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2007 Archive

January 2007

01/07/07

A) Finally, a state agency did what the outgoing Attorney General's office wouldn't do. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection ruled that the Town of Provincetown may not charge a non resident more than a town resident for an annual boat mooring permit. DEP's decision technically benefits only the person who filed the appeal, but the decision is already affecting other waterfront communities that are breaking the law by charging different rates for their moorings. Two years ago, Senator Mike Morrissey from Quincy made it illegal to charge residents and non-residents different mooring fees. The Provincetown Harbormaster estimated that his town might now owe as much as $20,000 to out-of-towners who moored their boats in Provincetown Harbor and were charged a different rate. Some of the other cities and towns with split mooring fees include Bourne, Chatham, Duxbury, Hingham, Boston, and Salem.

B) And with the beginning of 2007, on line boating exams in New Hampshire are now a thing of the past. Officials said too many boaters seeking the state's boating education certificate were cheating. New Hampshire law requires boaters to obtain a state approved certificate to operate any type of power boat in excess of 25 horsepower. Officials claimed it was too easy to cheat and some boaters were having others take the test for them.

C) The Coast Guard suspended its search of a reported 15-foot boat sinking near Provincetown. A 14 year old witness, on land, called 911 on New Year's Day and reported hearing three air horn blasts and a call for help. He said he saw one person aboard a boat and watched it sink. Boats from Coast Guard Station Provincetown and a rescue helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod conducted their search and found nothing. Also, no reports were made of any missing or overdue boaters.

D) With all the talk about the United States opening its borders, the number of Cuban and Haitian migrants stopped at sea by the Coast Guard dropped dramatically in 2006. The Coast Guard admitted there could be a number of reasons why. Factors such as weather, a new government in Haiti, use of alternate routes, and more people making it here undetected could all be reasons why fewer illegals trying to enter the U.S. were stopped. Some say the Coast Guard might simply be too busy arresting smugglers and fishermen while fighting the war on terrorism.

E) Last January set the record for the number of dolphin strandings on Cape Cod, and like clockwork, this January is off to ominous start. Cape Cod Stranding Network volunteers worked to save 16 dolphins that stranded along Cape Cod Bay from Barnstable to Eastham the first week of the New Year. Scientists said the dolphins beach themselves this time of year for several reasons. Sometimes it is because the animal is sick and can't combat the forces of the wind and currents. Sometimes, the dolphins simply become trapped by the tide change as they feed along the various Cape Cod Bay sand bars. The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates there are about 120,000 dolphins living in the Northeast.

F) The Coast Guard is now using a new high tech tool that will make future boardings more efficient and time friendly. The new tool is a palm sized computer that gives boarding team members the capability of paperless boardings, and enters information into a nationwide data base, which should make it easy for the Coast Guard to know who was boarded and when. The new computers should be available to all Coast Guard units, but some Coasties have already found out that the pocketsize computers are not designed to withstand heavy weather. Another complaint is the computer screen is hard to read on a bright sunny day.

G) Wild salmon, rich with its healthy omega 3 oil, will become extinct if the release of farm raised salmon continues to rise. Last year, hundreds of thousands of farm raised salmon escaped into the wild from Norwegian fish farms. Scientists say that the genes of wild fish are forever changed after they mate with farm raised fish that escape into the wild. Consumers are being asked to boycott farm raised fish.

H) There was a nautical connection to the Massachusetts governor's inauguration this past week. When Deval Patrick was sworn in as governor, he placed his hand on the Mendi Bible, which was given to John Quincy Adams by African slaves who were kidnapped in 1839 and taken to America on the Spanish slave ship Amistad, only to revolt and be set free with John Quincy Adams defending them. The Amistad slave ship story was a giant step forward to ending slavery in America.

I) And last on today's nautical news, a fourteen-year-old British boy became the youngest person to cross the Atlantic Ocean singlehandedly in a sailboat. It took him 43 days, twice as long as expected to make the voyage in his 28 foot boat named the Cheeky Monkey. The boy encountered big waves, teeth-jarring squalls, and one time had to dive overboard to free his rudder, while making the 3500 mile crossing from England to Antigua. He said he spent a great deal of time doing his school homework given to him by his teachers. The principal at the boy's school said the boy would see and learn quite a bit sailing across the Atlantic, although the curriculum would obviously be different from what his schoolmates were learning. A huge celebration broke out as the boy tied up his boat in Antigua.

1/14/07

A) President Bush signed the new Magnuson-Stevens Act into law Friday morning, ending the long process of updating the nation's fish management law. The bill requires the federal government's regional fishery management councils to adhere to annual catch quotas based on scientific recommendations. The bill also creates national guidelines that allow regions to divide up the catch quotas among fishermen. However, it does nothing to level the playing field for foreign fishermen who have no quotas, size limits, or gear regulations as they fish outside of the U.S.'s 200 mile territorial limit, and yet these fishermen compete with American fishermen.

B) Four people were killed in a speedboat accident off Marco Island, Florida. Three of the four bodies were recovered. The fourth is still missing. Officials said only one boat was involved. Witnesses told of a 33 foot go fast boat that went airborne and broke into many pieces after it came back down into the water. According to the Coast Guard, Florida had more boating deaths than any other state in 2005 with a total of 78, but Florida also had more registered boats than any other state.

C) The Port of Miami was hit by its second terrorism scare in two days after a package that was to be loaded onto a cruise ship tested positive for plastic explosives. The package was tested six times, and each time it came back positive for the military-grade explosive known as C4. The package was isolated and destroyed and in the end, the bomb squad determined it was harmless. The package contained sprinkler parts.

D) The Metal Trades Department of the AFL-CIO has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Coast Guard to overturn the Coast Guard's rulings that allow U.S. shipbuilders to mass produce so-called "kit ships." "Kit ships" are built in America, but built with thousands of foreign made parts. The AFL-CIO claims the ships built with foreign parts are in violation of the 80-year-old Jones Act, which stipulates that all ships moving between U.S. ports must be American made in the U.S. The AFL-CIO leaders say this will be the end of shipbuilding in America, and hundreds of thousands of people will be put out of work. Statistics show that U.S. shipbuilders now account for less than one percent of the world market share.

E) A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Cape Cod was called to medevac a sick captain off his ship. The Coast Guard received a call for help reporting the captain was experiencing acute abdominal distress. At the time, the roll-on, roll-off cargo ship was approximately 40 miles southeast of Nantucket. Since there was no other licensed captain aboard, the Coast Guard ordered the crew to drop the ship's anchor and remain anchored until either the captain returned or was replaced.

F) And speaking of helicopters, the Coast Guard is upgrading its present fleet of Jayhawk helicopters this month as part of its Deepwater plan. One of the four Jayhawk helicopters at Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod will be the second helicopter in nation to undergo the upgrade. The remaining three helicopters at Air Station Cape Cod are expected to be upgraded by the summer of 2009. The upgrade includes new state of the art radars, embedded GPS mapping systems, and improved radios with greater frequency range.

G) The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has extended its seasonal fishing closure in Massachusetts Bay in the area known as the Cod Conservation Zone. This area was set to reopen on January 16th, but the closure now will continue through the end of February.

H) The America's Cup races start this April. The second new boat built by American Team BMW Oracle for this year's races, has been delivered to New Zealand. The American team is training on the Harauki Gulf to prepare for racing, which this year will be held in Valencia, Spain.

I)  Scientists are puzzled over a new mystery. Deep trenches in the ocean have been discovered 40 miles off the coast of South Carolina. The mysterious trenches, 480 feet under water, look like they were made by giant bulldozers. A Carolina University professor who has been studying marine geology for more than 20 years described the trenches as 330 feet wide and 10 feet deep, and exclaimed that there were hundreds of them created by something other than water movement.

J)  And last on today's nautical news, a sailor whose brand new 30 foot triamaran sailboat was holed by a humpback whale, said he thinks the animal tried to say sorry to him because he got "good vibes" from the animal after the accident. The collision between boat and animal happened about 80 miles off the coast of New Zealand. The sailor said he was asleep at the time and was awakened by a loud noise. When he ran out onto the deck, he noticed the head of a large humpback whale, about a foot away, looking at him. The sailor said he felt the whale was trying to say, "sorry mate, I didn't mean to ram you."

1/21/07

A) The fight to save Outer Brewster Island in Boston Harbor from becoming an LNG terminal might be over. According to Massachusetts Representative Garrett Bradley from Hingham, the bill to remove Outer Brewster Island from the Boston harbor Islands National Park so that an LNG terminal could be built there was not re-filed in a timely fashion this year. Representative Bradley explained that bills may still be submitted on Beacon Hill after the January 10th deadline, but that there were no guarantees of them ever making it to a public hearing. A month ago, former Governor Mitt Romney gave his approval for energy companies to build two LNG terminals off the coast of Gloucester.

B) An additional 50 acres of shellfish beds in Marshfield and Scituate, along the mouth of the North River, will be re-opened to clam diggers thanks to the cleanest water in years. The shellfishing season in the area was also extended two months, so shellfish can now be harvested from December through June. Recreational clamming in the South River area has been closed to shellfishermen for nearly 20 years, but the state's Division of Marine Fisheries is hoping to reopen those beds as well.

C) Massachusetts lawmakers and the Coalition for Buzzards Bay are proposing to have tugboats "shadow" all oil shipments as they navigate Buzzards Bay. Proponents of the bill said the tugs could warn captains of oil shipments of impending danger, they could witness and report incidents, and they could respond quickly to accidents. However, a U.S. District Court judge in 2004 overturned a similar state law that required oil barges and ships to have tug escort all oil shipments in Buzzards Bay, calling it unconstitutional because it violated interstate commerce and the federal government's right to supremacy over a state law.

D) Fifty years after the Italian freighter SS Etrusco ran aground on Cedar Point in Scituate during a March, 1956 blizzard, the mystery of what happened to the ship's flag has been solved. Photos taken a month after the ship went aground showed the Etrusco crew presenting the ship's flag to an officer at Station Scituate Coast Guard. It was an Italian flag with a family crest of the family that owned the ship. That was the last time the flag was seen until now. A woman called the Scituate Maritime Museum and identified herself as the daughter of one of the officers at Station Scituate who helped save the Etrusco crew. The museum asked her if she knew anything about the flag and she answered yes, her family had it. She said the flag was given personally to her father. Within a few weeks thereafter, the flag was mailed to the museum, where it is now on display until the spring.

E) More Maine fishermen are taking their catches to Massachusetts ports, where they can legally sell lobsters caught in their nets and save on Maine's fuel tax. A Maine law prohibits dragger fishermen from selling lobsters in Maine, but Massachusetts allows the dragger fishermen to catch up to 100 lobsters per day in their nets, or up to 500 per trip. The dragger fishermen would like to see Maine's law changed, but Maine's lobster industry is opposed to changing the rules. The Maine Lobstermen's Association said that there was already too much effort put on the lobster population and that they want to reduce that effort, not increase it. There are more than 6,000 licensed lobstermen in Maine, and lobstering is Maine's No. 1 fishery.

F) Three fishermen were saved after they abandoned ship and got into their life raft. Another fishing vessel relayed their mayday call to the Coast Guard after hearing it. The men stated that the engine room was full of water and that there was no way they could stop the flooding. At the time, the boat was roughly nine miles south of Newport, R.I. The fishing vessel Terminator was the first to arrive on scene and recovered the three fishermen from their life raft. The men had been on the life raft for about twenty minutes before being rescued. The Coast Guard reminds the public that the New England waters are extremely hazardous during the winter months.

G) A tanker ship rescued two American sailors 1,300 miles southeast of Bermuda after their 41-foot sailboat struck a floating container and sheared off the boat's rudder. The 74 year old sailor and his 68 year old wife could not repair the rudder, so they activated their EPIRB, the emergency transmitter beacon, which alerted the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard then located and called an oil tanker, which was the closest vessel to it, 420 miles away, to go to their rescue. The captain of the tanker said the couple was not injured, but getting them to climb the 22 foot Jacob's ladder to get on board the tanker was a challenge.

H) Government scientists reported that 2006 was the warmest year on record in the contiguous United States since record keeping started in 1895. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided temperature readings from 1200 weather stations around the U.S. and found that the annual mean temperature was 2.2 degrees higher than the mean temperature for the last century.

I) A Florida boater was arrested after about 350 pounds of coral and rocks were found on his boat during a routine safety inspection at a Key Biscayne marina. A Coast Guard spokesperson said that in the United States, it is illegal to stand on or touch any live or dead coral, and that it was very unusual to find such a large amount of coral in possession of a person on a boat. However, coral is very valuable worldwide and can sell illegally for as much as $10 a pound.

2/4/07

A) It was a sad week for New England fishermen. The Coast Guard suspended its search for the two fishermen aboard the Lady Luck, a Newburyport fishing vessel that's been missing since early Thursday morning. The Coast Guard searched more than 8140 square miles off the Maine coast looking for the two young men after receiving an emergency signal from the boat's EPIRB. When the Coast Guard arrived at the position transmitted by the boat's emergency radio beacon, they saw a debris field and an oil sheen. The Canadian Coast Guard also sent a helicopter to help with the search. The Coast Guard reminds the New England fishing community that the North Atlantic is a dangerous and unpredictable environment, and to be mindful of the dangers inherent in their work.

