Ngola Kiluange, a Fishery Inspection Surveillance Vessel, image courtesy Damen

Damen Shipyards Galati is building the Ngola Kiluange, a Fishery Inspection Surveillance Vessel (FISV) 6210, for the Angolan Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries. With another two ships under construction, the Angolan government is set to strengthen its knowledge of and control over its rich fishing grounds. 

The spectators at Damen’s Romania based Galati Shipyard were treated to a moment of suspense when the 62 m Nngola Kiluange sharply heeled over at her launch. As people drew their breath it elegantly sprang back, keeping her balance perfectly.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Angolan Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries purchased the slender multipurpose vessel. Another vessel of this type is currently under construction at the Galati Shipyard, as is a smaller, 28 m long Fishery Research Vessel (a Damen FRV 2810), also commissioned by the Angolan Ministry. The threefold order has materialised under a unique collaboration of Damen Shipyards, the Dutch Government and ING Bank. The latter two co-financed the project.

Given the exclusive economic zone at West-Africa’s Atlantic coast, holding vast and rich fishing grounds, the acquisition of these vessels represents a real opportunity for the Angolan Ministry. The fishing sector is one of Angola’s largest economic sectors and its territorial waters are extremely alluring for illegal fishing. Under a SADC regional programme the country collaborates with Namibia and South Africa to protect and survey the fishing grounds. The FISV Ngola Kiluange can also be brought into action for salvaging and various other jobs. Damen has a long and proven experience in building hydrographic research vessels. Their standardised system allows them to meet with every requirement in terms of hull shape, sensor suite, systems and regulations. “Imagine the versatility of these vessels”, says Friso Visser, Regional Director Africa.

The deal was struck under a currently discontinued program of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called ORET, which supported sustainable investment in infrastructural projects in developing countries. Regulations for such deals were very strict, contemplates Friso Visser. “We really had to explain the Dutch mania for organisation to our Angolan counterparts. Fortunately, our relationship goes back a long way and we intend to deepen it even further.”

The ORET programme regulated Dutch-Angolan co-operation within a clear institutional framework. Education, training and building financial reserves for maintenance and replacement were all compulsory parts of the deal. Some of these requirements are also part and parcel of the Damen philosophy. The delivery of spare parts is customary, training and education are regularly given, and special vessel maintenance programs can be obtained. Damen Shipyards Cape Town provides the necessary services. Thus the slogan ‘Africa for Africa’ truly exceeds its verbal expression.

Illegal Fishing Off the Coast of Gabon (Sept. 6, 2011), NOAA Image

(NOAA) A bill introduced in Congress yesterday would prevent pirate fishing vessels from entering U.S. ports to offload their illegally caught seafood. This pirate fishing is often called illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The Administration bill, which implements an international agreement the United States helped negotiate, would benefit U.S. fishermen, seafood buyers, and consumers by keeping illegal seafood out of global trade. It is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who introduced it in the Senate yesterday, and is co-sponsored by Sens. Begich, Snowe, Whitehouse, Murkowski, and Rockefeller.

“Illegal fishing undermines fishermen in the U.S. and worldwide who fish sustainably and legally, and it can devastate fish stocks and ocean ecosystems,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “As one of the top importers of seafood globally, the U.S. is committed to combating illegal fishing and ensuring a level playing field for our fishermen. The international agreement and this bill will close the world’s ports to illegal fishing.”

Illegal fishing deprives law-abiding fishermen and coastal communities around the world of up to $23.5 billion in revenue every year, and undermines efforts to monitor and sustainably manage fisheries. Since seafood caught through IUU fishing enters the global marketplace through wide-ranging ports mostly outside the U.S., keeping that seafood from entering the global market requires an international solution and the cooperation of multiple countries.

“The sustainability of fish and fish products and the economic integrity of those who sell them is a priority for the seafood community,” said John Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Institute, an industry association. “Efforts to stamp out illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing go a long way in protecting the resource and ensuring the global seafood industry is operating at the highest standards. It also helps create a level playing field whereby the industry both in the U.S. and around the world plays by the same rules.”

