At 1820 hours on Sunday, January 24, crab boat F/V SUNUP issued a distress call to the United States Coast Guard. According to the crew, the vessel developed propulsion issues, lost control, and allided with the south jetty entering Humboldt Bay, California. Coast Guard Station Humboldt Bay deployed a motor lifeboat and a helicopter to…
Captain Jay Rivera was a state-commissioned Branch Pilot for the Port Aransas Bar and Corpus Christi Bay. Marine pilots are required by law in most major seaports of the world for large commercial ships. The primary role of a marine pilot is to safely navigate large vessels through narrow coastal areas using their extensive local knowledge…
On December 10, 2020, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board issued a summary report detailing the most important maritime safety lessons learned from marine incidents during the year 2019. The report is known as the Safer Seas Digest. The Safer Seas Digest 2019 includes lessons learned from 30 different incidents in 2019. These included allisions,…
In the wake of the deadly fire aboard D/V CONCEPTION in September 2019, lawmakers have advanced a new fire safety bill for small passenger vessels, the Small Passenger Vessel Safety Act. The legislation was proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representatives Salud Carbajal and Julia Brownley. It was rolled into the National Defense Authorization Act…
D/V CONCEPTION caught fire and sank off the coast of California in 2019. The incident killed 34 people. On December 1, 2020, the captain of the Vessel was indicted on federal manslaughter charges under The Seaman’s Manslaughter Statute, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1115. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, the captain…
According to the KIRO 7 News Staff, on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, two police officers were aboard a Tulalip Police Department Fisheries vessel assisting another boat when the police vessel capsized just before 9 p.m. Both officers were sent into the water as a result. One officer, wearing a life jacket, was rescued at 11:45…
The owners of F/V SCANDIES ROSE report that they have resolved lawsuits with two surviving crewmembers and the families of four mariners who died during the December 2019 incident. The crab fishing vessel was managed out of Washington State and sank near Sutwik Island, Alaska. The case reportedly settled out of court for more than…
On Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, Ronald Cameron, 65, of Bellingham, Washington tragically drowned near a fish processor in Sitka, Alaska. Mr. Cameron owned F/V ALLYSEN MORIAH, a 75-foot fishing boat operated out of Bellingham. He was attempting to tie off the vessel during windy conditions when he fell in the water and perished. This incident…
On Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Juneau Command Center received a mayday call from F/V ELISE MARIE at 1900 hours local time. The vessel was taking on water and sinking near Icy Bay (approximately 160 nautical miles southeast of Valdez). The Coast Guard mobilized a C-130 Hercules airplane, an MH-60 helicopter,…
During the Oct. 20, 2020 meeting of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB determined the probable cause of the Sept., 2019 fire casualty aboard D/V CONCEPTION was the failure of Truth Aquatics, Inc., the owner and operator of the vessel, to provide effective oversight of the boat and crew operations. Specifically, they failed…