B) And in the search for the three remaining crew members aboard the sunken fishing vessel Lady of Grace, state police divers said they were prevented from accessing the sleeping quarters of the boat because the cabin door was locked or wedged shut after the boat hit bottom. A diver from the State Police Underwater Recovery Unit said they are seeking other ways to enter the 75-foot New Bedford dragger, because there is a very strong possibility that the bodies of the fishermen are below deck. Additional dives to search the Lady of Grace are being contemplated, but discussions to raise the vessel are in the works. The boat presently is lying on its side under 56 feet of water at the edge of the channel and is marked with buoys as it poses a hazard to navigation.

C) The Coast Guard towed a Gloucester fishing vessel into the harbor after it lost power about 15 miles east of Marblehead. Coast Guard Station Gloucester received a call for help that the 68-foot fishing boat was disabled and possibly taking on water.

D) A fire at the Hawthorne Cove Marina in Salem destroyed the marina's shed and office building, but fortunately damaged only three of the 150 boats stored in the yard. Fire officials ruled out arson and think the fire started from the building's heating system. No injuries were reported, and Hawthorne Cove Marina owner Russ Vickers said he would rebuild in time for the launching of the boats in the Spring.

E) Commercial shellfishing will be allowed in Marshfield for the first time in more than 10 years, but only the taking of mussels will be allowed because of limited clam stocks.  Permits can be purchased on a first come first serve basis at the harbormaster's office, but only five licenses will be available for sale this year to avoid draining the mussel beds. The Marshfield shellfishing season is from December until the end June. The shellfish beds are closed during the summer because of the return of birds, which add pollution to the water.

F) For the 6th consecutive year, New Bedford is the No. 1 fishing port in the nation. Fishermen caught a total of $282.5 million in fish in 2005. That was a whopping $75 million more than what was caught in 2004. That's bad news for consumers because the government's regulations pushed the prices so high. However, with fewer days to fish, New Bedford dropped from seventh to eighth in 2005 in terms of the amount of fish landed. Gloucester was the only other Massachusetts port on the list. It ranked 10th in the nation for pounds of fish landed.

G) Richard "Max" Strahan, who is referred to as the "Prince of Whales", w-h-a-l-e-s, was back in court again, suing the federal government. Strahan tried to get a U.S. District Court judge in Boston to prohibit the licensing of any commercial fishing boat that posed an entanglement threat to the whales. Strahan also wanted the judge to order the state to fund research to develop safer fishing gear. However, the judge denied Strahan's motions, but agreed that careful monitoring of the situation was indeed justified, and told Strahan to come back in two years with a report of the number of whales entangled in fishing gear between now and then. In just a little while on today's program, we will hear Max Strahan's point of view why commercial fishing should be banned.

H) LNG tankers could be unloading natural gas off the coast of Gloucester by the end of this year according to an official from the Excelerate Energy corporation of Texas, and they won't be alone for too long. This past week, the U.S. Maritime Administration issued a deepwater port license to Suez Energy North America, which will spend more than a billion dollars to build a second offshore LNG terminal about 10 miles south of Gloucester. Suez Energy North America is the corporation that owns the Distrigas LNG facility in Everett. The two offshore port systems received approvals last month from then Governor Mitt Romney in exchange of tens of millions of dollars in mitigation funds, which will help fund marine and environmental programs.    

I) In North Carolina, the Coast Guard is investigating 15 hoax mayday calls made by the same person during the past 12 months. An officer at Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach said that they have identified the voice as being one and the same from recordings. The most recent hoax mayday call came on January 29th. Fake mayday calls are a drain on the Coast Guard's resources and could cause a delayed response to a real emergency. However, the Coast Guard treats every call as if it's a real emergency, not assuming anything. So far, the Coast Guard said it spent close to ten thousand dollars responding to the 15 fake calls for help, and they want the perpetrator to go to jail.

J) Out on the West Coast, the Coast Guard called off its search for 63 year old Jim Gray, a senior manager and computer wiz with Microsoft. Gray failed to return from a day trip off of San Francisco in his red, 40-foot sailboat. His wife told officials that he went out in his boat to scatter his mother's ashes into the Pacific. The weather has been good and the search covered 100,000 square miles, but no debris or any other evidence of Gray had been sighted. Employees of Google Earth also have pored over satellite maps looking for evidence of Gray's boat.

K) Police are asking for the public's help in tracking down the person who shot a sick seal pup with a shotgun. The 1 year old female seal's body washed up on Scusset Beach in Sandwich with five shotgun pellets in her head. The shooting is a federal offense and a NOAA Special Law Enforcement Agent vowed he would go anywhere in the United States to track down the sadistic person who shot the seal. He said his office will conduct ballistic tests soon with hopes of finding the gun's owner. In the meantime, anyone with information about the shooting can still collect a reward as high as $2,500 by contacting NOAA's 24-hour hot-line 1-800-853-1964, or by calling their local police.

L) And last on today's nautical news, if you have a place to dock a 165-foot submarine, it could be yours, free of charge, compliments of the United States Navy. The USS Dolphin was a one-of-a-kind research submarine commissioned in 1968. It was the last diesel-electric submarine in the U.S. fleet. Although the Navy recently spent 60 million dollars restoring the sub, a Navy spokesman said that it was best for the government to get rid of it rather than to pay its annual 18 million dollars operating costs. The Navy said it will accept offers from government agencies, nonprofit groups, or any other institution willing to turn the Dolphin into a museum, as long as the new owner promises to keep it in good condition. Anyone interested in the USS Dolphin submarine has until March to submit an offer.

2/12/07

A) Two Coast Guardsmen suffered injuries while assisting a disabled New Bedford fishing vessel with three men on board. The two coast guardsmen aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Campbell were injured while attempting to secure a towline to the 74-foot fishing vessel named the Creole Belle. At the time, the fishing boat was in danger of sinking approximately 45 nautical miles southeast of Nantucket. A helicopter crew from Air Station Cape Cod hoisted the three fishermen aboard and brought the two injured Coast Guardsmen to the Cape Cod Hospital. Their injuries were deemed non-life threatening. The Coast Guard was broadcasting a safety marine bulletin, advising mariners of the adrift fishing vessel.

B) The Coast Guard is still investigating all possibilities, including a collision with a large ship, as to why the Newburyport fishing vessel Lady Luck with two men on board disappeared so fast about 12 miles off the coast of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The area where the Lady Luck's emergency transmitter was found is about two miles from the busy Portland, Maine, shipping channel. Rescuers, going to the transmitter's position, found an oil sheen and debris, including buckets, hand tools, and shovels. The Coast Guard said it was also possible the boat could have caught its fishing net on an obstruction like a shipwreck or a rock, and then the net dragged the boat under, but it was highly unlikely the men were fishing because the water was 500 feet deep. Fishermen said that would have been an unusually deep drag.

C) Despite concerns and protests by commercial fishermen, the federal government, for the second time in six weeks, approved the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal in Massachusetts Bay off the coast of Gloucester. On January 30th, the first one was approved to be built about 7 miles off the Gloucester coast. Both facilities will use underwater pipelines to connect to New England's distribution network, and natural gas could be flowing through the pipes in time for next year's heating season. Both projects have already received state approval.

D) The Coast Guard is in the midst of spending its $24 billion budget to modernize its aging fleet of boats and helicopters, but California Congressman, Henry Waxman, who chairs a House investigative committee, accused the Coast Guard of producing a "series of lemons that has cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars." He even accused them of a cover up, hiding engineering reports that revealed the flaws. The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, Richard Skinner, gave a similar report last month. Now, Congress has seen many documented reports about design flaws and structural problems with the Coast Guard's 425-foot National Security Cutter, the flagship of its new fleet. Overrun costs on the Coast Guard's new cutters could approach the billion dollar mark. Recently appointed Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Thad Allen, told the committee that he was looking into the matter. Massachusetts Congressman Stephen Lynch compared the Coast Guard's problems to Boston's Big Dig. Lynch said in both cases, the oversight, engineering, and construction resulted in disastrous consequences and large cost overruns.

E) Consumption of seafood declined slightly in 2005 in the United States, but overall seafood consumption in the United States has shown an upward trend over the past five years. Americans ate 16.2 pounds of fish and shellfish per person in 2005, a two percent decrease from the 2004 consumption figure of 16.6 pounds. However, consumer expenditures for seafood products increased by $3.3 billion. Shrimp continued to be the top seafood consumed in the United States.

F) The friends of a San Francisco Microsoft computer scientist who vanished at sea without a trace while spreading his mother's ashes in San Francisco Bay have expanded their search to the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard suspended its search for the missing sailor a week ago, but his friends believe the missing sailor is OK and still out there somewhere. Microsoft employees are using Google's satellite pictures, looking for the missing 40 foot, red hulled sailboat named Tenacious. It was reported that more than 12,000 workers have already searched a half a million photos, but so far no luck.

G) Fishermen on a Florida shrimp boat think a great white shark took a bite out of their boat's propeller and broke the boat's steel shaft, creating a large enough hole in the boat to sink it! The shrimp boat Christy Nichole now lies with the fish, on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, nearly 100 miles off Fort Myers Beach. The fishermen said that a hundred or more sharks had followed their boat for several days, eating the discarded bycatch and chewing on the shrimp nets. Fortunately for the fishermen, another nearby fishing boat quickly took them off their boat before it sank. An expert on shark attacks said that this wasn't the first time that he heard about a great white shark biting off a boat's propeller

H) And last on today's nautical news, when police in Maine busted a farmer last fall for cultivating marijuana plants, they also discovered illegally stocked bass in his pond. The farmer finally had his day in court, and admitted to growing and smoking the pot and the fish. The fish warden told the judge the stocking of large mouth bass was a very serious crime because private ponds could overflow from a flood, allowing the fish in the pond to escape into the wild. Believe it or not, the judge fined the farmer $250 for growing the pot, and $1,000 for growing the fish. Police were amazed that growing fish in a pond in Maine was a more serious crime than growing marijuana.

2/18/07

A) State police divers went back down to search for the three missing fishermen who were aboard the sunken fishing vessel Lady of Grace. However, conditions were not good. Divers had only 5 to 10 feet of visibility. Even so, they were able to search the ship's galley, a hallway, and all of the pilot house, but found no sign of any bodies. The divers were forced to return to their dive boat because of 20 to 25 mph winds and 6- to 8-foot seas, so the Lady of Grace's sleeping quarters still have not been searched. It is not known if the bodies of three fishermen are inside the boat or if they had washed out to sea.

B) Fire and police officials in the town of Bourne are investigating a fire that damaged three recreational boats in storage at G & S Marine. After cutting through a locked gate, firefighters contained the flames to a 31 foot speed boat, and two adjacent boats, a 28-foot boat and a 24-foot boat. Estimate of damages was $200,000. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

C) Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said that he was leaning toward seeking a federal disaster declaration for the state's fishing communities after hearing compelling arguments from officials about the economic impact the federal regulations have had on the fishermen in the past decade. He said his staff was preparing a draft letter, which he would review before making a final decision. Senator Bruce Tarr from Gloucester has led the effort for a federal disaster declaration, citing the severe economic hardship fishermen have faced because of strict limits on fishing since 1994. The declaration, if granted by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, would allow Congress to appropriate money to fishermen and other businesses that are tied to the industry.

D) The Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen, the only 4 star Admiral in the Coast Guard, gave his State of the Coast Guard address, and according to the Commandant, the Coast Guard has failed to keep up with its rapid growth and needs. Admiral Allen said, "We have been running some parts of the Coast Guard like a small business, instead of a Fortune 500 company that we are." Therefore, he said that he would realign the Atlantic Area Command and the Pacific Area Command and place them under one commander. He also said he would have one commander for the Coast Guard's services support system. As for the Coast Guard's 24 billion dollar remodernization plan for it ships and aircraft, which is called the Deepwater program, the Commandant admitted there were problems in the past, but he promised that the Coast Guard would get it right. Since September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has nearly doubled its budget to $8 billion and has added 4,000 members.

E) At the Miami International Boat Show, Thom Dammrich, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, reported that recreational boat sales nationwide declined in 2006 and are expected to be down again in 2007. He said the biggest negative factor currently affecting boat sales is the fall in home prices. People who might otherwise buy a boat "feel less wealthy even if it's just on paper," Dammrich said. He also added that low inflation, unemployment and interest rates, and generally lower gasoline prices, are positive things for the industry. Another statistic showed that used boats now make up about 71 percent of all boat sales.

F) Remember the story about the two coast guardsmen who were injured last week while trying to secure a tow line to the 74 foot fishing vessel Creole Belle? Eventually, the fishermen abandoned the boat, and the owner then notified the Coast Guard in writing of his abandonment. Because the drifting vessel posed a hazard to navigation, Coast Guard used their machine guns and shot holes in the fishing boat to get it to sink quickly. A coast guard spokesperson said the boat needed to be eliminated, and so down it went in about 300 feet of water. The 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on the boat is a risk to the environment, but not as great a risk as the potential for a collision with another vessel.

