Maritime Monday 171

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 171st edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 121 here. (Published 28 July 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

You can find links to all the previous editions at the bottom of this post. You are encouraged to participate using the comment link/form at the bottom of the post. If you have photos or stories to tell, do email me at [email protected].

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos partly explain why I was unable to put together last week’s Maritime Monday. I had taken the family on a road trip to see some of the maritime attractions that you can find in the Northeastern US. There were many to choose from, but this is where we went. If you get anywhere near any of the museums and have not already been there, do consider dropping by. Also, feel free to comment on your favorit maritime attractions around the country and the world. (So that I can start planning my next trip…)

* Orient Point Ferry MARY ELLEN – Long Island, NY to New London, CT *

* New Bedford Whaling Museum *

* Lighthouse Museum, Rockland, Maine *

* Owl’s Head Lighthouse *

* Whale Watching out of Boothbay (Yes, we saw whales!) *

* Boothbay Harbor Shipyard – FRIENDSHIP OF SALEM *

* ‘EMPTYPOCKETS’ Rigged for harpooning tuna *

* In the tugboat display at the Maine Maritime Museum *

* All smiles at Mystic Seaport just before the long drive home *

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Piracy: Double the Trouble“.

Proof that the law of economics is alive off the coasts of Somalia and other places – in that you will always get more of what you are willing to pay for – as the International Maritime Bureau reports “Piracy doubles in first six months of 2009”

gCaptain has “Time To Rethink SOLAS? Why a behavioral economist may have the answer.” Kennebec Captain has more on this issue with “Recovering Enclosed Lifeboats“.

AMVER Blog has “Happy Birthday Amver“. It’s 51.

Ria Novosti has one piece of news that favors arming merchant ships in “Over 5,000 pirates operate off Somali coast – Russian Navy“.

“Pirates have become more daring and aggressive recently – there were instances when they seized vessels right in front of the ships that were responsible for the security of commercial shipping,” Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev said in an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio station.

London Evening Standard has “Britain and France are to lobby governments for an international ban on the sale of bluefin tuna.” Lets see how serious they are this time given that this was just tried as the following two headlines from 2007 illustrate: “EU to ban bluefin tuna fishing” and “US calls for total ban on bluefin tuna fishing“. The big unanswered question is whether Japan will stop them this time.

The NY Post has “FISHING GROUP WARY OF OBAMA PICKS“.

Treehugger has “Beaches, Fish Win Big As Turkey Bans Smoking“.

In the United States, where smoking is much less socially accepted than in Turkey, “smoking-related activities” — including cigarette butts and filters, cigar tips, tobacco packaging and wrappers, and cigarette lighters — create 34.9 percent of the marine debris, the Ocean Conservancy reported in its 2005 national summary for the International Coastal Cleanup. Cigarettes are the top type of garbage gathered in the cleanups, with 1,008,288 collected in 2005.

Worldwide, an estimated 30 percent of the 4.3 trillion cigarette butts disposed of annually end up as litter, creating more than 500,000 tons of pollution each year. Cigarette filters, made of the synthetic polymer cellulose acetate, never degrade, but quickly start leaching cadmium, lead, arsenic and other chemicals into marine ecosystems — and can end up in the stomachs of birds, fish, and other animals.

Deadly debris
Nicotine itself “has been shown to be lethal to species of fish, crustaceans, zooplankton, and other aquatic organisms, as well as being a known insecticide,” according to the environmental group Californians Against Waste, which also notes the costs incurred by municipal governments to clean up cigarette-related litter.

MarineBuzz has “Yacht Expedition: Exercise Transglobe 2009-2010 by U.K Armed Forces” and “U.S Navy Seal as Space Shuttle Endeavour Crew“.

Animal Planet has video: “Whale Wars: The Japanese Strike Back” as the Japanese force the Sea Shepherd attackers away by throwing large brass nuts at them. It’s about time.

US Naval Institute Blog has “Economic Pirate Fighting” and my opinion post “Armed Merchant Ship Crews Will Not Escalate The Pirate Problem“.

Puget Sound Maritime has “Washington state gets additional ferry money“. State transportation projects should be paid by the state.

The BBC has success/failure depending on your view in “Shipping emissions plan ‘stalls’“.

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Lighthouse News has “Surfers Protest Montauk Lighthouse Protection” and “Execution Rocks Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast“.

Well, maybe not anytime in the near future, but those are the ultimate plans for Execution Rocks Lighthouse, in Long Island Sound, New York. Craig Morrison, president of Historically Significant Structures, announced the ultimate plan for the lighthouse during a recent media excursion out to the lighthouse. Morrison, an insurance agent and musician, estimated the cost of renovations will be more than $1.2 million and take over five years.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “Stimulus Funds to Buy Casco Bay Lines a New Boat“. What a great deal. Where do I apply for stimulus funds to buy my own boat? How about having the people who live on the islands pay for the ferry or at least the State of Maine?

