North Pacific Coast Guard Forum Interpreters

SEATTLE - Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert report on US Coast Guard Auxiliary member Jimmy Chang, a Chinese interpreter for the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum being held this week in Seattle.

Northern Pacific Coast Guard Forum Report #1

SEATTLE - The U.S. Coast Guard and its counterparts from Canada, China, Japan, Korea and Russia will meet in a forum this week to discuss topics related to drug trafficking, maritime security, fisheries enforcement and illegal migration as part of the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum Experts Meeting.

The North Pacific Coast Guard Forum was initiated in 2000 as a venue to foster cooperation through the sharing of information between the major countries bordering the North Pacific Ocean.

Agencies from the six countries meet semi-annually. The first session, called the experts meeting, is generally held in the spring. Here, the groundwork is done on ideas and recommendations that will be presented to each country’s civil maritime leaders in the fall.

Coast Guard Urges Caution to Public Who Encounter Marine Life

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Coast Guard Station Cape Charles, Va., assisted professionals from the Virginia Aquariam Tuesday when four dolphins were stranded ashore near Cherrystone Inlet located in the Chesapeake Bay.

Aquarium staffers and volunteers tended to the animals, but due to their beached status and poor health the animals died. In addition to this event, there have been reports of several other mass strandings in the Hampton Roads and North Carolina region this week. The Coast Guard wants to take this opportunity to educate the public about what to do and not to do if you encounter marine wildlife.

Beachgoers and mariners often come across marine mammals, birds, and sea turtles. It is normal for some of these animals to be on land to rest or to give birth. Marine mammals and sea turtles are protected by the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act. It is against the law to touch, feed, or otherwise harass them. Harassment occurs when your behavior changes their behavior.

Occasionally, marine mammals and sea turtles may end up on our shores sick, inured, or dead. Other times, they become entrapped or disoriented and are unable to return to their natural habitat without assistance. These events are known as strandings. There are typically two types of stranding events - mass strandings and single strandings.

In most cases, the cause of stranding is unknown, but some identified causes have included disease, parasite infestation, harmful algal blooms, injuries due to ship strikes or fishery entanglements, pollution exposure, trauma, and starvation. In addition, strandings may occur after unusual weather or oceanographic events. In some cases, live stranded animals can be rescued, rehabilitated, and returned to the wild. In every case, whether alive or dead, stranded marine mammals and sea turtles reveal valuable information about their lives.

If you find stranded protected species:

• Call experts for help. Contact the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Center at (757) 437-6159 or your local appropriate authority. In rivers and lakes, contact Game Wardens from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The Coast Guard is the point of contact for the Chesapeake Bay and ocean waters and can be reached in emergencies at (757) 398-6390 or via VHF Ch. 16.
• Do not touch the animal or push it back into the water! Doing so can cause the animal to re-strand and die. If it goes back into the water on its own, do not follow it or try to swim with it.
• Be careful around wild animals! Never surround animals, circle animals, or their nests. Avoid sensitive habitats such as shallow water around marshes and submerged vegetation. If you have to move close to animals because of channel markers, shallow water or traffic, maintain a slow speed and course. Do not approach right whales closer than 500 yards, and stay 100 yards away from other large whales! If you are unsure of the whale species, assume the whales are endangered right whales. If animals approach you closer than 50 yards, place your vessel in neutral or maintain a set course at a slow speed until you are more than 50 yards away.

As a steward of the marine environment, the Coast Guard is committed to enforcing and complying with protected species regulations. The Coast Guard works with Federal partners including NOAA Fisheries, National Ocean Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and state and local organizations such as the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Center.

Coast Guard Seizes Illegal Catch of Atlantic Striped Bass

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - A boat crew with Coast Guard Station Cape Charles, Va., seized 11 Atlantic Striped Bass from the charter vessel Poacher fishing illegally in federal waters off the coast of Virginia Thursday afternoon.

The fish were donated to the Cape Charles Food Pantry, a local food bank for those in need.

A Coast Guard HH-60 helicopter aircrew from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., located the charter vessel Poacher, approximately four miles off the coast of Virginia, which is located in the exclusive economic zone better known to mariners as the EEZ. The Poacher is homeported in Oregon Inlet, N.C.

The EEZ separates local state waters from federal waters. In Virginia, it is legal to fish for Atlantic Striped bass, but once a vessel crosses over the EEZ, it is prohibited.

In addition, Station Cape Charles seized five fish on Sunday, and donated the fish to a local church.

Ed: what an appropriately named boat, Poacher.

Coast Guard releases red-tailed hawk after rescue and treatment | Video

Cleveland - Coast Guard Station Cleveland Harbor released a rescued red-tailed hawk today, two months after the hawk was rescued by Coast Guard personnel.

The red-tailed hawk was discovered injured in the water near the dock at Coast Guard Station Cleveland Harbor on November 28, 2007. Coast Guardsmen on duty saw the bird splashing in the water and contacted a local wildlife center.

The hawk was recovered by wildlife experts and transferred to Metroparks Wildlife Center in Kirtland, Ohio, where it stayed for two months being treated for hypothermia, dehydration and an infected wound.

 

Whale Sighted Inside the Long Beach Breakwater

SAN PEDRO, Calif - Officials from the Coast Guard received a report of what is believed to be an approximately 20-foot long whale swimming inside the Long Beach breakwater this morning at 11:45 a.m. The Coast Guard cautions vessel operators transiting in the area to stay clear of the whale. The Coast Guard is supporting the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in monitoring the whale’s location and behavior.

Collisions with whales or sightings of injured whales should be reported to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at (562) 980-3232 or law enforcement hotline at 1-800-853-1964. Boaters can contact the Coast Guard on Channel 16.