G) NOAA is asking students in New England to become involved in the nation's maritime heritage by participating in a ship naming contest. The contest is open to all sixth to twelfth graders. A name is needed a new SWATH (Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull) Coast Mapping Vessel, the first ship of its kind to be built for NOAA. The ship will be home ported in New Castle, New Hampshire. The deadline to submit a name is March 30th, 2007. Contact NOAA for more information, or send me an email: CaptLou@nauticaltalk.com. (The NOAA website is www.education.noaa.gov/shipname/)

H) While in Florida, I got the scoop on Anna Nicole Smith. The deceased Playboy centerfold star had purchased a boat and named it The Cracker just a couple of weeks before her death. Anna Nichole Smith admitted that she had fallen in love with the 10-year-old Carver yacht because there were two separate bedrooms, a big room to entertain guests, and a forward deck to sunbathe. The boat was to be delivered to her home in the Bahamas, and Stern was staying on the boat in Fort Lauderdale when he heard that Anna Nicole was found unconscious in her suite at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

I) And last on today's nautical news, women who eat seafood while pregnant may be boosting their children's IQ in the process, according to new research. The results of the study were surprising and contradict recommendations that pregnant women should limit seafood and fish consumption to avoid potentially high levels of mercury. For a while now, scientists have been touting fish as a health food, claiming it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential to brain development. Children whose mothers ate no seafood were 48 percent more likely to have a lower IQ score, compared to children whose mothers ate high amounts of seafood.

2/25/07

A) Divers from the Massachusetts State Police Underwater Recovery Unit and a private salvage company recovered another body from the sunken fishing vessel Lady of Grace. The body was found inside the boat's sleeping quarters. The first body was recovered from the fishing vessel's pilot house, three days after the boat sank. The State Police Dive Team said they conducted a thorough search of all accessible spaces, but hazardous debris prevented them from entering the engine room. The whereabouts of the other two crewmembers remain unknown, and state police said they were planning no more dives because of the hazardous debris inside the boat.

B) A tugboat pushing an oil barge carrying 15,000 tons of crude oil through the Cape Cod Canal had engine trouble and had to call the Army Corps of Engineers for help. The Army Corps of Engineers maintain and patrol the canal. Three tugboats came to the rescue and guided the barge safely out of the canal. No oil was spilled, but the canal was closed to all other traffic for more than 2½ hours, delaying two other ships.

C) Sad to report the passing of Scituate Harbormaster, Frank Regan, after he lost his long fought battle with cancer. According to town officials, Frank fixed the town's mooring list problem and dealt fairly with everyone. I personally can attest Harbormaster Regan always dealt fairly and respectfully with me as a media person. Mark Patterson, who was acting harbormaster while Frank was ill, will continue as the town's harbormaster.

D)  As heard first here on Nautical Talk Radio a few weeks ago, the threat of a lawsuit against a Plymouth Lobsterman became a reality when the lawsuit was filed on Friday in federal court. The lawsuit is in connection with an incident involving the entanglement of a humpback whale with lobster gear last August in Cape Cod Bay. The lawsuit asks for 1 million dollars in compensation for the unlawful damage done to endangered marine wildlife.
On the day of the incident, the whale was entangled in rope attached to a lobster pot wrapped around the side of its head. However, the Coast Guard said the whale was safely freed from the gear with no harm done.

E) Word on the docks is that Duxbury and Pembroke boatbuilder Maritime Skiff has been sold to a Maine company called Kenway Corp. Officials at Kenway said they planned to move the Pembroke operations to Augusta, Maine, where 30 employees already make Maritime Skiff boats. It was reported that people who worked at the Pembroke site have been offered jobs in Maine.  

F) Federal investigators confirmed a former Lockheed Martin employee's warnings were true that the company equipped some Coast Guard ships with unauthorized electronics "knowing that they did not meet contract performance requirements." Late last year, the Coast Guard removed from service eight 123 foot cutters after finding structural problems with their hulls. Commandant Admiral Thad Allen recently told Congress that about $100 million had been lost on those boats. Subsequently, the Coast Guard was accused of coverups and cost over runs for their 24 billion dollar fleet modernization program called Deepwater. The investigation that led to the Coast Guard's problems was based on tips received last year from a former Lockheed Martin employee who detailed safety and security issues in the cutters in a video he posted on YouTube. A few days later, the company fired him.

G) The recent call by Admiral Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard, for all states to issue a driver's license to recreational boaters has drawn criticism from the Coast Guard Auxiliary and from the Marine Retailers Association of America. The Commandant said the potential for a terrorist attack launched from small boats meant that states and the Coast Guard must cooperate better to watch who is on the nation's waterways. The idea of a vessel tracking device for all boats was also mentioned. Critics of the license plan said it did nothing to improve safe boating operation, but instead placed a huge burden on the American public. Furthermore, the possibility of a license that could be restricted or taken away was scary to both groups.

H) A 19-year-old Alaskan fisherman is recovering from an encounter with a sea lion that leaped out of the water, grabbed him as he worked on his grandfather's docked boat, and pulled him into the harbor at King Cove in the Aleutian Islands. Fortunately, the young fisherman was not seriously injured after spending a few minutes under water before the animal let go. The sea lion was estimated about 12 feet long, weighing about 1,400 pounds. Sea lions have been known to jump up on boats and docks, but usually do not attack people.

I) A New Zealand fishing crew caught a colossal squid in Antarctic waters that weighed a half-ton and probably is the largest specimen ever caught. The colossal squid weighed almost a half a ton and was about 39 feet long. If calamari rings were made from the squid they would be the size of tractor tires. Colossal squid are estimated to grow up to 46 feet long and have long been one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep ocean. Colossal squid are found in Antarctic waters and are not related to giant squid found off the coast of New Zealand. Colossal squid should not be confused with giant octopus, which until recently, had never been seen alive.

J)  And last on today's nautical news, an American senior citizen on vacation killed an armed mugger with his bare hands, after he and several others got off the Carnival cruise ship Liberty docked in Costa Rica. The dozen or so seniors said three men in their 20s, one of them waving a knife and a gun, attempted to rob them, but one of the seniors, a former 70 year old military man, grabbed the armed thug, put him in a choke hold, and killed him. The other two assailants ran away. The cruise ship was slightly delayed while the passengers involved were questioned by Costa Rican police, but after police agreed the passengers were within their rights to defend themselves and that no charges were being made, the Carnival Liberty continued on to its next port of call.......... Panama. Carnival Cruise Lines management said the company and the captain provided full support and assistance to the passengers throughout their ordeal.

3/4/07

A) The 51st annual New England Boat Show at the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center made history in more ways than one. It was the first show open to the public ever held at the convention center. All previous shows at the convention center were Trade Only shows. This year's Boston boat show was the largest and most comprehensive ever featuring 500,000 square feet of marine exhibits. Attendance exceeded last year's attendance by as much as 30%. Another first was an exhibit reserved only for "Massachusetts Built Boats." Next year's show dates at the convention center have already been set, so mark your calendar. The 2008 show opens January 12th and will end on the 20th.

B) The Coast Guard searched the Hyannis area of Cape Cod Bay after an employee at a local marina called the Coast Guard stating that he saw a red flare. A Coast Guard Station Cape Cod Canal boat and a helicopter conducted the search. While the helicopter the search was on going, a second call came in regarding a flare sighting. And then, about an hour later, the motor vessel Suez Matthew reported one red and one orange flare, but this time in the Nauset area. After the aircrew completed their search pattern in Cape Cod Bay, they diverted to the Nauset area and began searching. After searching into the wee hours of the morning, the search was temporarily suspended, and then resumed again at sunrise the next morning. None of the searches located any signs of a vessel in distress.

C) A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Cape Cod airlifted a fisherman with a severe hand injury. The accident happened on an 80-foot fishing vessel roughly 80 nautical miles south of Martha's Vineyard. The Coast Guard was notified that the fisherman aboard the fishing vessel Courtney Elizabeth, out of Point Judith, Rhode Island, was handling lobster pots when he suffered significant trauma to his right hand. A Coast Guard flight surgeon recommended the man be airlifted for medical treatment. He was safely transported to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence where his condition is unknown.

D) The total weight of Maine's 2006 lobster catch dropped slightly from 2005, but the dollar value of the 2006 lobster catch declined by more than $42 million. According to the Department of Marine Resources, lobster landings in Maine totaled 66.6 million pounds, down from 68.1 million the previous year, but the value of the catch dropped to $272.5 million from $315 million in 2005. However, researchers point out that 2005 was a record year for value.

E) The Hull Lifesaving Museum was awarded two grants, one of them to fund an upcoming exhibit named They Had To Go Out: Shipwrecks and Lifesaving in Boston Harbor. The exhibit will be the first major update of the interpretation of the historic Point Allerton Station in more than a decade. Point Allerton Station was constructed in 1889 by the United States Lifesaving Service and was home to Joshua James and his crew. The second grant will be used for a new Media Room, where visitors will be able to see and listen to interviews with Hull residents and lifesavers' descendants. The new exhibits are scheduled to open on April 13th. For more information, go to the museum's website www.lifesavingmuseum.org or call the museum at 781-925-5433.

F) The National Marine Fisheries Service announced a new effort to help commercial fishermen in the Northeast to develop, fund, and engage in cooperative fishery research aboard their fishing boats. A book entitled "Working Together" is available for the asking. It covers such things as identifying a research topic, establishing partnerships with scientists, preparing proposals, and administering funds. Printed copies of the book can be obtained by contacting the Fisheries Service's Northeast Regional Office at 1 Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.

G) On March 6th, Earthrace - the futuristic looking wave piercing powerboat that runs on biodiesel fuel - will start off from Barbados on a voyage to break the world record on circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat. The boat's mission is to promote the use of biodiesel fuel. The current around the world powerboat record is 75 days, set in 1998. The Earthrace crew hopes to break that record by 10 days, finishing its trip around the world in 65 days. Listeners can follow the boat's progress by going to the website Earthrace.net.

H) MassWildlife's Angler Education Program is looking for Volunteer Fishing Instructors to pass on the great pastime of fishing. Next Saturday, March 10th, 2007, a full day Angler Education Instructor Workshop will be held at the MassWildlife Field Headquarters in Westborough, Massachusetts. It's a free workshop that certifies Angler Education Program Instructors. Women and men of all ages who enjoy fishing and sharing their knowledge and passion for this activity are encouraged to attend. The Program is especially in need of instructor teams from the North Shore, Southeastern Massachusetts, and Cape Cod. Pre-registration is required. For more details and to register, contact Angler Education Program Coordinator Jim Lagacy at 508/389-6309.

I) Boat/U.S., the nation's largest recreational boat owners association, announced this year's Top Ten List of Most Popular Boat Names. The number one most popular name for a boat was Aquaholic. Aquaholic has appeared on the Top Ten List for the past five, and this is the second time that it's been number one. Number five on this year's list, Happy Hours, has appeared on the list seven times since 1991. All of the remaining top five, Second Wind (#2), Reel Time (#3), and Hakuna Matata (#4, which means "no worries, troubles, problems or cares" in Swahili) have appeared on the annual list at least once, as well as the #10 name, Pura Vida (which means "pure life"). New names that made the list for the first time were Knot Working (#6), Life is Good (#7), Plan B (#8), and Second Chance (#9).

J) And last on today's nautical news, what is believed to be one of the ships owned by the notorious pirate Blackbeard could be fully excavated within the next three years. Divers discovered the ship 10 years ago, and believe the ship in question was a French slave ship that Blackbeard captured in 1717 and renamed the Queen Anne's Revenge. So far, about 15 percent of the shipwreck has been recovered, including jewelry, dishes, and thousands of other artifacts, but none of the treasured artifacts positively proves this was Blackbeard's ship.

3/11/07

A) The US Coast Guard staged a huge exercise in the Florida Keys, preparing for a possible mass exodus of Cubans after Fidel Castro dies. More than 300 coast guardsmen and 85 law enforcement agencies took part in the two day drill called Operation Vigilant Sentry. A couple of weeks ago on Nautical Talk Radio, we heard Coast Guard Admiral Nimmich reveal that the Coast Guard indeed had a plan to stop the Cubans from entering the United States when Castro dies. In 1980, one hundred twenty five thousand of people fled Cuba for the U.S. in overcrowded boats in what was called the Mariel Boatlift.

B) This weekend, a commercial fishing boat in Saquatucket Harbor, Harwichport, was destroyed by fire. A witness on land called the fire department to report that the Miss Morgan, a 35-foot fishing vessel, was engulfed in flames. Officials estimated there was approximately $200,000 worth of damage to the boat, but there did not appear to be any fuel pollution in the harbor. The cause of the fire did not appear to be suspicious, but remains under investigation.

C) A recent aerial survey reported right whales in an area east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire and southeast of Boston. Based on these sightings, NOAA has announced temporary gear restrictions for lobstermen and gillnet fishermen in these areas to protect the right whales. These restrictions will remain in effect until March 18, 2007.