“This legislation further strengthens the United States’ commitment to closing our ports to illegally caught fish,” said Gerry Leape, senior officer at the Pew Environment Group. “The U.S. is the third largest seafood market in the world, so passage of this bill will deal a heavy blow to any vessels looking to offload and sell contraband fish.”

This legislation arises from the first binding global agreement to focus on combating IUU fishing, the agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. This international accord is recognized globally as a landmark agreement. As a leader in the negotiation of the agreement, the U.S. was one of the first countries to sign it, an act that expresses an intention to ratify the agreement. The agreement will take full effect when 25 parties to the agreement ratify it. Three countries – Norway, Sri Lanka, and Burma – along with the European Union have already ratified it, and 18 more countries and the U.S. have expressed an intention to ratify.

Countries that ratify the agreement have four basic obligations:

• Designating ports through which foreign fishing vessels may enter;
• Conducting dockside vessel inspections in the designated ports, following established standards;
• Blocking port entry and access to port services to vessels known to or believed to have been involved in IUU fishing, particularly those on the IUU vessel list of a regional fishery management organization; and
• Sharing information, including inspection results, with the governments of vessels found involved in IUU fishing during an inspection.

U.S. law already prohibits foreign-flagged fishing vessels, even those operating legally, from landing their catch at most U.S. ports. However, in addition to fishing vessels, the agreement and implementing legislation extends to both transport and other support vessels, which may be carrying IUU fish transferred to them at sea.

The implementing legislation, introduced as the Pirate Fishing Elimination Act, follows the November 14 transmission of the agreement itself from President Obama to the Senate. Congressional approval of the agreement and its implementing legislation will ensure continued U.S. leadership in the global battle to stop IUU fishing and will allow the United States to encourage broad ratification of the agreement worldwide.

NOAA has taken a number of steps to combat IUU fishing and prevent illegal seafood from entering the global marketplace. In September, NOAA and the EU signed a historic statement pledging bilateral cooperation to combat pirate fishing. The U.S. also identifies countries engaged in IUU fishing through the U.S. High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protect Act and participates in international fishery management organizations to address IUU fishing. To find out more about NOAA’s efforts to end illegal fishing, see http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/iuu/.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.

Earlier this month, the Coast Guard seized the Indonesian fishing vessel Bangun Perkasa and her crew for the suspected use of drift nets to fish the North Pacific Ocean.

Renegade large-scale high-seas drift net fishing indiscriminately kills massive amounts of fish and other marine life such as whales and turtles. The practice of using enormous nets suspended for miles in open water is a significant threat to ocean ecosystems and to the food and economic security of nations relying on fishery resources.

Acting on vessel sighting information from a Fisheries Agency of Japan airplane, Coast Guard Cutter Munro launched its helicopter and crew who located the Bangun Perkasa with 22 fishermen aboard approximately 2,600 miles southwest of Kodiak, Alaska.

The vessels’ crew reportedly abandoned their fishing nets and attempted to leave the area once they spotted the helicopter flying above them. The vessel was found to be operating without valid flag state registration and was seized as a stateless vessel for violations of U.S. law.

Upon boarding the vessel, a Munro team found more than 10 miles of drift net, 30 tons of squid and approximately 30 shark carcasses aboard. They retrieved the abandoned net and began the lengthy escort toward Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

“The seizure of the Bangun Perkasa highlights how international cooperation along with U.S. Coast Guard high endurance cutters can detect, monitor, and interdict high-seas drift net fishing vessels,” said Capt. Gregory Sanial, 17th Coast Guard District chief of enforcement. “This method of fishing is illegal, despicable and shows complete disregard for the world’s ecosystem, and the joint effort of the many Pacific nations shows our dedication to ending this barbaric practice, enforcing maritime law and being good stewards of the environment.”

Munro subsequently turned over escort duties to Coast Guard Cutter Midgett, which is bringing the Bangun Perkasa to Dutch Harbor.  The case will be turned over to the Alaska Region of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement for the investigation.

