Gearing up for an emergency
From U.S. Coast Guard reports
You shouldn't depend on a good Samaritan boat being nearby, but it's always a welcome sight in an emergency.
Early on a January day, on the 12th day of a fishing trip, a 70-foot wooden-hulled shrimper was in the Gulf of Mexico, fishing out of Fort Meyers, Fla. Its veteran owner/operator, and his two new deckhands were enjoying calm weather with a visibility of two miles and a temperature of 65 degrees. The deckhands hadn't worked on a vessel of this size.
At approximately 3:30 a.m. the skipper felt the vessel hit what he described as a submerged object. Soon after, he noticed his boat was taking on water. The skipper discovered the vessel's tail shaft had snapped inside the shaft log. He engaged his pumps, which seemed to be keeping up with the flooding. At approximately 4 a.m., the skipper alerted the Coast Guard of his situation. He also called another fishing vessel he knew was nearby and asked for a tow.
At about 5:30 a.m., the other fishing vessel arrived to tow the shrimper. But the relatively calm weather worsened after a few hours of towing. Waves were reaching 6 to 7 feet, and 20-knot winds blew out of the northwest. The battering caused the tail end of the shrimper's shaft and the prop to break loose. With water coming in faster now, and the shrimper's deckhands beginning to panic, the two fishing vessels pulled alongside each other. The deckhands were transferred onto the other vessel and two more portable pumps were put on the shrimper to battle the increased rate of flooding. Within about an hour, the shrimper lost power, and the skippers of both vessels decided to try towing the shrimper to calmer water.
At about 4:25 p.m., it was apparent the shrimper was sinking. With the shrimper's skipper now on the other vessel, the tow was cut. Within five minutes, the shrimper sank. The next morning the shrimp boat crew was delivered back to its home port; no one on either vessel sustained any injuries.
Lessons learned
Good Samaritan boats aren't always nearby. One way to be prepared is to make sure you have all required safety gear.
You can get a good start by focusing on what many in the industry refer to as the Big Five: survival craft, PFDs/immersion suits, distress signals, EPIRBs and fire extinguishers.
If you don't know exactly what equipment you're supposed to have, how many of each type or when you're supposed to inspect and test the equipment on your vessel, then contact your local Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Safety Coordinator for a voluntary dockside exam. The purpose of the exam is to check that the vessel is in compliance with all requirements, promote vessel safety within the fishing fleet, and to educate fishermen about specific safety requirements. For more information visit www.fishsafe.info/contactus.htm and look under Regional Contacts for the safety coordinator nearest you. Or call your local Coast Guard unit. Be prepared; fish safe!
Callifornia crabbing: Here's a fun video shot on the decks of the Majestik while catching Dungeness crab off the coast of northern California.
Over 500 lots of seafood processing equipment formerly owned by Adak Seafood will be sold at auction on Tuesday, June 18, starting at 10 a.m. Hawaiian-Aleutian Daylight Time at the Hilton Garden Inn in Anchorage Alaska.
The equipment is located in a recently updated 250,000 square foot state-of-the-art processing facility in Adak, Alaska. Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Hilco Industrial, which conducts 75 machinery and equipment auctions in a wide range of industries annually, will conduct the auction.
Adak Seafood opened originally as Ada Fisheries in Anchorage in 1986. The facility, updated in 2005, is located on the island of Adak, the southernmost city in Alaska near the western end of the Aleutian Islands. The facility processed cod primarily, as well as halibut, blackcod, crab and pollock, Hilco says.
Alaska fisherman and commercial fisheries activist Kevin Adams was elected chairman at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute board of directors meeting on May 9 in Anchorage.
The governor-appointed board consists of seven members: five seafood processors and two industry representatives actively engaged in commercial fishing. Adams was appointed to fill a harvester seat by Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2004.
With 38 years of fishing experience in Bristol Bay, Adams has long been an active member in the Alaska fishing industry, ASMI says. He has worked for both the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and the Bering Sea Fisherman's Association, and represents Alaska fishermen on numerous boards.
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