Coast Guard Seminar Explores Fishing Vessel Safety at Pacific Marine Expo
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By Ben Hayden.
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) presented its “Fishing Vessel Safety Program Updates” seminar during day two of the Pacific Marine Expo. The session detailed challenges and partnerships aimed at improving safety within the commercial fishing industry, also providing a look at the Coast Guard’s work on policy enforcement, marine casualty analysis, and outreach.
Joseph Myers, Chief of the USCG’s fishing vessel safety division, began the session outlining the program’s reach. “We have roughly 36,000 commercial fishing industry vessels in the U.S. That’s a mix between domestic state vessels and those over five net tons, which are documented vessels,” he said.
The Coast Guard’s involvement extends internationally, representing U.S. interests at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). “We help drive initiatives such as watchkeeping, the STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers), and the Cape Town Agreement,” Myers explained, emphasizing the USCG’s role in shaping international safety standards.
At the domestic level, the Coast Guard monitors the implementation of legislation. “If there’s a law or an Authorization Act that comes out, we comment on draft legislation, follow it through, and enforce it through outreach, guidance, or other means.”
Addressing marine casualty statistics, the USCG discussed trends in fatalities and vessel losses. “As you can see, we had a very high spike this year, 24 fatalities and 26 vessel losses. We want that number to be zero, obviously.”
Despite the spike, long-term data shows a downward trend in incidents since the 1980s, which the Coast Guard attributes to “a combination of regulations, outreach, and partnerships with industry and agencies such as NIOSH (National Institute Occupational Safety and Health).”
The analysis of marine casualties drew from various contributing factors. “Sometimes it’s weather, sometimes we’ve exceeded safe loading conditions, or we didn’t foresee icing during a storm,” Myers explained.
read more at nationalfisherman.com.