“We will conduct a thorough investigation of this case and continue our work to prevent high-seas drift net fishing, which is globally recognized as an indiscriminate fishing practice that kills marine mammals, sea birds, sharks and fish,” said Eric Schwaab, NOAA’s assistant administrator for fisheries. “NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement in Alaska continues to combat this illegal fishing with the help of Canada, Russia, Japan, China and Korea, our international partners in the North Pacific.”

The crew of the Munro also found a “severe infestation” of rats living with the 22 crew, Coast Guard spokeswoman Sara Francis told msnbc.com.

“As a precaution the vessel will be held offshore of Dutch Harbor” for up to a week “while the rat population aboard the vessel is eradicated,” Francis adds. “Once the rats are dealt with, the vessel will be brought into port.”

This article was originally posted to the CG Compass blog by LT Connie Braesch, USCG

‘Deadliest Catch’ star Justin Tennison’s death is the latest in a string of tragedies to hit the cast on board the Discovery show’s ship.

The member of the Time Bandit crew was found dead Tuesday at age 33 in an Alaska hotel room approximately one year after Capt. Phil Harris suffered a stroke while off-loading the Cornelia Marie boat in Alaska, which eventually lead to his death in February 2010.

Book-ended by these two tragedies, the Discovery set has been plagued by so many problems that fans may be asking whether the show is cursed.

Here is a timeline of the troubles faced by “Deadliest Catch” over the past year, leading up to Tennison’s death:

• ‘Deadliest Catch’ star Justin Tennison’s death is the latest in a string of tragedies to hit the cast on board the Discovery show’s ship.
• The member of the Time Bandit crew was found dead Tuesday at age 33 in an Alaska hotel room approximately one year after Capt. Phil Harris suffered a stroke while off-loading the Cornelia Marie boat in Alaska, which eventually lead to his death in February 2010.
• Book-ended by these two tragedies, the Discovery set has been plagued by so many problems that fans may be asking whether the show is cursed.

Continue reading…

Commercial fishing is the deadliest occupation in the United States, and the Pacific Northwest’s Dungeness crab fishery is no exception. Over the course of the past decade, 27 fishermen died while working the Dungeness fishery. This is 27 too many, and the Coast Guard is committed to educating the fleet and instilling the right attitude for those in the industry, as confronting the risks inherent with crabbing in the Pacific Ocean require preparation, proper education and a survivor’s attitude.

Curt Farrell, Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Coordinator for Marine Safety Unit Portland, Ore., and Mike Rudolph, a Coast Guard fishing vessel safety examiner, are passionate about safety. When it was discovered a serious training void existed along the central and southern Oregon coast for fishermen, it was with this passion that led the pair to seek out specialized training through the Alaska Marine Safety and Education Association to become certified drill instructors.

“The safety training that we have provided over the past four years has made the biggest difference in the safety of the fleet than anything else that we do,” said Rudolph. “I get very excited when a fisherman comes to me on the dock months later and says the training I provided helped avert a casualty or saved a life.”

Rudolph’s training efforts recently had a significant impact when the crew of the 66-foot Dungeness crab vessel Michelle Ann experienced a stack fire Dec. 18, 2010, outside Yaquina Bay, Ore.

“We all were facing potential disaster, but thanks to the methodical and highly structured tactics we learned from the safety class, we were able to take proper actions and avoid harm,” said Michelle Ann crewmember Mike Donovan. “No one panicked, we all knew what we had to do and dealt with the issue. No one was hurt.”

The Michelle Ann was able to make it safely to port without being towed, was repaired quickly and back out fishing a few days later.

Commercial Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor Courses, promoted byOregon Sea Grant, provide practical information on survival equipment found on most commercial vessels and on conducting onboard emergency drills. Most valuable for all those enrolled however, is that these skills are learned in a hands-on format.

“The class is very intense,” said Farrell. “Students will be putting on immersion suits, jumping into the water, entering a life raft, fighting a fire, stopping leaks and shooting off flares. They will do realistic emergency drills aboard a fishing vessel with artificial smoke.”

The fishing fleet is a tightly woven community, and the deaths that occur each year are felt by all. Fortunately, it does not have to be this way, and the Coast Guard, Oregon Sea Grant, and Dungeness crab fleet will continue to partner to improve the safety of commercial fishing employment, arming the fishing fleet with the skills that could one day save their lives.