D) According to NOAA weather forecasters, La Niña, the opposite of El Niño is now happening in the Pacific Ocean, and that could mean bad news for the United States East Coast. La Niña in the Pacific typically means a greater than normal number of stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic. La Niña occurs when the surface temperature of the eastern Pacific seawater drops. In May, NOAA will issue its latest Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook based on the most current La Niña conditions.

E) The Clean Locomotive and Marine Diesel Rule was announced Friday in Washington. It sets stringent emission standards and will require the use of advanced after market technology on marine diesel engines. The new fuel law requires nonroad diesel fuel to be 99 percent sulphur free by the year 2009. The National Marine Manufacturers Association said this new law could spell big trouble for big boats with  diesel engines.

F) The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary passed a resolution urging state legislatures to require mandatory boating safety education, regardless of a person's age. The non-binding resolution was passed unanimously at the Auxiliary National Training Conference and supplements a resolution passed in 2003. The 2003 resolution suggested that boating safety education be required for anyone under the age of sixteen operating a powerboat or personal watercraft. Now that age requirement was eliminated.

G) In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson founded the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to provide nautical charts for safe passage into American ports and along our coastline. The Weather Bureau was founded 63 years later in 1870, and one year later, the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries was founded. These three agencies merged together in 1970, with the establishment of NOAA, an agency within the Department of Commerce. Today, in 2007, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the establishment of which set in motion a 200-year legacy of science, service, and stewardship.

H) The latest study issued by the Center for Consumer Freedom said that in light of more recent and reliable science, the public should ignore all warnings about mercury in fish. Since the 2006 International Conference on Mercury, three new scientific reports have debunked the warnings about mercury contaminated fish. In one report, researchers wrote that they could find no evidence that pregnant women should limit their seafood consumption. In fact, the study showed that pregnant women who ate the most fish had children with the highest IQ's. Another report concluded that traces of mercury in fish were insignificant compared to the health benefits of eating seafood.

I) The Coast Guard will continue to provide medical evacuations from Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket hospitals. An agreement reached between the Coast Guard, Boston MedFlight, Martha's Vineyard Hospital and Nantucket Cottage Hospital clarifies that the Coast Guard would provide emergency air transportation from the islands when Boston MedFlight or other transportation means were not available. On average, Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod makes about 40 transports each year from the two islands when weather conditions exceed the criteria under which Boston MedFlight can fly. The Federal Aviation Administration sets minimum weather conditions in which civilian aircraft can fly, but the Coast Guard is exempt from those regulations. The Coast Guard emphasized that competition with private air ambulance services would be avoided.

J) And last on today's nautical news, New England Aquarium whale researchers are using a former drug sniffing dog to find whale poop floating in the ocean. The researchers put the dog on the bow of their boat and follow the dog's nose like a compass. They know they are on the right course when the dog becomes extremely animated and wags his tail. From examining the whale poop, scientists can determine a whale's DNA as well as learn about the whale's medical condition such as whether the whale is sexually mature or pregnant. The presence of toxins from sources like red tides or pollution from coastal run-off can also be determined. One veterinarian said that she thought it was extraordinary to use the senses of one animal to learn more about the secrets of another.

3/20/07

) President Bush wants the United States aquaculture industry to expand in order to reduce our federal trade deficit. United States Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez visited the International Boston Seafood Show and told industry leaders that last year China and Asia supplied 90% of the farm raised seafood, while the United States supplied only 1 per cent. In order to make up this difference, the Bush Administration is proposing legislation to allow fish farms to be built offshore in federal waters out to 200 miles. This will be the first time in our nation's history that fish farms will be built in our oceans. Scientists have warned us that fish farms in the ocean would jeopardize the natural wild species, between the spread of disease and farm raised fish escaping from their pen and mating with the wild stock.

B) Three New Jersey men died while doing a penetration dive on a sunken Navy ship off of Florida's Key Largo. A fourth man, who did not enter the ship, survived. The three men who died were all advanced certified scuba divers. The ship they were exploring was the Spiegel Grove, a 510-foot decommissioned Navy ship that was intentionally sunk in 2002 in 133 feet of water, to make an artificial reef. Names of the victims were not released until their families have been notified. Two of the three bodies remain somewhere on the ship underwater. Police said this most recent accident brings the death toll for divers on the Spiegel Grove to six since its sinking.

C) NOAA Fisheries Service is seeking comments now through April 12, on the plan by Northeast Gateway Energy Bridge LLC, to protect marine mammals as it constructs and operates an LNG port in federal waters off Gloucester, Massachusetts. The agency has preliminarily determined the activities would have a negligible impact on marine mammals and is prepared to issue a permit allowing the company to incidentally disrupt animal behavior, but it is soliciting public comment beforehand.

D) I am sad to report that Gerry DiSchino, president and CEO of Hinckley Yachts of Portsmouth, R.I., died unexpectedly at the age of 50 years old. DiSchino was also this year's president of the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association.

E) An aerial surveyor sighted an injured right whale swimming about one mile southwest of Provincetown. Pictures taken of the whale showed a number of wounds on the animal's back that researchers claimed were caused by a "ship strike." Some said the wounds would cause the whale's death if infection set in, but so far the whale appeared to be swimming normally. Gregg Farmer, president of the Boston Harbor Pilot Association, objected to the term "ship strike," claiming that it was not a large freighter or tanker that struck the whale. He claimed that it was a smaller vessel that caused the propeller marks on the whale's back. Scientists also admitted that they didn't know where the whale got hurt, and think the wounds could be several weeks old. They said a few weeks ago, this whale could have been anywhere between Georgia and Canada.

F) The Coast Guard went to the rescue of a fisherman after he complained of severe abdominal pain. At the time he was working on a New Bedford trawler 100 miles east of Provincetown. A helicopter crew flew him to Barnstable airport to a waiting ambulance that then took him to the Cape Cod Hospital. At last report, the man was in stable condition.

G) The oldest trophy in sports, the sterling silver America's Cup, arrived in Valencia, Spain, the site of the 2007 America's Cup race. You might recall that Team Alinghi from landlocked Switzerland won the Cup in 2003, and they chose the port of Valencia as the venue for this year's race. Eleven teams will compete in this year's Louis Vuitton race, which starts on April 3rd. The winner of the Louis Vuitton race goes on to challenge the Swiss for the America's Cup, which starts June 23rd.

H) A 35 year old male passenger on board the Carnival Glory, a Carnival Cruiseship, jumped from his room's balcony overboard into the waters off Florida. A witness said he was drunk. The Coast Guard, as well as another Carnival Cruiseship, responded to the captain's call for help. The next morning, about 8 hours later, the passenger was seen waving his arms in the water and was rescued by the Coast Guard. He was airlifted to the hospital and treated for mild hypothermia.

I) And last on today's nautical news, the Captain of Earthrace, the powerboat that is trying to break the world record for going around the world using only biodiesel fuel, blamed bananas for giving him bad luck. For centuries, most mariners have been superstitious about bananas, claiming they brought bad luck on board. That was because in days of sail, bananas gave off gases that caused other fruit to overripened quickly and spoil -- a potential disaster in the days when sailors depended on fruit to prevent scurvy. Anyway, the captain of Earthrace said that the person who brought the bananas on board was a landlubber who paid to join the first leg of the race. By the time the bananas were noticed, the boat's propeller made of carbon, broke. Earthrace is now behind schedule as they make repairs in Panama.

3/26/07

A) The Coast Guard issued a cold water safety advisory to all early spring boaters and paddlers on the inland and coastal waters in the Northeast. With forecasts of upcoming warmer weather, the urge to get out on water may be strong, but deceptively dangerous. The water temperature remains closer to the freezing mark despite the comfortable air temperature. The Coast Guard warns spring boaters to dress properly and to be mentally prepared for sudden cold water immersion. Otherwise your chance of surviving is extremely poor. Paddlers in Massachusetts are required to wear a life jacket while underway through May 15th and in Connecticut through May 31st.

B) A U.S. District Court judge awarded twelve crew members $437,500 each, because they reported the deliberate dumping of thousands of gallons of waste oil into the ocean from the ship they were on. U.S. District Court Judge Reginald Lindsay imposed the "whistle blower" awards as part of a $37 million fine. The owner of the ship also pled guilty to falsifying the ship’s logbooks. The crew said they called a Coast Guard hotline because they were outraged by the dumping that occurred in Massachusetts and Maine. U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan’s office said the money collected from the fines would be divided among the ports affected by the dumping.

C) The Coast Guard boarded a freighter off the coast of Panama and found 42,000 pounds of cocaine. All 14 crewmembers aboard the freighter were arrested. This was a record amount of cocaine seized by the Coast Guard. Sources said the cocaine was going to delivered to a Mexican cartel. A Homeland Security official said the Coast Guard is now engaged in an operation known as “Panama Express,” using new communication equipment purchased under their controversial Deepwater Program.

D) The sunken fishing vessel Lady Luck, out of Newburyport, Massachusetts, missing since February 1st, has been located. The Coast Guard and investigators who searched with a remote control submersible vehicle provided by VideoRay (www.videoray.com), found the fishing boat lying on the bottom, 20 nautical miles southeast of Portland, Maine, in 530 feet of water. The two young fishermen on board remain missing and are presumed drowned.

E) Earthrace, the futuristic looking bio-diesel fuel powerboat trying to break the world’s time record for circumnavigating the world suffered some more bad luck. This time a person was killed and two others injured after the powerboat collided with a fishing boat off the coast of Guatemala. Last week, when the boat’s high tech carbon propellers disintegrated, the skipper blamed the bad luck on bananas that a paying passenger brought on board. Historically, bananas have been a bad luck omen to many sailors. It is unlikely the biodiesel-fueled boat will continue its bid to set the record, as the vessel’s crew is now confined to a Guatemalan Naval ship, trying to hire local attorneys and assistance from the American Embassy.

F) Senator John Kerry filed legislation to terminate the Coast Guard’s remaining contract to build new ships and aircraft under its 24 billion dollar Deepwater Remodernization Program. Kerry’s bill, called the Deepwater Accountability Act, requires a new contract to be competitively bid. However, the legislation allows the Coast Guard to continue working with the current companies on any incomplete systems, if the secretary of Homeland Security determines that re-bidding would compromise national security or would cost more.

G) In a federal lawsuit, the Navy refused to detail its use of sonar, claiming the information was classified, and release of it could jeopardize national security. The plaintiff in the lawsuit is The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental organization. They claim the Navy’s use of sonar is harmful to the whales and dolphins. A U.S. Congressional Research Service report last year found Navy sonar exercises had indeed been responsible for at least six mass strandings and unusual  behavior among whales. Many of the beached or dead animals had damaged ears.

H) The folks from Save Our Ramp in Scituate reached an agreement with that town’s conservation agency, and the large granite blocks that lined the boat ramp last year will be removed. Boaters claimed that the blocks were a hazard to navigation because they were not marked and covered over at high tide. The ramp is the only means of safe access to the North River for boaters without going in to the ocean.

I) And last but not least on today’s nautical news, on March 24th, 2007, the 18th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Exxon unveiled a seven foot tall wooden "ExxonRidicule" pole in Alaska. The special totem pole is a native Alaskan tradition meant to force a person of high standing to pay its debt or obligation. Eighteen years after the most devastating oil spill in U.S. history, ExxonMobil, with its billions of dollars in annual profits, still has not satisfied the court's order, paying the damages owed to the victims of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In addition, the company is operating what environmentalists call the largest, most dangerous oil tanker in the area -a single-hulled oil tanker which happens to be the Exxon Valdez's sister ship. It is named the Sea River Long Beach. ExxonMobil is the only oil company in the spill area of Prince William Sound that is still using a single-hulled tanker.

4/1/07

A)    Two unusual nautical news stories to report on this April Fool's Day weekend. Both involved fatalities and are definitely not jokes! The first story pertains to a Rhode Island Coast Guardsman who was killed after he fell off a 25 foot boat in Puget Sound. He was hit in the head by the boat's propeller. The Coast Guard identified the victim as 26-year-old Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronald Gill. Ironically, Gill was assigned to the Coast Guard's Marine Safety and Security Team and had served in the Coast Guard since October 2003.

B)    The second unusual story is about an Illinois man on vacation in Hawaii who was killed when the mast broke on a whale-watching catamaran. It fell and struck him on the head. About 50 passengers on the whale watch boat were rescued before the boat sank. Records showed that the whale watch boat, which was operated by Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa, had broken its mast twice before.

C)    New herring fishery regulations made by the New England Fishery Management Council prohibit the using of trawling gear during the summer months in inshore waters of the Gulf of Maine. The Gulf of Maine includes an area between Cape Cod Bay and Canada. However, the quota for the amount of herring that can be caught in that area did not change. It remains at 50,000 metric tons. Fishing boats that use purse seine nets can still catch the herring in that area, trawler boats cannot, causing some fishermen to think the government is discriminating between the different types of fishing boats.


