Ahab's Journal

Search suspended for two Va. fishermen

TOMS RIVER, N.J. — - Coast Guard crews on Thursday searched the frigid Atlantic Ocean in vain for two men missing after their fishing boat was hit by a large wave and sank off the state's southern coast.

A surviving crew member was found in a life raft shortly after officials received a distress signal from the 38-foot Alisha Marie on Wednesday night.

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New Jersey fishing rules force boat to ride out storm at sea

CAPE MAY — The 90-foot fishing boat Jersey Cape is riding out rough weather offshore rather than violate what some say is a too-restrictive fishing law in New Jersey.

The Jersey Cape, which docks at Lund’s Fisheries here on Ocean Drive, sought safe harbor Wednesday morning as stiff northwest winds brought waves of 15 to 20 feet offshore.

The problem: The boat had 5,000 pounds of fluke aboard and New Jersey’s fish landing rules right now only allow 1,500 pounds.

The Jersey Cape was planning to unload this trip in Virginia where it has a permit to unload 7,500 pounds, but then the weather got bad and Capt. Mark Slamb of the Erma section of Lower Township wanted to come in and ride out the storm.

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Eulogy for Kenneth Martin Rose Sr. and Kenneth Martin Rose. Jr.

My grandfather and uncle, career commercial fishermen, were lost at sea 20 miles off the coast of Cape May, New Jersey on November 11, 2009. This is the eulogy I gave at their memorial service at the Broad Creek Church of God in Broad Creek, North Carolina on November 18, 2009.

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LoBiondo Gets Moratorium for Vessel Water Discharge Permits

COLD SPRING– U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) announced at a press event here at Lund’s Fisheries Tuesday Nov. 24 he has secured a three year extension of the moratorium from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state regulations and fines governing incidental discharges from commercial fishing vessels and all other commercial vessels less than 79 feet. The extension was included in the “Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010,” which was approved by the House in late October.

The need for a change in legislation stems from a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in San Francisco that affirmed a lower court order that ended an exemption for marine vessels. That paved the way for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require vessels under 79 feet to obtain discharge permits.

“We got an initial exemption so they could work out the particulars but now that exemption is expired,” said LoBiondo.   

Wayne Reichle, a managing partner in Lund’s Fisheries, said the discharges from fishing boats included ballast and bilge water. It also covers water from washing decks, galley sink wastes, laundry and rain water runoff.

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Weather complicates search for three fishermen on boat that sank off Cape May

Joe Rose was sitting in the wheelhouse of his fishing boat at a dock in Cape May Wednesday night when he heard the familiar crackle of his VHF radio.

Like any alert fisherman, Rose’s attention peaked when he heard Coast Guard officials talking about an emergency distress signal they had just received from a boat in trouble.

When they said the name of the boat, his heart sank.

The Sea Tractor. His brother’s boat.

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Economy forces Crocker’s Marine to close

Crocker’s Marine, a longtime landmark announcing the entrance to Wrightsville Beach, closed its doors Friday.

And a portion of the company’s Morehead City operations have been taken over by Gregory Poole Equipment Co. and Starling Marine, officials for those companies said this week.

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VMS Troubles

I am All in favor of VMS on NOAA/NMFS employees.

 Current VMS system is a joke. It is a problematic system that "the Agency" gave approval to. But when there is a problem it is always the fault of the fisherman (never the manufacturer nor the Agency for approving such systems). My Skymate went so far as to send out a false reports and actually started and ended a trip when the vessel was tied to the dock. I found out by seeing the automatic e-mails that said how much time was deducted from my total DAS. 

I had Manny from SEAPORT down on the boat multiple time. The VMS was missing position reports while at tied to the dock and while at sea. Never heard a single word from NMFS. But I was in violation because VMS are required to send out position reports. Missed position reports are a violation. Manny said all Skymate systems miss position reports.

Hit-and-run may have caused boat to sink off N.J. coast

CAPE MAY, N.J. — A scallop boat owned by a Bayboro man that sank off the New Jersey coast in March, killing six of the seven crew members aboard, may have been doomed by a fatal hit-and-run crash on the high seas, the lawyer for its owner said Monday.

Stevenson Weeks, the lawyer for Lady Mary owner Royal Smith Sr., said extensive damage to the boat's rudder, propeller and other equipment indicates that some other vessel crashed into it and kept going.

