simulator for full ship-handling training.

You can't help feeling the excitement for the maritime profession when you talk to Chief Instructor John Sitka and Licensing Consultant Judy Swanson. Thanks for the visit, John and Judy!

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John Sitka, III, Vice President of Academics and Chief Instructor

With over 30 years of sea service experience, Mr. John Sitka is highly skilled in the aspects of the professional mariner. He has continued to hold a strong vision for the development of Mid-Atlantic Maritime Academy. As Vice President of Academics he is responsible for the development of new courses and their regulatory conformation to United States Coast Guard standards.

Judy Swanson, Licensing Consultant

Ms. Judy Swanson is our credential and training advisor for mariners. Judy is retired from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). Her active duty service included enlisted quartermaster coxswain and commissioned Officer of the Deck of aids to navigation vessels, marine casualties’ investigator, search and rescue coordinator, EMT, and navigation instructor. She has continued service in the maritime industry as a licensed Master, instructor at maritime schools, ferry operations, marine safety equipment and liferaft technician, mariner license consultant and Asst. Chief of a USCG Regional Exam Center. Judy is a friendly advocate for new, transitioning, and experienced mariners seeking guidance to achieve and expand their U.S. Coast Guard merchant mariner credential and training.

Thank you AMVER and participating ships

Captains,

It's great to see this many ships on the Amver plot. Congratulations to Ben Strong, his Amver team, and the dedicated crews of participating ships. I happen to be monitoring an Amver rescue case off the Atlantic coast right now.

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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Another Record!

Can you believe it! Amver has reached another record. On Saturday November 28 there were 3,758 ships on plot for a 24 hour period. That is the greatest number of Amver ships available to assist those in distress in our 51 year history and it wouldn't be possible without the support of the shipping community.

National Centers of Expertise announcement

Captains,

Hopefully some of you will be at the International WorkBoat Show for this important announcement. If not, this post includes a brief video about Coast Guard National Centers of Expertise.

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Coast Guard Commandant to announce the opening of two Coast Guard National Centers of Expertise

Dec 3rd, 2009

by cgnews

New Orleans – Adm. Thad Allen will announce the opening of the Investigation National Center of Expertise (INCOE) in New Orleans and the Outer Continental Shelf National Center of Expertise (OCS NCOE) in Morgan City, La., at the International WorkBoat Show Friday. The National Centers of Expertise are positioned throughout the nation in areas where industry will best benefit due to concentrated maritime activity.

Two days later - success against the pirates

Captains,

This tanker prevailed over the pirates! Congratulations to a brave crew and captain with a security plan and non-lethal equipment to repel the attack. T/V SIKINOS appears to have been under the same kind of pirate attack as the T/V Maran Centaurus, but did not surrender.

Go to http://homeport.uscg.mil for complete information on USCG's anti-piracy guidance.

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Greek tanker's crew fights off pirate attack

The Associated Press
European edition, Tuesday, December 2, 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya — Using flares and hoses, the crew of a Greek oil tanker fought off a pirate attack Tuesday in the Arabian Sea, two days after brigands seized a tanker bound for the United States with $20 million of crude oil.

Pirates fired automatic weapons at the Sikinos and its crew some 500 miles southeast of Oman, according to a Greek coast guard statement. The 24-man crew fired flares and used high-pressure hoses to repel the attack, and the vessel continued toward China. The crew was unhurt in the attack.

The attack came two days after the tanker Maran Centaurus was seized by pirates. It is now headed toward Somalia’s coast.

The attacks highlight the difficulty of keeping ships safe in the region — particularly oil tankers.

It’s too soon to say whether pirates are going after the softer targets, which must travel at slower speeds and don’t use armed security personnel, a U.S. Navy official said.

"I’m not going to speculate on any trend based on these two [incidents]," Lt. Matthew Allen, a spokesman with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/5th Fleet told Stars and Stripes.

Crews on oil tankers aren’t allowed to smoke above deck, much less carry guns, for fear of igniting the ship’s payload.

The Maran Centaurus — traveling from Kuwait to New Orleans — had no escort because naval warships patrolling off the Horn of Africa are stretched too thin. The problem has been further exacerbated by pirates operating hundreds of miles out at sea and using mother ships for their skiffs.

Pirates who hijacked the Maran Centaurus had not made any ransom demands as of Tuesday, said Pat Adamson, spokesman for Maran Tankers Management Inc. "They just told the captain to call the office to say the crew was well and they were heading to Hobyo [Somalia]," he said Tuesday in a phone interview.

The main focus of the European Union Naval Force Somalia — launched in 2008 to conduct military operations to help deter, prevent and repress acts of piracy — has been to aid vessels primarily transiting the Gulf of Aden, spokesman British Cmdr. John Harbour said.