The Maritime Executive has “Mariners on National Maritime Center: Mission Not Yet Accomplished“.

It is clear that there are issues at NMC, but these problems go far beyond the alleged simple mismanagement of a change in mariner credential policy. The failures in this area are firmly rooted in the historical lack of resources provided – obviated slightly in recent times – to the needs of the mission, the perceived dead-end nature of the job itself from within the Coast Guard and finally, the steady (and predictable) drain of personnel from the service who at one time had intimate knowledge of the people and processes that they were regulating. Repairing all of that isn’t going to take overnight, nor is the process of organically growing a workforce that can look forward to the remote possibility that they might make “flag” or “SES” some day.

Watts Up With That? has the lack of rising waters with “Global Sea Level Updated at UC – still flattening“.

King’s Point Waterfront has photos of this summer’s INDOC. (Picasa folder here)

Fortune has “Looking for a bargain dinner? Try lobster – At a wholesale price of $2.25, the once costly crustacean is a treat for consumers but a crisis for Maine lobstermen.” Wegman’s in Northern VA had live lobster for $9.99 a pound ($10.99/pound for larger ones). So where can I find this inexpensive lobster?

Washington Examiner has “Ban on krill fishing aimed at saving food for whales, salmon, sea birds“. It makes sense given that nobody really wants to eat krill other than creatures of the sea. The krill are only being hunted due to a lack of better game.

Popular Science has “Navy Wants High-Powered Laser for Fending Off Small Boats“. (Found via Instapundit)

TimesOnline has a gravestone placed 68 years later in “Youngest casualty: Memorial for boy seaman, 14“.

In a poignant ceremony in Edinburgh yesterday, a memorial stone was unveiled to the Merchant Navy cabin boy, now believed to be 14 when he died, and he was honoured as probably the youngest British service casualty of the Second World War.

At the time he was killed on board the SS North Devon, exactly 68 years ago, nobody knew how young Reginald Earnshaw was, or that he had apparently told fibs in order to be allowed to serve his country.

Arctic Focus has “Coast Guard needs more icebreakers for Arctic“. Three seems like an embarrassingly small number.

In a bit of an ironic twist, it seems that the Coast Guard needs more icebreakers for the Arctic as the ice melts and more shipping lanes are opened. Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen is urging the government to purchase more icebreakers to deal with the increased ship traffic that is being anticipated in the Arctic waters.

AP has “Tugboat pilot plan may have backfired“. (Found via Professional Mariner)

A federal program to recruit more tugboat pilots may have backfired by allowing thousands of novice captains to take the helm and contributing to a 25 percent increase in the number of accidents on the nation’s rivers.

An Associated Press review of Coast Guard records indicates that the U.S. tugboat fleet is increasingly piloted by captains who have spent as little as one year in the wheelhouse.

“The system has failed,” said David Whitehurst, a tug captain and member of the board of directors for the National Mariners Association, a national tug workers’ group based in Houma, La.

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CargoLaw has “Big Bunch ‘O Black Barges – Beached”.

(Update: gCaptain published more details: Barge Grounding Photo)

BarentsObserver has “Danish militarization of Arctic“.

Tugster has posted lots of photos. So just go to the home page and start scrolling down.

Bryant’s Maritime Blog has “Port Valdez – boaters fined for violating security zone“. Does this apply to Greenpeace as well?

The US Coast Guard issued a news release stating that it assessed civil penalties of up to $1,000 against recreational boaters who violated security zones in Port Valdez, Alaska. (7/15/09).

Trade and Logistics Malaysia has “The liberalisation of cabotage policy is to address peninsula-east Malaysia trade imbalance“.

Under the cabotage shipping policy implemented since 1980, domestic trade between any two ports in the country can only be served by Malaysian-owned shipping companies with Malaysia-flagged ships.

Consent for the usage of foreign vessels for the trade route can only be sought from the Malaysian Shipowners’ Association if there is no local vessel to provide the service.

Effective June 3, however, the cabotage policy has been relaxed and foreign vessels are now allowed to carry containerised transhipment goods between ports in the peninsula and east Malaysia.

Modern Day Pirate Tales has “Video of what it’s like to be held hostage by Somali pirates“. Interesting in that the pirates wanted to run the MV FAINA aground on the beach to offload the weapons tanks and ammunition but did not as the crew convinced them that doing so would probably make the cargo explode, taking half of Africa with it. Resistance in even small ways can be effective, especially when your attackers have a limited education.