D)    In a related story, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick showed his support for commercial fishermen by visiting with them on the Gloucester waterfront. He promised the fishermen that he would seek federal aid by declaring the state's fishing industry an economic disaster. The Governor said he would make his plea to U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. The New England Fishery Management Council estimated that the region's fishermen would lose $21 million this year because of the new regulations that reduced the number of days that boats can fish. Ed Barrett, a Marshfield fisherman, said he was encouraged that the governor had met with the fishermen and heard how they were on the verge of bankruptcy, losing their homes and boats.

E)    American treasure hunters have won permission to look for what is believed to be the richest, sunken bounty in history; 9 tons of gold lost in a shipwreck more than 300 years ago off Spain. Odyssey Marine Exploration has concluded negotiations with Spanish officials to resume its search for the wreck of a British vessel, the HMS Sussex. The 157 foot warship HMS Sussex was leading a British fleet into the Mediterranean for a war against France and its leader, King Louis XIV, when it sank in a storm in 1694 with 500 men, 80 guns, and 9 tons of gold coins aboard. The coins could be worth up to four billion dollars.

F)    The skipper of Earthrace, a New Zealand biodiesel fuel power boat attempting to break the 75 days around the world speed record, has been cleared by a Guatemalan court to leave the country. The Earthrace skipper and his crew were detained in Guatemala for 10 days since their boat collided with a fishing boat, killing one of the three fishermen aboard. A Guatemalan judge ruled the collision was indeed an accident and no criminal charges were filed. Earthrace is now continuing on its voyage around the world, heading for its next port in Mexico.

G)    The journal Science reports this month that there is a decline in the number of big sharks swimming along the Eastern Seaboard. Scientists say other marine species such as rays, skates, dogfish, and seals are increasing in number as a result of the decline in the  shark population. In turn, this upset balance in Mother Nature has meant that the rays, skates, dogfish, and seals are eating the more valuable scallops, clams, oysters, and codfish. Shellfishermen are now asking NOAA to implement a ban on shark fishing.

H) Princess Cruise Lines is investigating how two passengers fell overboard from their cruise ship cabin balcony into the Gulf of Mexico. The 22-year-old man and 20-year-old woman who met on the ship fell 50 to 60 feet from the woman's cabin. A spokeswoman for Princess Cruises said that it appeared to have been an accident and that the balcony had a 4 foot railing. When friends of the couple informed the captain that the couple had fallen overboard, he turned the ship around, called the Coast Guard, and launched the rescue boats. About 4 to 5 hours later, the ship's crew found the passengers and treated them for minor injuries. At the time, waves were up to 6 feet and the wind was gusting up to 30 mph.

4/9/07

A) More trouble for cruise ships. This time a Greek cruise ship named Sea Diamond hit rocks formed by a volcano and sank off the Aegean Islands. The captain and five officers were arrested and charged with causing a shipwreck through negligence, breaching international shipping safety regulations, and polluting the environment. Passengers said there weren't enough lifejackets and complained of being forced to climb down rope-ladders. It took 15 hours for the 469 foot ship to sink. Authorities said hundreds of Americans and Canadians were on board. All but two passengers were accounted for. A 45-year-old Frenchman and his 16-year-old daughter were listed as missing.

B) The price of lobster has reached an all time high ranging from $14 - $16 per pound. The reason for the sharp increase simply has to do with the law of supply and demand. Many of the lobsters sold now were caught last season and saved in pens, and according to industry leaders, those pens are almost empty, and Mother's Day is around the corner. The demand is high and the supply low. The new lobster season starts in a couple of weeks, and then the pens will be replenished. One local lobsterman lamented, as soon as he gets his boat ready and in the water for this Spring, the prices will probably have dropped.

C) Dredging of Marshfield's Green Harbor entrance channel is to start April 16th and is expected to be finished by May 31st weather permitting. Project engineers said they can't dredge before April 16th because of the winter flounder and they cannot dredge after May 31st because of the juvenile lobsters in the dumping area. They also explained that there could be times when the channel will be blocked by their dredge and scow. However, as it is right now, it is impassable most of the time anyway because it is too shallow. The channel will be restored to 100 feet width at a depth of 6 feet at low tide. The harbormaster said he called marinas in Scituate and Plymouth and was told that they could accommodate anyone who got locked out of the harbor. Mariners will be able to communicate with the dredge contractor on either Channel 8 or 16 on their marine radio to ask questions.

D) Boaters won their battle in the Town of Scituate, saving their boat ramp, after a year of strong lobbying of town officials. The Scituate Selectmen  had the town's DPW relocate the granite blocks that prevented easy boat trailer access and turnaround maneuverability. The Herring River ramp off the Driftway provides boaters with safe access to the North and South Rivers.

E) The Plymouth Harbormaster wants visiting boaters to enjoy America's hometown. Harbormaster Tim Routhier wants to install moorings to accommodate visiting boaters. He claimed he constantly receives requests for overnight moorings, but must refuse the requests because the town has had no moorings to rent. This in turn has cost the town revenue at a time when every dollar is needed. Officials estimate that at a dollar per foot per night, multiplied by 10 moorings, could add up to more than $20,000 during July and August.

F) And speaking of the Plymouth Harbormaster, he has been granted federal law enforcement authority when patrolling the security zone in front of the Plymouth nuclear power plant. Last season, with a homeland security grant, the town purchased the harbormaster a go fast boat capable of going from the harbormaster's dock to the power plant in about 5 minutes. Under federal laws, any boater in violation of the power plant security zone can be fined as much as $27,000 and go to jail.

G) Compared to last year, February boat show sales for all sized fiberglass boats declined by 11.5 percent while aluminum boat sales decreased by 13.3 percent. Fiberglass boat sales in the popular sizes between 14 and 30 feet declined nearly 10 per cent. The report is based on information obtained from 25 of the states with the most boat registrations. Some of those states included California, Florida, Michigan, Texas, and New York.

H) A group of chefs, called the Boston Chefs for Fishermen's Families, raised $20,722 to aid the families of the six commercial fishermen lost at sea in January. The money, raised at the restaurants where the chefs worked, will go directly to the families of the fishermen who worked on the Lady of Grace and the Lady Luck. The chefs said they felt they had to do something to support the fishermen because they depend upon the fishermen to bring them the freshest seafood to serve to their patrons.

I) And last, but not least on today's nautical news, a Trident commercial fishing boat hauled in what may have been one of the oldest living creatures in Alaska; a giant rockfish estimated to be more than a hundred years old. The 44-inch, 60-pound female rockfish was caught in 2,100 feet of water in the Bering Sea. Scientists said they could tell how old the fish was by counting the number of rings on the bone inside the fish's ear. The rings are similar to the rings in a tree trunk.       

2/16/07

A) The past couple of days, Coast Guard units throughout New England alerted mariners of today's n'oreaster. A Coast Guard jet plane from Air Station Cape Cod flew two storm track missions to warn off-shore boaters on the marine radio of the approaching dangerous storm. Mariners were urged to seek safe harbor and keep a watchful eye on the weather.

B) Wall Street financial wizards are predicting a dire 2007 for boat manufacturers. Several financial brokerage firms are blaming the soft housing market, especially in the state of Florida, as one of the major factors of the problem. Others blame the cold April weather in the northeast. Statistics show that boat sales are off by as much as 20% so far this year.

C) However, here is some good financial news. Officials from Massport announced that the 2007 cruise season officially begins today, April 15th, with the arrival of the cruise ship Saga Ruby. Massport expects 103 cruise ships, carrying an estimated 250,000 passengers, to visit Boston. Compared to last year, that is a 20% increase in the number of passengers to Cruiseport Boston.

D) A large ship that looked like a former Navy ship, broke free of its mooring on the East Boston side of Boston Harbor and drifted toward the Hyatt hotel at Boston's Logan Airport. For a while, officials were concerned the vessel was going to crash into the pier in front of the hotel, but fortunately, that didn't happen. Sea Tow Boston arrived on scene and was able to secure the boat to the pier. The Boston Harbormaster department told "Nautical Talk Radio" that the privately owned ship was in Boston harbor to be converted into a floating restaurant. 

E) The U.S. Coast Guard announced that all of its air stations are now flying helicopters with upgraded engines as part of their Deepwater modernization program. Despite controversies about cost overruns and cover-ups, the Coast Guard completed the helicopter re-modernization program ahead of schedule.

F) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended upgrading the manatee's status from endangered to threatened, a move that proves the animal has rebounded from the brink of extinction. However, the reclassification from endangered to threatened is only ceremonial because the same state and federal regulations remain as if they were still endangered.

G) The official opening of the 2007 America's Cup happened yesterday with a big boat parade followed by fireworks. Eleven teams will now race for the Louis Vuitton Cup with the winner of that cup challenging the Swiss Team Alinghi for the America's Cup. The America's Cup is the oldest sporting trophy in the world.

H) For the first time, residents of Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard got a chance in a non-binding vote to express their opinion on whether the annual Monster Shark Tournament should stay or go in their town. The tournament has been the subject of controversy amongst animal rights groups such as PETA and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The votes were counted and 458 were for keeping the shark tournament in town and 386 were against it, so this year's tournament stays in Oak Bluffs.

I) And last on today's nautical news, 95 years ago today, the world came to the realization that the unsinkable Titanic had really sunk on its maiden voyage, taking 1523 people to their watery graves. For the first time, and for one week only, the names, ages, and professions of passengers will be posted online at findmypast.com. There will also be a list posted revealing the cabin class of the passengers. Up until now, the passenger list could only be seen at England's National Archives in London.

4/22/07

A) After last week's Nor'Easter, the Coast Guard warned mariners that numerous aids to navigation throughout New England waters were damaged or moved off station by the storm. So far, the Coast Guard has determined that more than two dozen buoys were either not working, missing, or adrift. Also mariners should be aware of broken docks and pilings floating in the water. Anyone who sees damaged or displaced aids to navigation, or other hazards to navigation, is urged to call the Coast Guard at 617-223-8555.

B) An old Soviet submarine used as a floating museum sank in the Providence River after being battered by this past week's nor'easter. The only thing that can be seen now of the sub is the top of its periscope. Launched in 1965 by the Russians, the sub was diesel powered, but could fire nuclear missiles. It was used in the 1990s as a restaurant in Finland, and as a set for the movie "K-19: The Widowmaker." A salvage company was working on a plan to pump the water out of the sub and get it floating again.

C) Scientists warn that Massachusetts could experience a major red tide bloom this summer. The latest survey of the Gulf of Maine showed there were still roughly three times the red tide cells that there were 10 years ago. The scientists claimed that the wind direction will be the critical factor. If the winds blow out of the southwest all of May and June, there will be very few red tide cells reaching land, but if they blow from the east, the bloom would be pushed toward shore. The red tide bloom of 2005 caused an estimated $24 million in losses to the state's shellfish industry and closed shellfishing for months from Maine to Nantucket.

D) NOAA issued the first of its kind health report, for the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. The study rated conditions in four categories: water quality, habitat, living resources, and maritime archaeological resources. Water quality was rated as fair to good. The habitat and living resources conditions were rated poor to fair, ship strikes and entanglements were cited as particular dangers to whales that feed there, and the impact of fishing gear was a serious problem to studying the shipwrecks. However, recreational and commercial fishermen, and even some scientists, dispute the findings. Recreational fishermen and charter boat operators claim that the fish populations in the sanctuary are in good shape. Marshfield commercial fisherman Edward Barrett said, "Fisherman don't want to lose their gear, so they avoid the shipwrecks."

E) Last week's N'orEaster hit Newfoundland hard and caused hundreds of Canadian seal hunt boats to become stuck in ice. Officials worried that the boats could remain stranded for at least another week. Helicopters were flying food and water to the hunters. The Newfoundland part of Canada's controversial seal hunt is the third and largest stage of the hunt. The Canadians sell the seal pelts to the fashion industries in Norway, Russia, and China. However, the United States has banned Canadian seal products since 1972.

F) The National Marine Manufacturers Association is protesting the EPA's proposed rule that would result in the largest regulatory action in recreational marine industry history. The new rule impacts boatbuilders, inboard and outboard engine manufacturers, and marine generator manufacturers. Boatbuilders said they would have to change the design a boat's fuel system if the EPA gets their way. The EPA's proposal would require catalytic converters for all sterndrive and inboard engines made after 2008. As for outboard engines, it would mean no more fuel vents on gas cans.

G) Four Florida fishermen aboard a 23 foot boat named See Ya Later II caught a 12 1/2 foot long, 1,063 pound Mako shark on 30 pound test fishing line and that could be a world record. The shark was caught off about 300 yards off Pensacola beach. The shark had a porpoise in its mouth when it was hooked. The largest Mako ever recorded was a 1,221 pounder caught in Massachusetts in 2001.

H) And last on today's nautical news, a fish jumped out of the Suwannee River in Florida and hit a woman who was riding on a jetski. The poor woman suffered a ruptured spleen and lost her left pinkie finger and a tooth. More than likely the fish was a sturgeon, a large, prehistoric-looking fish that can grow up to 8 feet long and up to 200 pounds. Researchers are not sure why the large fish jump, but at least 10 people have been struck by a jumping sturgeon in the past year.