This article originally appeard in Coast Guard Compass and was written by LTJG Stephanie Young

Here’s a little bit about the series, provided by NJ.com:

Reporting began in January after the U.S. Coast Guard finished its investigative hearings.

For the next seven months, Amy Ellis Nutt and Andre Malok made dozens of trips, to Cape May, Philadelphia, Atlantic City and North Carolina. Those interviewed included: the co-owner of the Lady Mary; the boat’s sole survivor; family members and friends of the six men who died in the sinking; scallop fishermen, especially those working within six miles of the Lady Mary the night she disappeared; the divers who explored the sunken wreck; officials from the Coast Guard and the rescue crew who saved José Arias; and the dock manager for Hamburg Sud, the shipping company that leases the container ship Cap Beatrice.

Some 800 pages of testimony from Coast Guard hearings were reviewed, navigation and vessel tracking records studied, and nearly two dozen marine experts interviewed, a number of whom had specific training in shipwreck forensics. Two sources with direct access to the investigation also provided documents the Coast Guard refused to make public because it has not yet released its report.

Have a read of Chapter 1 and now Chapter 2 of the series and let us know what you think in the comments.  Be sure to check NJ.com for Chapters 2 and 3, scheduled to be posted tomorrow.

Be sure to join the ongoing discussion on this incident in the gCaptain Forum thread HERE.

[Photo Courtesy Royal "Fuzzy" Smith via NJ.com]

When sailors first landed in the Gulf of Maine a few hundred years ago, codfish, haddock, halibut and hundreds of other species of fish, crustaceans and plants flourished in the nutrient-rich waters of the Gulf. To these early explorers, it was a place of seemingly endless bounty where enough fish to feed an army could be caught in a single day, by a single boat. The shallow waters of the Grand Banks and Georges Bank off of Newfoundland and New England were perhaps the “richest source of marine life the world had ever seen”. (“The Lobster Coast” by Colin Woodard)

Technology and carelessness have since changed that. Due to over-fishing, under-regulation, and unsustainable methods, these waters have been almost completely removed of the fish that used to inhabit them. In fact, nearly 70 percent of the entire population of fish in the Gulf of Maine was being caught on a yearly basis for a number of years in the early 1990s, prompting a closure of much of the Gulf of Maine to commercial fishing. It was however, too late to change what had happened. The food chain had been almost completely destroyed out on the Banks and the fish, their spawning grounds, and almost everything else that was there, is now a muddy wasteland. What are the lessons learned here? Is the world aware of the disaster that occurred on the Grand Banks, which is perhaps one of the greatest disasters mankind has ever inflicted upon the environment? Well for one, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia haven’t quite got the memo so-to-speak. When my parents were sailing through these waters a few years ago, fleets of draggers were seen criss-crossing the ocean, dragging up everything in their path. Try to imagine two draggers working together with a couple hundred yards of fine net between them scouring the ocean at 5 knots. Now imagine 4 or 5 pairs of these boats operating at the same time in a north-south, east-west pattern. Everything gets swept up by them, and if it’s not saved on board for the markets of these countries, then it’s discharged overboard as “refuse”.

Back in the day in the Gulf of Maine, nearly 40 percent of the unwanted catch was thrown back into the sea, never to reproduce again. Nearly everything in Southeast Asia is kept and brought to market nowadays because nearly all the larger fish that used to inhabit these waters have disappeared due to overfishing. Seeing for myself baskets upon baskets of the small, juvenile fish dried up and occupying horribly smelly fishmarkets of these countries, it is quite clear that the fish population in this area is in steady decline, if not in great danger already. One by one, the great schools of fish and ocean creatures are disappearing due to mankind’s inability to control its own natural resources.