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House Action on EPA Vessel Discharge Permits

Courtesy of Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) and some very helpful House Transportation Committee staff we have secured a 3-year extension of the current moratorium on EPA vessel discharge permits for commercial fishing vessels and small commercial vessels in the USCG reauthorization bill passed by the House. Our job now is to get the Senate to accept this marker which is no small task and will spill over into next session. The current EPA permit moratorium expires in June, 2010. The House also approved all the commercial fishing vessel safety measures as we previously discussed including our amendment to provide for an alternative safety compliance program for older fishing boats.

Fishing safety measures advance in Congress

Two years after hosting a safety forum for local fishermen, Rep. Barney Frank announced the House has passed a Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill containing safety improvements for the industry.

The bill, which passed Friday by a vote of 385-11, creates a fishing safety training grant program, calls for federally funded research to improve fishing safety technology and updates requirements for onboard safety drills and equipment. In addition, the bill sets new safety standards for smaller vessels.

 Read "Fishing safety measures advance in Congress" 

Economy takes toll on boat business

MOREHEAD CITY — Car companies may have benefited from government bailouts and federal stimulus programs such as Cash for Clunkers, but the boating industry has had no such help.

Boat dealer Morehead Marine is about to become the latest significant casualty here of the continuing economic downturn that has hit the recreational boating industry especially hard.

“We’re going to be closing on the 29th,” of this month, Morehead Marine manager Tom Harris said Tuesday.

NTSB recommends more safety oversight for fishing fleet

ALASKA RANGER: Coast Guard urged to seek inspection power

WASHINGTON -- For the fourth time following a fatal marine accident, the National Transportation Safety Board will recommend that the U.S. Coast Guard ask Congress for the authority to inspect the nation's commercial fishing fleet, which currently must meet only minimal and largely voluntary safety standards.

Read "NTSB recommends more safety oversight for fishing fleet" 

Fountain Powerboats in N.C. seeks bankruptcy protection

The anemic economy has taken its toll on Washington, N.C.-based Fountain Powerboats Industries Inc., a builder of fast and expensive motorboats, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week.

The company reported owing its main creditor, Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Bank, nearly $20 million. Its main subsidiary reported assets of $18.4 million and liabilities of $50.2 million in its court filing on Monday.  

Read "Fountain Powerboats in N.C. seeks bankruptcy protection"

Fishermen support new regulations following Lady Mary sinking

CAPE MAY - Commercial fishermen are embracing a proposal by the U.S. Coast Guard to implement new safety regulations, in part because of the Lady Mary tragedy.

"It takes one thing like that to wake everybody up. It's a shame. We knew all those guys,'' said Gregg Bissey, a fisherman on the Captain Bucky Smith.

Read "Fishermen support new regulations following Lady Mary sinking"

A changing tide for the Dory Fleet

WITH A SPLASH of salt water, the small dory boat leaps off the back of a crashing wave, becoming airborne for a moment. Then it crashes back down and prepares to mount another incoming wave, this one bigger than the last.

It’s a thrill that’s intensely familiar to members of Pacific City’s commercial dory fleet, some of whom have been battling the surf their whole lives in these small fishing boats. The fleet navigates through uncertain waters and changing tides, both in and out of the water. But that doesn’t mean the historic boats are in danger of disappearing.

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Fishermen feel like Big Brother coming aboard

The National Marine Fisheries Service now is considering -- and taking public input on -- a proposal that could require commercial fishermen from North Carolina to the Florida Keys to install video cameras on their boats. And again fishermen are expressing concerns about violation of privacy -- critical to those who closely guard the coordinates of their most productive fishing spots -- and regulators literally looking over their shoulders.

Fishery managers, however, say the proposal is part of an observer program currently in place in other areas, and that it allows the agency to collect much-needed scientific data.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council approved a plan last year that allows Fisheries Service scientists, called observers, to be randomly placed on any federally permitted commercial snapper and grouper fishing vessel, charter permitted snapper/grouper vessel or recreational vessel targeting snapper and grouper. Under the proposed program, the observers could be replaced with video cameras, National Marine Fisheries Service fisheries biologist Jack McGovern said.

The proposal is included in a rule change called Amendment 15B, which includes several grouper/snapper fishing regulations. The plan still must be approved by the U.S. secretary of Commerce, and the National Marine Fisheries Service will take public comment on the proposal until Aug. 4.