04/29/07

A) A crewmember aboard a 40 foot Plymouth fishing boat named the Sea Princess called the Coast Guard for help reporting that the boat was sinking just outside of Plymouth harbor. He stated he was one of three people on board and that the captain and the other fisherman were putting on their survival suits and had already deployed the life raft. Because there is no full time Coast Guard station in Scituate, a 47 foot motor lifeboat from Station Point Allerton in Hull went to assist. Fortunately for the fishermen, the skipper aboard a nearby tugboat named the Catherine Foss heard the mayday call and also went to help. The tugboat crew employed dewatering pumps and took the three fishermen aboard. A short time later the Plymouth Harbormaster arrived on scene, but the tugboat crew had everything under control. The fishermen were able to get back on board their boat and plugged the leak. They then started to head north under the boat's own power. Two hours after receiving the initial call for help, the Point Allerton Coast Guard lifeboat arrived on scene and escorted the fishing boat to Green Harbor in Marshfield.

B) The Coast Guard reported at least 45 navigational aids along the coast from Maine to New York were either missing, not working, or adrift as a result of the April 16th n'oreaster. Shipping channels in Boston, New York and Portland were all affected by the storm. The Coast Guard said the Boston approach buoy was found 87 miles out of position, and they reported that some buoys had even washed up on shore. The Coast Guard is urging all mariners to use extreme caution while navigating New England waters.

C) While fixing and replacing the existing navigation buoys, the Coast Guard also placed special high-tech weather buoys in the ocean to prepare for what is expected to be an active hurricane season. The buoys are very large and are referred to as "floating weather centers." They will be used to predict the intensity and direction of the hurricanes.

D) Massachusetts State Senator Mark Montigny accused the Coast Guard as "being in bed" with the oil and transportation industry, and some environmentalists claimed the Coast Guard has been too slow and too lax about making new rules for oil barges transiting Buzzards Bay. It was more than a year ago when the Coast Guard wrote new rules to prevent oil spills in Buzzards Bay, but the new rules remain stalled in a review process, leaving the waterways vulnerable to another spill like the one that occurred four years ago when the Bouchard barge dumped 98,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil into Buzzards Bay. A Coast Guard spokesman defended the Coast Guard, saying that navigation markers were relocated to make the shipping route safer. He also insisted that the Coast Guard's new rules were in "the very final stages" of review.

E) The fishing vessel Lady of Grace that sank off Hyannis last January killing the 4 fishermen aboard was raised from the bottom of the ocean. The two bodies of the fishermen that remained missing were not discovered inside the boat. Massachusetts State Police and Coast Guard investigators will continue their investigation to determine why the boat sank.

F) West Marine and Boat/U.S. have recalled West Marine 120 volt inflator pumps manufactured by Stearns, Inc. The inflator pumps can explode during use, ejecting sharp plastic parts, posing a serious laceration hazard to consumers. So far, the pump manufacturer has received three reports of exploding pumps causing one consumer to suffer lacerations and fractured ribs. Owners of these pumps, which were sold between 2003 and 2007, are urged to return the pumps to West Marine or Boat/U.S. stores for a full refund. For more information, go to the West Marine's web site: www.westmarine.com.  

G) The Coast Guard began unloading more than 40,000 pounds of cocaine that they seized off the Central American coast, much of it from a single bust considered the largest in U.S. maritime history. The cocaine, with an estimated street value of $500 million, will be turned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which will take the drugs to Miami to be destroyed.

H) Out on the West coast, a toxic acid contained in a bloom of ocean algae killed hundreds of birds, sea lions, and dolphins. Birds and animals have been washing up on beaches from San Diego to San Francisco Bay. One marine biologist said that in 35 years he had never seen so many different species killed other than by an oil spill. Humans could be affected by eating tainted fish or shellfish, but they are not affected by merely swimming in the algae.

I) Florida lifeguards sounded an alarm after a 12 year old boy was bitten on the ankle by a shark. This was the fourth shark attack in six weeks off Hutchinson Island, on Florida's east coast. Last year, 23 shark attacks were recorded in Florida, making Florida the world's shark attack capital.

J) The former director of a Hawaiian whaling museum pled guilty to illegally importing hundreds of whale teeth from England and then selling them to scrimshaw dealers in the United States. The museum director was also found guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act, the Mammal Protection Act, and the Lacey Act, which forbids the import or export of illegal wildlife. Federal officials said wildlife smuggling is a multibillion-dollar industry that is second only to drug smuggling.

K) The captain of the biodiesel fuel boat named Earthrace, has called off his attempt to set a record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat that used only biodiesel fuel. The boat had nothing but problems since it started its voyage on March 10th. Mechanical failures and then a collision with a fishing boat that killed a fisherman, were too much for the captain to deal with. So, the record for circumnavigating the world in 75 days set in 1998 in a powerboat remains intact.

L) And last on today's nautical news, an earthquake in the Pacific Ocean near the Solomon Islands caused a sunken WWII PT boat, similar to JFK's PT 109 to rise above the surface. The boat was exposed when reefs rose 10 feet above sea level during an 8.1-magnitude quake that also caused a devastating tsunami. The Solomons' main island, Guadalcanal, was the scene of fierce fighting during World War II, so the coastline is littered with wrecks, including the PT 109 boat commanded by President John F. Kennedy, which was found in 2002 by shipwreck hunter Robert Ballard, the same person who found the Titanic.

05/06/07

The Text Edition Of the Nautical News for May 13th Is Not Available The Week, However an Audio Version Is. Click Here To Download It In MP3 Format.

5/13/07

A) The Coast Guard searched all last week for a missing 54 foot sailboat named "Flying Colours" and its four person crew, after an automated distress signal was received from the boat's emergency transmitter indicating the boat was 120 miles off the coast of North Carolina. Late last night, the Coast Guard announced the search was suspended, but asked all mariners to continue to be on the lookout for the sailing vessel Flying Colors and its crew. The area covered in the search by Coast Guard aircraft and ships was bigger than the size of California. On board the boat were four sailors, all from Rhode Island, and one of the female sailors is the daughter of the principal of a school in Walpole, Massachusetts. It was reported that the boat was headed to Annapolis, Maryland from St. Thomas. At the time of the distress call, waves were reported to be as high as 40 feet, with a subtropical storm developing in the area. The sailboat's distress signal was received the same day the Coast Guard rescued nine people from three other boats off the North Carolina coast.

B) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed that the industrial chemical melamine, the same chemical found in pet food that killed so many dogs and cats, was also used in food that fed farm raised fish. The FDA has not yet specified which fish farms bought the tainted fish feed, or whether the fish that ate the feed had even reached the marketplace. It is believed that humans who eat the tainted farm raised may not be seriously harmed, but there can be no doubt that the dangerous chemical melamine is now a part of the human food chain.

C) The commander of Old Ironsides was relieved of his duty according to a Navy spokesperson because of a "loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command." The Navy declined to provide specifics about why Commander Thomas C. Graves was removed, but insisted it was not because of any disciplinary action, but had to do with administrative reasons. Graves, who took command in July 2005, had a little more than two months to go before his two-year term as Commander of Old Ironsides would have been completed.

D) Massachusetts has two schools, one a public school and the other a private school, competing for the Mallory Cup in Long Point, California. The Mallory Cup is given to the best high school sailing team in America. Duxbury High School's sailing class and Milton Academy's sailing class are competing against 16 other teams this weekend. The young sailors are racing in two person, 14 foot long, 420 sailboats. Milton Academy has raced in the finals the past 4 years in a row. 

E) One of the biggest worries facing the boating industry is the loss of access to the water, moorings, and docks. The National Symposium on Water Access was held this past week with its purpose to discuss the best possible uses of the public's right to access the water. Surprisingly, little was heard about recreational boating. Instead, environmental organizations, universities, and local, state and federal agencies and governments -- such as Sea Grant, NOAA, and even the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management ---- dominated the symposium. Only about 10 percent of the symposium's attendees came from the boating industry.

F) The oldest lighthouse on Cape Cod just celebrated its 150th birthday. Highland Light in Truro opened for the season, and for a $3 fee, visitors can climb to the top of the 65-foot tower. Built on a cliff, 185 feet above sea level, the light can be seen by ships 21 miles away on a clear day. The lighthouse was the first on Cape Cod, built during a time when up to 1,000 ships passed it every day. In 1996, the lighthouse was moved 453 feet back from the eroding cliff, or else it would have tumbled into the sea.

G) A 6 foot long, 250 pound Arctic seal was found in a Fort Lauderdale canal, far away from its normal habitat near the North Pole. Unfortunately, the seal died a day after it was captured, and veterinarians said it was not immediately known what killed the animal, and that they may never know why the animal came so far south. However, some speculated that the seal died in the brackish Ft. Lauderdale water because they are not known to leave ocean's saltwater. According to NOAA scientists, this was the first time an Arctic seal ever showed up in Florida.

H) And last on today's nautical news, four fish farmers working at a Turner Falls, Massachusetts fish farm, sort of got a taste of their own medicine. The "pooper scoopers" had to be rescued after falling into a filtration tank full of fish excrement while attempting to clean it. One of the rescuers, a Turner Falls fireman, described the contents of the tank as something he had never seen before in his life. The fish farm raises barramundi, a new fish that is said to be a replacement for grouper. The farmers were all treated at the hospital where paramedics tastefully said they were treated for only minor injuries.

5/27/07

A) The Coast Guard suspended its search for a Rhode Island fisherman who fell overboard while setting fishing gear in the waters off Long Island. Victor Blanco, 37 years old, fell off the "Barbara Ann" about 95 miles south of Montauk, N.Y. The "Barbara Ann" is a 76-foot fishing vessel based out of Point Judith, Rhode Island. Crewmembers said they saw Blanco fall overboard and threw him a life ring, but he was unable to reach it.

B) Four people were rescued by Coast Guard Station Brant Point after their 32-foot boat ran up on the East Jetty rocks in dense fog. The boat was headed for Nantucket from Hyannis at night when its captain became disoriented in the fog. One official said navigating the harbor at night is difficult enough. Trying to do it at night and in fog, is just asking for trouble.

C) Treasure hunters claim they have found what could be the richest sunken treasure ever discovered. Hundreds of thousands of colonial-era silver and gold coins worth an estimated $500 million was found from a shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean. Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration co-founder Greg Stemm said a formal announcement will come later, but court records indicated the coins might have come from the wreck of a 17th century merchant ship found off southwestern England. Because the shipwreck was found in an area where many colonial-era vessels went down, the company is still uncertain about its nationality, size, and age, but the site is beyond the territorial waters or legal jurisdiction of any country.

D) Remember a few years ago, officials in Maryland were so worried about the Chinese alien snakehead fish released from a home aquarium that they drained a lake and put poison in other nearby lakes. Some people referred to the snakehead fish as frankenfish because they could move across land and survive for three days out of the water. Today, scientists report the snakeheads are in Maryland for keeps, with a large population in the Potomac River. All efforts to eradicate them have failed.

E) You have seen the TV commercials that show cars crashing into a brick wall. Well, the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators has received Coast Guard grant money to do the same with boats. However, they need boats to crash, so are looking for a trailerable boat or personal watercraft that someone might consider donating and using as a tax write off. Watercraft owners who wish to donate their boat will receive verification of the IRS 501c3 donation for the fair market value of their boat. Boats need to be in operating condition and include a trailer. To donate your boat or if you have questions about the types of boats NASBLA needs, send an email to: info@nasbla.org

F) The Empress of the North, a riverboat style cruise ship, ran aground on rocks off the Alaska coast forcing the evacuation of its 208 passengers. The passengers said they were jolted awake when the ship hit the rocks in the middle of the night. They were ordered to put on their lifejackets and gather in the ballroom, where a singer and piano player entertained them with songs including "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" as they waited to be rescued. The Captain made a mayday call to the Coast Guard, and nearby ships and fishing boats responded, helping to evacuate the passengers. When the Coast Guard helicopters arrived on scene, the cruise ship was listing and taking on water, but all the passengers were safe, already transferred to the other ships and boats. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident. This wasn't the first time that the Empress of the North has had problems since it began operating in mid-2003. It hit a navigation lock on the Snake River in the state of Washington shortly after it was launched, and it has run aground at least twice before.

G) A humpback whale entangled in rope off Provicentown was freed with a single knife cut by workers from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. The whale, known as Banjo, was first spotted by a fisheries research team. They reported the entanglement to the Coast Guard, who in turn, notified the Center for Coastal Studies. The center's whale disentanglement team found the whale with three rings of rope around the base of its flukes. With a stroke of the knife, the whale was freed. Rescuers said the rope had caused cuts and scrapes on the whale, but it appeared to be OK.

H) Out on the West Coast, scientists tried to help two injured humpback whales, a mother and her calf, trapped in the Sacramento River off San Francisco Bay. The scientists used recorded underwater sounds made from other humpback whales to lure the whales out to sea. Recordings of whales guided a lost whale back to sea back in 1985, but this time, the recordings did not work. The latest plan to get the whales back into the Pacific is to surround the whales with boats and herd them out to sea. Scientists said the whales need the salt water to help heal their wounds.