Terra Daily has “Eastern Aral Sea has shrunk by 80 percent since 2006: ESA“. Wikipedia has the history and photo of the most recent destruction here.

Terra Daily also has “Research Indicates Ocean Current Shutdown May Be Gradual“. So that ‘Day After Tomorrow’ scenario, not happening.

HollandAmericaBlog has “Captain’s Log: Glacier Bay“.

The New York Times has “New York’s Island Haven, Secret No More“. This would be Governor’s Island. I remember getting a chance to visit the island long ago when it was still a Coast Guard Base.

BitterEnd comes to the aid of a boater who calls for assistance in “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise“.

He seemed indignant that there was paper work to fill out.

IceNews has “Norway’s scenic Geiranger Fjord suffers major oil spill“. This ship is the SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE.

Hellenic Shipping News has “S.Korea: Shipbuilders to See Turnaround in 3rd Quarter“.

NY TUGMASTER’S WEBLOG has more great time lapse video “Carteret, N.J. to Execution Rocks, just for fun….“

The Old Salt Blog has “The Royal Clipper In Tripoli – No Boobs, Booze or Americans Allowed“.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has “Submarine Supply Shortages“. It sucks to run out of food items while at sea.

Breakbulk Industry News has US “Steel exports up slightly month-over-month for May“.

War is Boring has video: “Controversial Coastie Cutter Scores First Drug Bust“. That would be the Coast Guard Cutter BERTHOLF

THE ISLOMANIAC has “Battles over Guiana Island, Antigua“.

The 184-hectare Guiana Island is the largest undeveloped island in Antigua & Barbuda, and among the options presented by the Antiguan-appointed liquidator of Stanford International Bank (SIB), Nigel Hamilton-Smith, was to either “fire-sell” it as a naked piece of land or, more preferably, advertise it as a developed piece of property in hopes of upping the value.

According to US regulators and prosecutors, Sir Allen greatly inflated the value of Guiana Island 6,000-fold in a series of land-flips conducted in 2008. According to court filings, the value of the property rose from about US$63.5 Million to about US$3.2 Billion between April and October.

The Horse’s Mouth has “Marshall Islands Outrigger Canoe Sailing. [Video]“.

Never Sea Land has an amazing photo of a sailboat aground in “I don’t like Mondays.” I don’t think I could do that on purpose!

The Journal of Commerce has “Japanese Ship Orders Drop Nearly 80 Percent“.

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Fairplay Daily News has:

Chinese mega-order signed – GRAND China Logistics has concluded contracts for its mega-deal with Zhoushan Jinhaiwan shipyard.

Grand China – a subsidiary of Hainan’s HNA, a group that owns several airlines, airports and shipping companies – was reported in June to be in discussions for 18 Capesize and 12 Panamax bulk carriers.

Contracts for the 30 vessels are understood to have been signed yesterday. Under the accord, Grand China is also buying half of the yard’s shares. The yard, which is owned by Shanghai Zhouji, is based on the Zhoushan islands at the mouth of the Yangtze.

Shanghai Zhouji started a joint venture with Hitachi late last year to build marine diesel engines in Shanghai. Grand China will pay the yard almost $2.5Bn for the vessels and shares.

Most of the ordered vessels will be used to transport coal and ore for Zhejiang Energy, which also signed a deal with HNA yesterday to set up a JV for that purpose. This is the latest of a series of similar JVs in China formed by a builder, an operator and an energy consumer. Delivery of the Grand China order will begin late in 2010. Its move toward newbuildings – rather than tapping into the domestic pool of cancelled, but built, bulk carriers – might suggest that order cancellations in China are not as numerous as might have been expected. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Brazil: ‘repatriate this garbage’ – SYRINGES, batteries and dirty diapers were among more than 1,400 tonnes of UK waste dumped in 64 containers at three Brazilian ports, the BBC reported today.

The rubbish – found in Santos and two southern Brazilian ports – was apparently sent in cargo ships from the English port of Felixstowe and destined for Brazilian recycling companies, said the BBC.

The discovery of the containers yesterday has caused outrage in Brazil. Robert Messias, president of Brazil’s environment agency IBAMA, told the BBC: “Brazil is not a big rubbish bin of the world. We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage.”

Since the discovery, another 25 containers of hospital waste were found at the Brazilian ports – also apparently from the UK.

Brazil and the UK are signatories of the 1992 Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous waste. British Embassy officials said they would take immediate action over any breaches of the convention, added reporters. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

Please submit articles for inclusion in next week’s edition using the following submit form at Blog Carnival. You are also welcome to email stories and photos to [email protected] for inclusion in future editions as well as suggest areas of coverage.

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Previous Editions: As linked below or click on the tag ‘Maritime Monday’ for all gCaptain editions.

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