"We’re working with 16 other nations with at least 30 ships in the area doing a huge job in a huge stretch of ocean," Harbour said. "About 25,000 ships pass through that area each year, only about 50 are hijacked, so the odds are, ships won’t be hijacked."

Yet, as of Tuesday, pirates held 11 hijacked ships and roughly 250 crewmembers hostage, Allen said.

"This is a terrible thing, horrible for the profession," said Moses Calouro, general manager for Maritime Global Net, a shipping industry communication company used by roughly 80,000 people in the commercial business. "These guys are trained to pump oil and navigate vessels, not fight pirates."

For Calouro, "it’s obvious" that oil tankers are a key target for pirates: They’re slow-moving, carry costly cargos, sit lower in the ocean and therefore are easier to board, and crews aren’t likely to carry live weapons onboard, he said.

The Maran Centaurus is carrying around 275,000 metric tons of crude, said Stavros Hadzigrigoris, from the ship’s owners Maran Tankers Management. At current market rates, the oil would be worth just over $20 million.

Some ships, like the one that fought off the attack Tuesday, have been outfitted with high-pressure water guns and piercing noisemakers to repel pirates. But even this is shunned on many oil tankers for fear of triggering a response from pirates armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

"If you’re not allowed to smoke a cigarette on the upper deck of an oil tanker, why would you want someone with a weapon up there?" said Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, who heads the private security company Dryad Maritime Intelligence.

Nearly 20 percent of global shipping — including 8 percent of global oil shipments — is funneled into the narrow, pirate-infested Gulf of Aden that leads through the Red Sea to the Suez Canal. The route is bordered on one side by the failed state of Somalia and on the other by the increasingly unstable country of Yemen.

Somalia’s lawless 1,880-mile coastline has become a pirate haven. The impoverished Horn of Africa nation has not had a functioning government for a generation and the weak U.N.-backed administration is too busy fighting an Islamist insurgency to go after pirates.

The Saudi-owned Sirius Star was hijacked a year ago, leading to heightened international efforts to fight piracy off the Horn of Africa. That hijacking ended with a $3 million ransom payment.

Stars and Stripes reporters Sandra Jontz and Lisa Novak contributed to this story.

Piracy continues - more security needed

Captains,

Piracy, another issue highlighted in Admiral Allen's speech to IMO continues. U.S. flag vessels have been subject to significantly improved security standards since the USCG promulgated a MARSEC Directive last spring following the MAERSK ALABAMA case. Other flag states should adopt and reenforce similar standards to deter the pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa.

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From The Times

December 1, 2009

Super tanker and its $20m cargo seized by gang of Somali pirates

(Fred Vloo)

The hijacking of the 300,000-tonne Maran Centaurus underlines the ease with which pirates are able to prey on ships far out to sea. It is pictured here under a previous name - Astro Centaurus

Fifth District 'Safe Catch' Operation

Captains,

I bring this notice to your attention. I plan to encourage similar initiatives throughout the Coast Guard. Loss of life continues to plague the fishing industry and other operators of uninspected vessels.

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Fifth Coast Guard District Kicks Off Operation Safe Catch 2010

The Fifth Coast Guard District, which ranges from New Jersey to North Carolina,launched on Nov. 1, Operation Safe Catch 2010, a marine safety pulse operation that runs through Apr. 30, 2010. The pulse operation is intended to improve commercial fishing vessel safety and prevent loss of life and property at sea.

The implementation of the commercial fishing industry vessel regulations published in 1991 has reduced fishing vessel casualties and subsequent loss of life throughout the fishing fleet. However, as of Nov 1, 2009, there have been eight lives and nine fishing vessels lost in CY 2009 within the Fifth District, confirming that commercial fishing continues to rank among the most hazardous occupations in the U.S.

Operation Safe Catch 2010 is intended to increase the rate of safety compliance of commercial fishing vessels through: (1) Education, outreach and increased participation in the Coast Guard's voluntary dockside examination program; (2) Increased at sea enforcement of safety regulations through risk-based operations; and (3) Leveraging and expanding the Coast Guard's partnerships within the commercial fishing vessel industry and resource managers.

During the operation, Coast Guard at-sea boarding teams and dockside examiners will concentrate on "high risk" vessels. These are vessels in poor condition with inadequate safety equipment; have a history of repeated search and rescue interventions; or engage in higher risk fishery operations, such as one-person fishing vessels operated far from shore.

Pictured above: The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Finback tows the 71-foot fishing vessel Dictator Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2009, after it was involved in a collision with the 965-foot merchant vessel Florida 47 miles off the coast of Cape May, N.J. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/Petty Officer 2nd Class Roy A. Snyder)