I) Ever since 1958, Congress has authorized and requested the President to proclaim annually the 7-day period prior to Memorial Day weekend as "National Safe Boating Week." President George W. Bush urged all Americans to learn more about safe boating practices and always engage in proper and responsible conduct while on the water as he proclaimed May 19th - 25th National Safe Boating Week.

J) And last on today's nautical news, a 19 year old Florida man was arrested after he allegedly stole a $700,000 boat from a Boca Raton marina and took it for a joy ride. The young man probably would have gotten away with the caper if he knew how to dock the boat.  Apparently, after attempting to dock the boat several times, bouncing off other boats and pilings, a police officer became suspicious and went to investigate. When the boat was finally docked, the young man was questioned and then arrested, charged with grand theft. The moral of this story is that anyone can steer a boat. Docking it…………… is another story!

6/3/07

A) The body of New England Patriots' football player, Marquise Hill, was found a day after he was reported missing following a jet ski accident on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. The body was discovered about a quarter of a mile from where the Patriots' player and a female companion fell off their jet ski. According to the ballplayer's agent, Hill and a young woman were jetskiing on the lake at night when both of them fell into the water. The woman was able to grab on to a wooden piling at the base of a bridge and hang on until she was rescued, but she said she watched Hill float away. Neither Hill nor the woman was wearing a life jacket. It was also reported that the couple had no means of signaling or calling for help.

B) Construction of the world's second deepwater LNG terminal has started 12 miles off Gloucester. A connector pipe is now being laid on the ocean's bottom that will tie in with an existing gas line that runs between Salem and Weymouth. The project is expected to be finished in time for the next heating season, and when it is finished, the only thing visible object above the water will be a mooring ball that 1000 foot long LNG tankers will tie on to. Area fishermen have strongly opposed this offshore LNG project. They argue that the security zone created around the terminal will keep them out a key fishing area.

C) Two commercial fishing boats collided with each other about 17 miles southeast of Gloucester on Friday afternoon. The Coast Guard received a call via VHF radio channel 16 reporting the collision between the  two fishing boats, Carry My Rods of Lynn, Massachusetts and Harvest Moon of Gloucester, Massachusetts. No injuries were reported. The Harvest Moon sustained minor hull damage and Carry My Rods sustained damage to its port stern and was taking on water. The Coast Guard provided a dewatering pump to Carry My Rods and then escorted both vessels back to Gloucester. The cause of the collision is under investigation.

D) Strong squalls that passed over the region on Saturday caused two canoes to capsize   in the Merrimack River, throwing four paddlers into the water. Coast Guard Station Merrimack River was called to rescue the four canoeists who were struggling in the river's strong current. None of the paddlers were wearing life jackets and all four displayed signs of hypothermia. Miraculously, they all were saved. Again, the Coast Guard urges all paddlers to wear a life jacket and be aware of changing weather conditions when out on the water.

E) Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management wants to ban cruise ships, ferry boats, and whale watch boats from dumping their toilets into the ocean. CZM warns that the sewage contains bacteria, viruses, protozoans, and chemical products that could harm marine life and water quality. However, the federal Clean Water Act allows all vessels, including the large cruise ships, to dispose their human waste in federal waters, three miles offshore. Ben Cowie-Haskell, the assistant superintendent of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary said, "To dump waste on the heads of whales is inconsistent with what this special place is all about," but Peter Borelli, the director of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and a member of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Advisory Council said that recent samples showed the water quality on Stellwagen Bank to be excellent.

F) NOAA Fisheries has notified the New England Fishery Management Council that winter skate is now listed as "overfished." Within 1 year following the official notification that a species is listed as overfished, the Management Council must submit its plan to NOAA Fisheries, detailing how they plan to rebuild the overfished stock. Such a new fishery management plan would feature new regulations, amendments, and restrictions for fishermen.

G) Some Coast Guard stations have decided to bring back the practice of flying weather warning flags. For more than a century, Coast Guard stations flew the flags as part of a National Weather Service coastal warning program, but the weather service discontinued the program in 1989. Now, with the threat of an active hurricane season, the Coast Guard will fly the flags at a select number of stations to promote weather awareness among mariners.

H) Odyssey Marine Exploration, the finders of the gold and silver coins aboard what is believed to be a Spanish ship named the "Black Swan," wants the public to know that mainstream media reports of a lawsuit filed by the government of Spain are false. The only document filed in court was a claim stating that the Spanish Government does not intend to give up property rights to any Spanish property, which might be on sites on which Odyssey filed Admiralty claims on. Even if the ship found is the Spanish ship "Black Swan," admiralty law provides that the salver gets to keep 90 per cent of its value.

I) After spending more than two weeks trying to coax two humpback whales back to sea after they took a wrong turn up the Sacramento River, scientists said they had learned an awful lot about whale behavior and hope to use that information to help other stranded whales. After the whales were spotted near Sacramento, more than 75 miles from the ocean, officials tried to goad them back to the ocean by playing recordings of other whales, surrounding them with boats, blasting them with fire hoses, and banging metal pipes underwater, but scientists quickly learned that none of these methods could make a whale go in a direction it did not want to go. Even so, scientists are calling Operation Humpback a huge success, and it was the first time ever that antibiotics were given to whales swimming in the wild. The whales, a mother and calf, were last seen swimming back to the open sea.

J) And last on today's nautical news, a Rhode Island lobsterman caught a half-brown, half-orange lobster. The strange looking lobster was caught off Newport, Rhode Island, and, the lobsterman who caught it thought someone was playing a joke on him. Marine biologists said the chances of catching a two-toned lobster is one in 50 million, but a similar two-toned lobster was caught off the coast of Maine last year. The lobsterman who caught this latest two-toned lobster said he would bring it to an aquarium for all to see.

6/10/07

A) The sound of gunshots and damage to a Green Harbor buoy in Marshfield prompted the Coast Guard and local police to arrest two local men. The Marshfield Police Department requested Coast Guard assistance in the wee hours of the night upon suspicion that someone was shooting at a navigational buoy from a boat in Green Harbor. The Coast Guard arrived on scene and located the suspect boat in the harbor. After going on board the boat, the Coast Guard found empty beer bottles and shotgun shells and believed the suspects were hiding below deck. With weapons drawn and repeated verbal commands to come out from hiding, three unarmed and uncooperative men in their 20s finally came out on deck. Although the Coast Guard found no weapon on the boat, the police found and arrested a fourth Marshfield man on land. He had been just dropped off by the others on the boat and had two guns in his possession. The Coast Guard completed their boarding and issued three violations: improper documentation on board, hindering a Coast Guard boarding operation, and defacing federal property. All mariners transiting the Green Harbor channel are now urged to exercise caution pending the repair of navigation marker #3.

B) Two fishermen were rescued after their boat sank near Provincetown. The captain of the fishing vessel Sea Princess out of Marshfield made a mayday call to the Coast Guard stating his 45-foot fishing boat was sinking and he and another man were abandoning ship. Fortunately for the fishermen, the Coast Guard arrived on scene within minutes and recovered the two who were in their life raft, but the Sea Princess had sunk in about 200 feet of water. A Coast Guard officer said that because these guys made a mayday call and had their survival gear all ready to go, their lives were saved.

C) Two British sailors were among the many who had to be rescued by the Coast Guard after getting caught in squalls produced by tropical storm Barry this past week. Air Station Cape Cod sent a jet plane and a helicopter to rescue the two sailors who were on their way home to England in their 33 foot sailboat. Both the Coast Guard Command Center in Boston and the United Kingdom Maritime Rescue Co-Ordination Centre in England received the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) signal from the sailboat. The Coast Guard jet found the sailboat 230 miles south of Nantucket and dropped survival gear and a life raft into the water. However, with 15 - 20 foot seas and 45 knot winds, the sailors were unable to retrieve the gear. A Coast Guard helicopter arrived on scene a short time later and with the help of a rescue swimmer, hoisted the two to safety. The helicopter pilot said that the weather and rough seas made it a very challenging rescue and that the helicopter was at the very edge of its range. A Safety Marine Information Broadcast was issued regarding the sailboat, which was left behind to drift.

D) The captain of a Falmouth Sea Tow boat freed a small humpback whale entangled in fishing gear. Although  the Coast Guard and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies were called to help, by the time they arrived on scene, the whale was swimming freely. Despite the heroics of the Sea Tow captain, officials warned that people who are not specifically authorized and trained to approach whales should never attempt to disentangle them. Both the person's life doing the disentanglement as well as the whale's life could be put in jeopardy, and furthermore, they say it is a violation of the Endangered Species Act. Mariners seeing an entangled whale should simply report it and call it in. The Sea Tow captain said that he had no choice to do something as the whale had difficulty breathing.

E) Coast Guard personnel gave an environmental protection presentation at the Wampatuck Elementary School in Scituate, Mass. About 50 six-grade students learned about the harmful affects of trash in the marine environment including the story about "Inky", a rare pigmy whale that nearly died after ingesting plastics. After the presentation, the Coast Guard then led the teachers and students down to Egypt Beach to pick up some trash. A Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Coast Guard really wants to influence the kids to take pride in their community, and wants them to get excited and pass it on to their friends and their families.

F) In the world of sailing, Team New Zealand defeated all the other challengers and won the Louis Vuitton Cup, so it will be Team New Zealand challenging the Swiss for the America's Cup. You might recall, it was the Swiss who took the America's Cup from Team New Zealand four years ago. The rematch for the Cup will begin June 23rd.

G) A hearing on the proposed Massachusetts ocean zoning management bill will be held on June 13th at 1:00 p.m. in the Gardner Auditorium of the State House. If passed, the bill would authorize the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs to create an ocean management plan for state waters. For those who cannot attend the hearing, written testimony may be sent to the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources & Agriculture, Room 473-F, State House, Boston, MA 02133.

H) NOAA has denied a petition to list the global populations of Right Whales as a single species under the Endangered Species Act. They said the best available science supports distinguishing the North Atlantic right whale, the North Pacific right whale, and the southern right whale as three separate species.

I) The Coast Guard is making significant and necessary changes to its Deepwater program, a $24 billion program to upgrade its boats and aircraft. The changes are a setback for government contractors Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman because they have not only lost the project, but they are also being sued by the government for causing more than $100 million in damages to eight Coast Guard vessels. The patrol boats were to be lengthened from 110 feet to 123 feet but the modifications made by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman allegedly destroyed the integrity of the hulls and decks.

J) A Frenchman will attempt to become the first rower in several years to successfully row across the Atlantic Ocean. Charlie Girard is hoping to leave Cape Cod on June 26th in a 22-foot-long boat and row to France, a row of 3,360 miles. Girard wants to beat the record of 62 days, 19 hours, set in 2004. Girard said he plans on rowing 10 hours a day and his progress can be followed at www.Atlantique2007.com.

K) After winning the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. last week, 13-year-old Evan O'Dorney of Danville, California promoted the seafood industry by revealing that he eats fish all the time, especially before a spelling bee, because it is "good for the brain." Ironically, to become champion, Evan had to spell "rascacio," the Spanish word for scorpion fish, and "yosenabe," a Japanese bouillabaisse containing seafood.

L) And last on today's nautical news, we all know about the problem California is having with people sneaking across the Mexican border, but you probably haven't hear about the squid crossing the border. Southern California is seeing an invasion of jumbo squid coming from the Gulf of Mexico like they haven't seen in a hundred years. Tons of jumbo squid are now living off the Southern California coast, giving great joy to calamari lovers. Fishermen can't help but haul in hundreds of large squid. However, a NOAA marine biologist said that there would be a price to pay. You see, the jumbo squid eat a lot, so there could very well be a shortage of hake, sardines, anchovies, and rockfish. But what's most troubling to the scientists is why the squid are moving north. Experts aren't sure. Some think it is because of warmer sea temperatures due to global warming, but others point out that Chile is experiencing a similar jumbo squid population boom. 

6/17/07

A) Today is the final day of The John Havlicek Celebrity Fishing Tournament. For twenty-five years John Havlicek and his wife Beth have hosted this charitable event on Martha's Vineyard to benefit The Genesis Fund. More than twenty celebrities fished in the tournament including comedian and television star Lenny Clarke, Celtics legend Bob Cousy, former Red Sox pitcher Jim Lonborg, former Bruins tough guy Jay Miller, and news anchors Natalie Jacobson and Jack Williams. When the boats returned to the dock Saturday, boaters were talking about the lifesaving rescue former Bruins hockey player Jay Miller made at sea. Apparently, Miller came across a man waving his arms in the middle of Nantucket Sound. Miller plucked him out of the water and saved the man's life. A short time later, the Coast Guard found a boat with nobody on board.

B) New boat sales are down! The president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association claimed the recreational boat market is in the midst of its worst downturn since the early 1990s. New boat sales are expected to decline by as much as 10 per cent this year and that follows a decline of 6 per cent in sales for last year.