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Coast Guard says beacon ID mix-up caused delayed response to wreck of Lady Mary

CAPE MAY - The Coast Guard is trying to make sure the clerical error that may have contributed to the deaths of six crewmen aboard the Lady Mary does not happen again.

Even as it continues investigating the March 24 sinking of the scallop boat, the Coast Guard has issued a safety alert to owners of emergency position-indicating radio beacons, or EPIRBs, to check their registration numbers.

Read "Coast Guard says beacon ID mix-up caused delayed response to wreck of Lady Mary"

Senators Maria Cantwell and Olympia Snowe can make fishing-vessel safety a priority

"Two senators on opposite coasts, each from a state with a rich maritime tradition, are key to passing legislation requiring the first overhaul of standards and inspections for the nation's fishing fleet.

Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell chairs the Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe is the subcommittee's senior Republican member.

The Senate has been the Bermuda Triangle of vessel-safety legislation, and it will take purposeful effort by these two lawmakers to address a fundamental flaw in overseeing an industry with the nation's highest worker fatality rate."

Read "Senators Maria Cantwell and Olympia Snowe can make fishing-vessel safety a priority"

Congress tackles new safety laws for fishing fleet

"Congress this year may impose new construction standards on the nation's fishing vessels, require training of skippers and mandate Coast Guard inspections in what would be the first major overhaul of the safety laws that regulate the nation's deadliest occupation.

The big push for new safety legislation comes from a Midwestern congressman, Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., whose district is far from the major fishing ports. Oberstar chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which this month approved new regulation of the fishing industry."

Read "Congress tackles new safety laws for fishing fleet"

Coast Guard: Response was slow

"The Coast Guard yesterday announced that its response to the sinking of the fishing vessel Patriot, which went down under still uncertain circumstances in January with its crew of two, was slow and flawed.

"Our review of this case showed that we were slow to launch search and rescue assets because of poor collection and analysis of information and decision-making regarding the Patriot's status," said Vice Adm. Robert J. Papp Jr."

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New website will make fishing even safer

Last Tuesday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service and the National Safe Boating Council launched a new Web site to help boaters stay safe this boating and fishing season.

Part of NOAA's mission is to keep the waterways and its users safe from harm. That's one of the reasons behind the development of its National Weather Service site. The site, http://safeboating.erh.noaa.gov/, is primarily designed to provide up to date weather conditions as well as a seven day forecast.

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'Deadliest Catch' crew says fishing isn't glamorous

"JUNEAU, Alaska - Complacency is deadly when crab fishing in the Bering Sea, said F/V Time Bandit deckhand Russell Newberry.

"Rule number one is stay on the boat, and rule number two is to keep the water on the outside of the boat, always," said Newberry, who stars in the hit reality series "The Deadliest Catch."

"If you become too complacent it will kill you," he said."

Read "'Deadliest Catch' crew says fishing isn't glamorous"

Life jacket rule may change for vessels

"The U.S. Coast Guard doesn’t force charter boat captains to ensure that their passengers don life jackets when crossing river bars — at least, not yet. The government is now considering a new rule that would require persons on board recreational and uninspected boats to wear life jackets when crossing a “restricted” bar. Bars can be restricted but not closed when weather conditions become severe enough for the Coast Guard to issue such a warning.

The rule also would require people on commercial vessels to don life jackets while crossing restricted bars, but only if they are out on deck at the time of the crossing. And it would prohibit some recreational and uninspected passenger vessels from crossing the bar at all, if it is restricted." 

Read "Life jacket rule may change for vessels"

Boat crew heads out looking for swordfish, finds death, debris, then survivors

"It looked at first like just a floating arm, that first vision of death in the Gulf Stream.

The drowned man would have sunk deep into the Atlantic long before if his arm had not become so entangled in a child's life vest that couldn't save his life. He was still there when the Rosalie, a 65-foot fishing boat, passed through, hoping to recover the living.

They had been fishing for swordfish 15 miles off shore when they heard the chatter on the radio. First about floating bodies, then living ones."

Read "Boat crew heads out looking for swordfish, finds death, debris, then survivors"

Feds to provide $12.4M to dredge Oregon Inlet

"Boaters and commercial fishermen are breathing sighs of relief over news that federal stimulus funds will be available to completely dredge the treacherous Oregon Inlet.