Ship’s Chief Engineer Sentenced in Vessel Pollution Case

WASHINGTON,  - Mark Humphries, the former chief engineer of the M/V Tanabata, an American-flagged car-carrier ship based in Baltimore, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to six months in prison for conspiracy to make illegal discharges of oily waste and lying to the Coast Guard, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

At trial, it was proven that the M/V Tanabata had a removable bypass pipe that was used to discharge oily waste without the use of an oily-water separator, a required pollution control device on ocean-going vessels. Humphries’ former subordinates, including other engineers, testified that he did not use the oily water separator. Humphries referred to the bypass pipe as the “illegal pipe” and directed that it be hidden when the ship was in port so that it would not be discovered by the Coast Guard.

According to papers filed in court by the prosecutors, Humphries deliberately bypassed the pollution prevention equipment on the Tanabata, then concealed the crime by making false entries in the ship’s official Oil Record Book, a required log regularly inspected by the Coast Guard. This practice involved a number of subordinate crew members of the engine department, including students at U.S. maritime academies receiving on-the-job training as “Cadets.” Prosecutors also advised the Court that Humphries had participated in and directed similar criminal conduct on two other ships.

Humphries was convicted by a jury on Oct. 16, 2007, for conspiring to violate four different laws including making illegal discharges of bilge waste, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships; failing to fully maintain an oil record book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships; making and using materially false documents; and obstruction of agency proceedings. The jury also found the defendant guilty on two counts of making materially false statements to the Coast Guard in 2002 and 2003.

Humphries was chief engineer of the M/V Tanabata between April 2002 and September 2003, during which period he traded shifts with the ship’s other chief engineer, co-defendant Stephen Karas. Karas pleaded guilty to similar charges on March 29, 2007, and is awaiting sentencing. In addition to six months imprisonment, Humphries was sentenced to a $1,000 fine and two years supervised released.

“Deliberate violations of the environmental laws protecting our oceans will not be tolerated,” said Assistant Attorney General Tenpas. “The crimes in this conspiracy involved deliberate falsification of ship records to conceal the illegal discharge of tons of oily waste. This type of criminal conduct is all too frequent and the Justice Department and the Coast Guard will continue to work together to stem the tide of intentional pollution from ships.”

Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, “The Department of Justice is working diligently with the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency to prosecute people and corporations responsible for polluting our waterways.”

“Protecting the maritime environment is a mission the U.S. Coast Guard performs every day. Uncovering illegal operations such as this one and bringing the perpetrators to justice requires a coordinated effort,” said Captain David Lersch, Chief, Prevention Division, Fifth Coast Guard District. “We will continue to aggressively search for and uncover illegal environmental discharges that are affecting oceans throughout the globe.”

“Commercial vessels must operate safely and lawfully,” said David Dillon, Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in Philadelphia. “Anyone who pollutes the oceans or waterways by using them as dumping grounds for oily water or other hazardous wastes will be prosecuted, convicted and punished for their environmental crimes.”

The M/V Tanabata was operated by Pacific Gulf Marine, Inc. (PGM). PGM pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Jan. 27, 2007, to charges of making illegal discharges of oil-contaminated waste from each of four ships managed by the company. After learning of the investigation, PGM conducted and voluntarily disclosed the results of an internal investigation and cooperated with investigators and prosecutors. PGM was sentenced to pay a $1 million criminal fine and $500,000 in community service payments, and to serve three years probation under the terms of an Environmental Compliance Program that includes audits by an outside firm and review by a court appointed monitor. In addition to Humphries and Karas, two other chief engineers have also pleaded guilty to similar crimes.

This investigation was conducted by the Chesapeake Regional Office of the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the EPA Criminal Investigation Division. Additional assistance was provided by the Coast Guard Sector Baltimore, U.S. Coast Guard Activities Europe, U.S. Coast Guard Fifth District Legal Office, Coast Guard Office of International and Maritime Law, and Coast Guard headquarters Office of Investigations and Analysis. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Malinda R. Lawrence and Senior Trial Attorney Richard A. Udell of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tonya K. Kowitz and P. Michael Cunningham of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

Coast Guard assists in whale rescue attempt

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - The Coast Guard and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration have been attempting to rescue a humpback whale entangled in fishing line off the Coast of North Carolina and Virginia since Monday.

The 225-foot Coast Guard Cutter Elm, a seagoing buoy tender, the 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter Block Island home ported in Atlantic Beach, N.C., and two 47-foot motor lifeboat crews from Coast Guard Station Fort Macon, N.C., assisted response efforts with members of the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network including NOAA Fisheries’ Beaufort Lab and Duke University, and the Provincetown, Mass., Center for Coastal Studies.

The animal’s entanglement is considered life threatening, and it has likely been entangled since the summer season. The last known whereabouts of the whale indicate that the animal was moving in a northwesterly direction towards Hampton Roads area.

Whale disentanglement is an extremely risky operation. The Coast Guard advises all mariners to not approach or attempt to remove any gear, lines, or buoys from the whale as this could potentially endanger your vessel and crew and hamper future disentanglement responses. Intentional close approach or harassment of whales is prohibited by law.

“The entanglement has proven to be very difficult, from the timing of the report to the severity and complex of the actual entanglement on the whale. It is only through partnerships with other agencies and organizations that make this difficult task possible,” said Jamison Smith, Large Whale Disentanglement Coordinator.

Please report sightings to the Coast Guard or NOAA Fisheries at (800) 900-3622 or to the Coast Guard via Channel 16. The animal’s injuries are deemed life threatening, and NOAA and Coast Guard personnel are in close coordination should the whale be re-sighted and environmental conditions and logistics present themselves suitable for a disentanglement response. At this point, the Coast Guard and NOAA welcome sightings from mariners and we remain vigilant to respond to all stranded and entangled animals.