ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Three crewmembers were rescued from a fishing boat Friday after it sank south of Kodiak Island but one crewman remained missing, the Coast Guard said. As first reported by Kodiak Public Radio, KMXT-FM, the search for the missing crewman aboard the 58-foot vessel ADVANTAGE began shortly after midnight. The Coast Guard was…
The Center for Public Integrity, an investigative news organization based in Washinton, D.C. has published a report on fishing vessel safety issues. The following is excerpted: Commercial fishing is the deadliest vocation in the United States. Four years running, from 2007 to 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked commercial fishing as the most dangerous…
The ARICA, a factory trawl fishing vessel at a dry dock on the east side of Lake Union, began taking on water one day last week. Crews members were pumping out water from the boat when they lost power and called the Seattle Fire Department around 5:15 a.m. Fire department crews arrived and began helping…
The NTSB recently completed its investigation into the sinking of the Fishing Vessel Katmai on October 22, 2008. The National Transportation Safety Board released their report on the disaster, and it concluded that the boat had a number of stability problems that made it unable to withstand extreme storm conditions in the Bering Sea. As…
In 2009, the scallop trawler LADY MARY tragically sank off the coast of Cape May, N.J., resulting in the loss of six lives. A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation revealed that structural modifications had been made to the vessel without consulting a naval architect, leading to serious stability issues. The crew was unaware of…
Supreme Court Helps Injured Seamen — CSX v. McBride Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court preserved a legal rule which has for 50 years helped railway workers and Jones Act seamen recover fair compensation for their injuries. Despite a vigorous dissent by the Chief Justice, the majority in CSX Transportation, Inc. v. McBride held that if…
The ALASKA RANGER, a 180 foot factory trawler owned by the Fishing Company of Alaska sank in the Bering Sea on March 23, 2008. Five crewmembers perished and 42 were rescued in a heroic effort by the U.S. Coast Guard and the crew of a sister ship, the ALASKA WARRIOR. The tragedy will be investigated…
The captain of the Alaska crabber SEABROOKE recently wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal. He extolled the benefits of the recently adopted quota system in the Bering Sea crab fishery. He states: “In 2010, commercial fishing once again topped the list of deadliest jobs in the U.S. According to the Bureau of…