The Army Corps of Engineers is slated to receive $12.4 million to clear out problematic sand buildup at the inlet, the only sound-to-ocean passage between Hampton Roads and Hatteras Inlet, corps spokeswoman Penny Schmitt said Friday."

Read "Feds to provide $12.4M to dredge Oregon Inlet" 

Auction block is fishing boat's latest sad chapter

"As the F/V Suzanne Beth stood in the distance, obscured from view by the masts of other boats at the sprawling facility, she seemed lost. Towed from New Jersey after being seized by U.S. marshals, her fate rests in the hands of a cluster of lawyers, an anonymous man in sunglasses and a federal agency ordered to seize and protect her – for now.

She is an 83-foot, twin oil screw, all welded steel Eastern-rigged offshore dragger. She features an aft pilothouse deck, raised foredeck and main workdeck. She weighs 168 gross tons and is powered by two Caterpillar model 3406 turbo charged marine diesel engines rated at 400 hp each. Attached is a commercial fishing license authorizing her crew to fish for bluefish, black sea bass, spiny dogfish, summer flounder, herring, scallop, monkfish, quahog, scup, surf clam, skate, mackerel, butterfish and tilefish."

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Fishing is fatal less frequently

"KODIAK -- On-the-job fatalities in the United States last year dipped 6 percent to 5,488 people. That rate of 3.7 per 100,000 workers was the lowest since the government started tracking those statistics in 1992. Improved safety standards and job losses nationwide get much of the credit.

Commercial fishing topped the list with 38 deaths -- 112 out of 100,000, according to the National Census of Fatal Occupation Injuries. The "deadliest catch," was the West Coast Dungeness crab fishery, with 17 deaths."

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Dad Delivers Tears, Testimony In NJ Boat Disaster

"Earlier in the day, testimony centered on a series of problems that possibly caused critical delays for search teams trying to locate the Lady Mary.

A federal satellite search analyst testified that an improperly recorded registration number for an emergency radio beacon -- off by just one digit -- made it impossible to pinpoint a troubled boat.

Smith's lawyer said the resulting delay cost nearly an hour and a half in the search for the Lady Mary."

Read "Dad Delivers Tears, Testimony In NJ Boat Disaster"

 

NOAA, U.S. Coast Guard: New Ocean Current Data to Improve Search and Rescue Activities

A new set of ocean observing data that enhances the ability to track probable paths of victims and drifting survivor craft should improve search and rescue efforts along the U.S. coast. The data comes from the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®), part of a joint effort among NOAA, the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Homeland Security.  

Read "NOAA, U.S. Coast Guard: New Ocean Current Data to Improve Search and Rescue Activities"

Diesel Engine Replacement Funds

"I am assisting the Mobile Source Section in  finding candidates for the replacement of diesel engines.  Similar programs are occurring in many states ie

Maine

is proposing to replace the diesel engines in about 70 lobster boats."

MISTAKEN IDENTITY SURFACES IN "LADY MARY" FISHING TRAGDEDY

"In a bizarre twist, the Coast Guard said the crew list, provided by the boat's owner, is wrong...William Torres, who was supposedly on board the Lady Mary and presumed dead...is actually still alive. He apparently never boarded the boat, and 23-year-old Jorge Ramos took his spot. Area fishermen at the cold spring fish and supply dock explained that most boats hire last minute help. "There are people all over the dock looking for work." "

Read "MISTAKEN IDENTITY SURFACES IN "LADY MARY" FISHING TRAGDEDY"

 

Inquest delayed by request for lawyer

"Fearing he might be putting himself in legal jeopardy, the owner of a fishing boat that sank off the coast of Cape May last month with six lives lost delayed a Coast Guard hearing into the calamity yesterday to hire an attorney.

In the days and weeks after the March 24 sinking of the Lady Mary, Roy Smith Sr. of Bayboro, N.C., had repeatedly said he did not need an attorney, Coast Guard officials said. He changed his mind yesterday, the second day of the hearing, after being informed he was to be the next witness."

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Alaska House bill promotes favorable loans for efficiency upgrades

"Juneau, Alaska - The Alaska State House today passed House Bill (HB) 20, legislation sponsored by Rep. Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, to make low-interest loans for energy efficiency upgrades available to more of Alaska's commercial fishers."