Feel free to visit the gCaptain Forum to discuss this topic further, all sides of this story are welcome…

Effective as of July 12, an important and controversial statutory exemption expired, opening doors for U.S. mariners to take back multiple positions formerly held by foreign officers on U.S. Flagged Purse Seiners.  The exemption, set forth in Section 421 of the USCG Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, allowed the use of foreign officers (except for the Master) to meet standard manning requirements on U.S. flagged purse seine vessels.  Captain Doug Pine tells us more in the gCaptain forum:

Beginning July 12, 2010, the Coast Guard will enforce the manning requirements of 46 United States Code 8104, as implemented by 46 Code of Federal Regulations Part 15 – Manning Requirements. Vessels 200 gross tons and over, are required to have a U. S. licensed master, a U.S. licensed mate in charge of the maneuvering and navigation watch, and if an individual is employed to perform chief engineer duties, that individual must have an appropriate U.S. license authorizing service as a chief engineer.

Recently, there has been a lot of good discussion about whether or not you would work on a US Flagged seiner vessel employing mostly foreign officers in the gCaptain forum, and it seems the the expiration of this exemption is going to be a welcomed one for U.S. Mariners looking for work.

Down THIS PDF for more details from the USCG.

The NY Times has an interesting article on the depletion of Bluefin Tuna around the world and suggests that the fate of Atlantic TunBluefin’s may be in jeopardy from the spill. Paul Greenberg writes:

It’s also a fish that regularly journeys between America and Europe and whose two populations, or “stocks,” have both been catastrophically overexploited. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, one of only two known Atlantic bluefin spawning grounds, has only intensified the crisis. By some estimates, there may be only 9,000 of the most ecologically vital megabreeders left in the fish’s North American stock, enough for the entire population of New York to have a final bite (or two) of high-grade otoro sushi. The Mediterranean stock of bluefin, historically a larger population than the North American one, has declined drastically as well. Indeed, most Mediterranean bluefin fishing consists of netting or “seining” young wild fish for “outgrowing” on tuna “ranches.” Which was why the Greenpeace craft had just deployed off Malta: a French fishing boat was about to legally catch an entire school of tuna, many of them undoubtedly juveniles. Visit Full Article….

The Official Deepwater Horzion response website only has one mention of Bluefin Tuna. In an early May press conference on the effects of the oil spill on gulf sea life Steve Murawsky, Director of Scientific Programs for NOAA, says:

These impacts, in particular in the offshore areas – I know my colleagues at the Department of Interior want to emphasize this – are difficult to detect offshore because it’s an area that’s very difficult to observe. A functioning Gulf of Mexico ecosystem is critically important to all these Gulf seafood species that we eat and the long-term impacts are likely to express themselves over years to come.
The springtime is the spawning time – the critical point in the lifecycle for many of the Gulf’s most important fishery resources, including offshore, the bluefin and yellowfin tuna. Inshore, the larvae of groupers as well as white and pink shrimp, cobia, amberjack, Spanish and king mackerels, dolphin fish, as well as blue crabs. We know from testing that the youngest life stages in these species are the most vulnerable and that’s the free-floating eggs and the larvae.

….on the subsurface, we have some capability that’s been deployed and some new cruises that we’re scheduling. As you said, I mean, this is, by its very nature, difficult to observe. I would say that this is the spawning season for bluefin tuna. In fact, they spawn in the offshore areas surrounding the spill. And there is a current cruise out there looking at eggs and larvae through samples at the surface, as well as a small mesh net that’s towed, you know, obliquely through the water.

But there is no record on the site of results from the new research “Cruises” and NOAA’s official Bluefin website makes little mention of the effects of the oil spill on this species of fish.

Bloomberg news paints a slightly more optomistic picture in an article published Friday titled, Gulf Oil Spill Ticking Time Bomb for Sushi Staple Bluefin Tuna, Bruce Einhorn and Stuart Biggs write:

The BP spill “will inevitably have a big effect at a time when there’s already uncertainty about the sustainability of the stock” in the Atlantic, he said.

Still, the bluefin are hardy creatures, and may still withstand the latest setbacks, the WWF’s Fox said.

“Once they get to full size, there’s nothing that can catch them other than humans,” he said. “But every year we move into more uncharted territory.”

gCaptain remains unsure of the final outcome of this much loved species but we will be sure keep an eye out for updates in the the coming weeks.

If you know of a good resource for information on this topic please include a link in a comment below.