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Brothers build Cape Ann's first 'green' boat

 

"Sincerely concerned about helping out East Coast fishing communities — especially their beloved Gloucester - during the ongoing NMFS groundfish and lately the world's economic survivor series — Phil Bolger and his wife, Suzanne Altenburger, who already have 600 boat designs from dingys to a 1794 warship replica to their credit, have been actively promoting a long, narrow and shallow-draft earth and fisherman-wallet-friendly vessel.

These primarily 31- to 70-foot long vessels, best for fixed-gear fisheries such as lobstering and gillnetting, could be built locally by fishermen, mainly out of renewable plywood and would also require small power packages."

"Read "Brothers build Cape Ann's first 'green' boat" 

Ralph Stanley, legendary Maine boatbuilder, hands off business to his son

"Master boatbuilder Ralph Stanley turned 80 and is feeling a little less chipper than he used to. That's why son Richard, his lifelong business partner, is taking over the business, helped by Richard's wife Lorraine.

Ralph Stanley, dean of wooden boatbuilders in Maine, once dreamed of working at the United Nations in New York City. The son of a lobsterman and a nurse, he didn't have money to continue college so he turned to constructing both workboats and yachts in Southwest harbor."

Read "Ralph Stanley, legendary Maine boatbuilder, hands off business to his son"

Boats Too Costly to Keep Are Littering Coastlines

 

"MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. — Boat owners are abandoning ship.

They often sandpaper over the names and file off the registry numbers, doing their best to render the boats, and themselves, untraceable. Then they casually ditch the vessels in the middle of busy harbors, beach them at low tide on the banks of creeks or occasionally scuttle them outright."

Read "Boats Too Costly to Keep Are Littering Coastlines"

Mourners pack service as Pamlico County fishermen laid to rest

"GRANTSBORO -- Three Pamlico County natives who died when their scallop boat sank off the southern coast of New Jersey were  remembered Monday afternoon as two of them were  laid to rest, surrounded by images of their family's fishing vessel and of the work that was surely in their blood."

Read "Mourners pack service as Pamlico County fishermen laid to rest"

End jettisoning of safety rules

"The sinking of a scallop ship off the Cape May coast last week that left six crew members dead prompted the Coast Guard to schedule a hearing next week to investigate what went wrong. We hope the hearing will result in more stringent safety regulations, including some that were proposed but never implemented after a rash of sinkings 10 years ago."

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Many fail to register distress beacons

"Could rescuers have reached the Lady Mary sooner if her distress signal had been more detailed?

That's one of the questions federal investigators have said they want to answer after the scallop boat sank before dawn Tuesday 75 miles southeast of Cape May, killing six men.

The Lady Mary apparently was vulnerable in a way that is surprisingly common.

Unregistered EPIRBs - emergency position-indicating radio beacons - send out less information than those that are registered."

Read "Many fail to register distress beacons"

Relatives seek recovery of 4 NJ fishermen's bodies

"The Smiths and Credle were known widely in Pamlico County, N.C., where they grew up and learned to fish. Jones said the Smiths were the last black commercial fishing family in Mesic, which has no business district and consists of a church, a town hall and houses and mobile homes. Between 100 and 150 people attended a prayer vigil Wednesday night at the church."

Read "Relatives seek recovery of 4 NJ fishermen's bodies"

Bayboro, NC scallop boat sinks off NJ

"ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. —  The Coast Guard suspended its search Wednesday night for four missing crew members of a fishing boat that sank off the New Jersey coast.

Two crew members of the 71-foot Lady Mary scallop boat died after it went down in rough seas early Tuesday.

Killed were Roy Smith Jr. and Timothy Smith, sons of the boat's owner, Roy Smith Sr., of Bayboro, N.C. The elder Smith's brother, Tarzan Smith, 59, of Wildwood, N.J., was among the missing, along with Frenki Credle, Frank Reyes, and William Torres, whose ages and hometowns weren't immediately available."

Read "Coast Guard suspends search for crew of NJ boat"

Boaters World closing includes Atlantic Beach location

"ATLANTIC BEACH - Gene Helmlinger of Newport is training to work as a marine mechanic or electrician, but as he shopped this week at a Carteret County business preparing to close its doors he found the boating industry is one that has been hit by economic hard times.

Boaters World/Outer Banks Outfitters in Atlantic Beach is one of 130 Boaters World Marine Centers going out of business as a result of a bankruptcy filing and restructuring by parent company, Maryland-based Ritz Camera."

Read "Boaters World closing includes Atlantic Beach location"

 

The struggle for power on doomed Alaska Ranger

Former crew members who worked for Fishing Company of Alaska allege misconduct by Japanese fish masters, and the Coast Guard is investigating possible violations of U.S. maritime law.

"Japanese fish master Satoshi Konno was a tall man with ramrod posture and a volcanic temper. He erupted one summer day in 1994 aboard a Seattle-based trawler as a young American crewman accidentally slipped a bag of frozen fish into the wrong hold.

Konno walked up behind the crewman and, without warning, shoved him face-first onto the deck. When the crewman protested, Konno "went ballistic on me, and started screaming: 'You are nothing. If I want you off the boat, you're off the boat,' " Clayton Putnam recalled.

Putnam filed a complaint with the boat's owner, The Fishing Company of Alaska. The incident 15 years ago foreshadowed a pattern of misconduct by Konno and other Japanese fish masters working aboard the six vessels owned by the Seattle-based seafood company."

Read "The struggle for power on doomed Alaska Ranger"

Inventor's creation could help seafood industry

"At a workshop in Hosford, Willeby displays his latest creation — a portable refrigeration unit that oystermen and other harvesters of shellfish can use on their boats to keep their catch chilled, especially during the warmer months.

The system consists of a large cooler filled with ice connected by hoses to a second, larger container where the oysters would be placed. An electric pump powered by a 12-volt battery keeps ice-cold water circulating between the two containers."

Read "Inventor's creation could help seafood industry"

Make a dangerous job safer

"COMMERCIAL fishing is by far the country's most dangerous occupation. Taking 112 lives per 100,000 workers each year, it easily outstrips the second worst killer, logging, which kills 86. Fishing would be less deadly if the Coast Guard could mandate safety examinations of fishing vessels before they leave the dock, but fiercely independent fishermen have resisted attempts at this. It is high time for the industry and the Coast Guard to sit down and agree on a safety program that could save lives without creating costly or cumbersome hurdles."

Read "Make a dangerous job safer"

Bill would boost loans for vessel upgrades

"Legislation to broaden the use of the Commercial Fishing Loan Act to include energy efficiency upgrades is garnering growing support from conservationists and groups representing residents of Alaska's fishing communities.

The Alaska Marine Conservation Council on March 6 added its support to House Bill 20, which includes language to make low-interest loans available to a large number of the state's commercial fisheries to improve the energy efficiency of vessels.

In recent years, great advances have been made in diesel and outboard technologies, AMCC officials said. Fuel efficiency and performance have vastly improved." 

Read "Bill would boost loans for vessel upgrades"

Senator Collins Announces Commercial Fishermen`s Safety Tax Credit

"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Susan Collins has introduced bipartisan legislation, cosponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, to assist commercial fishermen purchase live- saving safety equipment. The bill would provide tax credits to help make safety equipment more affordable."

Read "Senator Collins Announces Commercial Fishermen`s Safety Tax Credit"

Don't just toss those emergency beacons

If you own a boat or plane and have upgraded your emergency beacon, the Civil Air Patrol is sending out a reminder that the old ones should not be tossed in the trash. 

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Washington Century: The safest catch

"Even now, commercial fishing remains one of the deadliest occupations. As various markers and memorials remind us, Washington state has suffered more than its share of the sorrow, tragedy and devastation of loss.

More than might have been imagined, this state can decide whether to make the 21st century safer for commercial fishing crews. Two of the state's smartest, most capable political leaders will hold key federal positions on fisheries."

Read "Washington Century: The safest catch"

Abandoned mines and shrimp boats that ignored the warnings

"Marco Island resident and business owner David Law was engaged in the shrimping industry during the late 1970s with his shrimp boat, based out of Key West.

“Everyone knew about the old mines and knew they were there,” Law says, “But the shrimping in those waters was really good — we just couldn’t resist.

“In those days, it was not that uncommon to snag a mine,” Law explains. The snags were instantly obvious, because his 72-foot shrimp boat would suddenly pivot sharply toward whichever net had caught the cabled mine.

“The first time it happened, everyone got pretty nervous. We knew what we had as soon as the mine surfaced, and we immediately called the Coast Guard on the radio. After transmitting what happened on the VHF, the Coast Guard radioed back and said: ‘Do not bring the mine into Key West — we will come out and get it!’ ” "

Read "Abandoned mines and shrimp boats that ignored the warnings"