C) The National Offshore Aquaculture Act of 2007 is now on the fast track before Congress. If enacted by Congress, the proposed legislation will allow American businesses to participate in this $70 billion global industry. Fish farms would be allowed to operate between three and 200 miles off our coasts in federal ocean waters. This marine area covers an amount of space that is larger than the combined land area of the lower 48 states.

D) Earlier this week, the Coast Guard responded to a mayday call from a Gloucester fishing boat named Virginia Surf with four people on board. The crew said their boat was sinking and that they were about 70 miles east of Chatham, Cape Cod. Then the Coast Guard lost all communications with the "Virginia Surf," but another commercial fishing boat, the "Lily Jean," told the Coast Guard that they would head in the direction of the sinking boat. Fortunately, the crew on the Lily Jean located the sinking boat and rescued the fishermen, bringing them on board their boat. They waited about an hour watching the "Virginia Surf" completely disappear underneath the surface and then headed back to shore.

E) Fairhaven police reported three men broke into a boat docked at the Moby Dick Marina while its owner and his girlfriend were asleep on board. The startled thieves fled in a rowboat when the vessel's owner woke up and screamed, but were quickly arrested by the police. Police recovered several fishing poles and fishing gear along with other equipment taken from the boat. According to the police, thefts on boats docked in the New Bedford/Fairhaven harbor by persons coming by water have become an increasing problem.

F) The Coast Guard rescued seven people off the coast of Cape Cod after they became stranded aboard a disabled charter boat named the "Dear Abbie". The "Dear Abbie" is a 34-foot sport fishing boat out of Chatham. The boat lost electrical power and was adrift about 10 miles southeast of Monomoy Island. The skipper on the boat used a cell phone to call a boat yard in Chatham for help, but soon the boat drifted out of cell phone range. When contact was lost, the boat yard relayed the information to the Coast Guard. A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Cape Cod located the vessel a few hours later. A Coast Guard boat from Station Chatham arrived on scene and took the disabled charter boat in tow. Sea conditions were rough and small craft warnings had been posted for the area.

G) Whaling is still a source of food for Alaskan natives and is monitored by the International Whaling Commission. A 50-ton whale recently caught and butchered with a chain saw off Alaska had a harpoon fragment embedded in its neck that was more than a hundred years old. The 3-inch projectile has allowed researchers to estimate the whale's age to be between 115 to 130 years old. Experts have said that some whales can live to be up to 200 years old.

H) NOAA Fisheries is leading an international effort in the Bahamas to study how marine mammals respond to underwater sounds. Scientists hope to learn more about how different sounds, including the Navy's sonar systems, affect the behavior of marine mammals like the whales and dolphins. Scientists plan to conduct the studies east of Andros Island, in the Tongue of the Ocean, a deep oceanic trench in the Bahamas. Specialized data tags will be attached to the animals using suction cups to track their movements and the sounds they produce and receive.

I) The Ocean Conservancy's latest report reveals that cigarette butts and their filters topped the list of trash items picked up during their international coastal cleanup. Cigarette filters collected weighed almost 2 million pounds. Coming in second were food wrappers and containers. All of these items are extremely dangerous to wildlife. Sixty-eight countries participated in the cleanup, but the United States had the most volunteers. The next cleanup is scheduled for September 15th.

J) Treasure hunters discovered thousands of pearls and gold bars and chains they found while searching for the wreckage of the 17th-century Spanish galleon Santa Margarita. The jewels were buried in sand in 18 feet of water about 40 miles west of Key West. Experts said that pearls don't normally survive the ocean water once they are out of the oyster that makes them. After the pearls are cleaned and conserved, there is no telling how many millions of dollars they will be worth.

K) And last on today's nautical news, after undergoing repairs costing two million dollars, the 412 ton, tall ship featured in the 1962 movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" was re-launched at Boothbay Harbor in Maine for an around-the-world voyage. The overhaul was the replica's third since owner Robert Hanson acquired it from the Fall River, Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce. The 18-member crew aboard the Bounty plan to arrive in Tahiti in October, 2008, to take part in that island's celebration of Captain William Bligh's arrival 220 years ago. The ship will attempt to follow the course that Bligh took in 1788.

6/24/07

A) The very first archaeological survey ever done by the Coast Guard took place last week off the coast of Cohasset, Massachusetts. The buoy tender Coast Guard Cutter Abbey Burgess took its crew and passengers to Minot's Lighthouse, looking for the remnants of the original Minot's Light steel tower that toppled over during a storm in 1851. Coast Guard divers photographed some pieces of steel cable and a turnbuckle lying on the bottom of the ocean that were thought to be from the original lighthouse. The crew aboard the Abbie Burgess also lowered a 5,000 pound granite block to the ocean's bottom near the site where the original Minot's Light tower stood. The granite block had a bronze plaque mounted on it to serve as a memorial to the two assistant lighthouse keepers who lost their lives in 1851 while serving on the tower. Before the keepers perished, one of them put a note in a bottle, which later washed ashore, that stated "the tower now sways three feet in each direction."

B) The New England Fishery Management Council voted overwhelmingly to stick with the controversial days-at-sea approach when new groundfishing regulations go into effect in 2009. The council determined that developing alternative management strategies couldn't be accomplished in time to meet a federal deadline of May 1st, 2009, so the days-at-sea system shall remain in effect, limiting the number of days fishermen can work, while also restricting their catch quotas and fishing gear. Many fishermen say the approach does little or nothing to help them, nor does it do anything protect the groundfish stocks. The fishermen are angry that the council has been working on alternative management strategies for the past 5 years and have yet to come up with a new plan.

C) The National Marine Fisheries Service is warning European and African fishermen that they better conserve their Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks. American fishermen have constantly complained that the fish they can't catch is being caught by foreign fishermen. The bluefin tuna season opened June 1st, and fishermen have reported large numbers of tuna in the Gulf of Maine. Experts claim that up to 30 percent of the Atlantic bluefin tuna fish swim back and forth across the ocean.

D) Another person fell to his death on a cruise ship. This time it was a 22-year-old Boston man on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship that departed from Boston and arrived in Bermuda. The young man was part of a family reunion on the cruise ship. Officials said the man fell from the fifth deck and landed on the first deck after he tried to slide down a banister.

E) Two Cape Cod teenagers fell overboard off their 12-foot Boston Whaler near the mouth of Bass River. The Coast Guard received a 911 call from one of the boys' mothers who was watching from shore. The boys were in the water for about 5 minutes before a passing boater saw them in trouble and rescued them. They were cold and shivering, but otherwise unhurt. Apparently, the boat's steering cable snapped, sending the boat into a quick spin, which threw them overboard. The Coast Guard towed the Boston Whaler back to shore.

G) Until now, small vessel regulations were almost exclusively focused on safety rather than security. This past week the Department of Homeland Security held a National Small Vessel Security Summit in Washington D.C. The purpose of the summit was to seek answers from the boating industry on how this country can reduce the risk of a small boat smuggling a dirty bomb or a weapon of mass destruction into the United States or crashing into a Navy ship. Historically terrorists like Al Qaeda have used small boats to carry out their operations like they did to the USS Cole and to a French tanker. Leaders at the summit want to make security regulations as robust as they can, but in a way that preserves the traditional freedom of the seas, the economic mobility, and continued pleasure of boating on our oceans and our waterways.

H) And last on today's nautical news, the Swiss Defender of the America's Cup, Alinghi, beat Team New Zealand Saturday, winning the first race of the 2007 America's Cup Match. Skipper Brad Butterworth of Alinghi has now won 16 consecutive America's Cup races dating back to 1995. The Kiwis wonder whether they can put an end to that streak as the second race in the best out of seven series resumes today.

7/1/07

A) Word has leaked that legislation will soon be proposed to once again reorganize the Coast Guard, splitting it into two divisions. One division would primarily be a security organization under the Department of Homeland Security, and the other division would be to handle its dealings with the commercial shipping industry. Recreational boating safety and fishery enforcement could be a thing of the past for the new Coast Guard, leaving those missions up to state and local agencies.

B) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an import control on all farm-raised catfish and shrimp from China. The fish contain chemicals and drugs that are not approved for use in the United States and can cause cancer in humans. In some instances, chemicals like melamine, the same chemical found in pet food that killed so many dogs and cats, is poison. NOAA Fisheries Service supports the FDA in their effort to safeguard the health and well-being of American seafood consumers. NOAA Fisheries Service would like to remind the American public that science has shown seafood to provide tremendous health benefits. The key to good health is knowing which fish to eat.

C) Beginning today, ships transiting in and out of Boston Harbor will travel a different path. Boston's shipping lanes have been moved slightly to the northeast to avoid areas where there are high concentrations of whales. The lane shift means an extra 20 minutes or so for cargo ships to arrive in Boston. The relocation of the shipping lanes is the culmination of years of research and cooperative efforts between NOAA and the Coast Guard.

D) A New Hampshire sailor called a mayday reporting his 33-foot sailboat on fire off of Plum Island in Massachusetts and that he was going to abandon ship. Station Merrimack River immediately launched a 25-foot response boat and a 47-foot motor lifeboat to assist, but before the Coast Guard boats arrived on scene, a good Samaritan took the sailor aboard his 19-foot powerboat. The officer of the day at Coast Guard Station Merrimack River said the Coast Guard greatly appreciates the assistance of the fellow mariner, who      probably saved the sailor's life. No injuries were reported, but the sailboat sank leaving a 50-foot-by-50-foot debris field with a light oil sheen.
  
E) The Coast Guard is searching off the coast of Newport, R.I. for Phillip Stevens, a Massachusetts resident. The Coast Guard received a 911 call reporting the 59 year old Stevens missing after his kayak and spear used for fishing were found on shore. He was wearing a wet suit while spear fishing about 20 yards from shore in about 14 feet of water. Anyone with any knowledge about Phillip Stevens whereabouts should contact the Coast Guard immediately.

F) Red tide has once again shut down shellfishing from Boston's North Shore to Maine. This is the third such closure in as many years. There are still plenty of areas south that are not contaminated by red tide, but restaurateurs are now worried that customers, especially the tourists, will no longer order their famous Ipswich clams. They also are quick to point out that Red tide does not affect crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters. However, shellfish contaminated with red tide can be poisonous for humans.

G) The Baltimore Sun newspaper reports that mariners cannot beat the Coast Guard in court. Mariners have won just 14 cases out of more than 6,300 cases filed by Coast Guard investigators since 1999. According to the newspaper, one former judge testified that judges were pressured to side with the Coast Guard. The agency's administrative court system handles charges against tugboat captains, engineers, fishermen, and others who need licenses or other documents from the Coast Guard to do their work.

H) President Bush went fishing this weekend with his father aboard Fidelity III in Kennebunkport, Maine. Taking advantage of some time off before Russian's President Putin arrives in Washington, Bush and his father, former President George Herbert Walker Bush, hopped aboard Dad's blue-and-white Fountain speedboat with red stripes to go fishing. Secret Service agents in patrol boats trailed the Bushes as they sped along the shoreline. The president took off his hat and waved to photographers and spectators on shore. Then, the President cast his line hooked with pogie, but came up empty. With the senior Bush at the wheel, they quickly sped off out of sight to try a different spot.

I) A 51-year-old boater used a pocket knife to cut off two of his fingers to save himself from a sinking boat. The man's fingers got pinned between the boat and a tree stump as the boat rolled over and filled with water. Fortunately, help arrived right after he did it, and his fingers were recovered. Surgeons said the fingers were successfully re-attached. 

J) And last on today's nautical news, a man who lost his golf ball in a pond on a Florida golf course nearly lost his arm as well after an alligator bit him. Bruce Burger, 50 years old, was playing the sixth hole, which has a "Beware of Alligator" sign posted nearby. Burger managed to free himself by beating the alligator with his golf club. He was taken to a hospital, but doctors said he was not seriously injured. It took seven Florida Fish and Wildlife officers more than an hour to trap the alligator.

7/8/07

A) The 26-year-old French man who attempted to row across the Atlantic made it as far as 50 miles east of Cape Cod before he called to be rescued by the Coast Guard. 5-8 foot seas and 15-knot winds were too much for the man to handle as his custom made 23-foot boat rolled over 7 or 8 times. A Coast Guard helicopter crew hoisted the man to safety and took him to the hospital where he was treated for dehydration and an aching lower back. The rower said that he would not try to row across the ocean again. The Coast Guard issued a safety marine information broadcast to notify mariners of the rowboat, which was left behind to drift.

B) Congressmen representing Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island want the Coast Guard to immediately adopt key parts of the Massachusetts Oil Spill Prevention Act to protect Buzzards Bay from future oil spills. One year after the Bouchard oil barge accident, Massachusetts passed its oil prevention act in 2004, but a federal appeals court ruled the law unconstitutional, claiming the state usurped the federal government's authority. Since then, the Congressmen have accused the Coast Guard of dragging their feet. The Coast Guard has proposed single-hulled tank barges to be accompanied by escort tugs and federally licensed pilots when traveling through Buzzards Bay and the establishment of a Vessel Movement Reporting System, but the Congressional team wants more. They want the Coast Guard to pass regulations that would include mandatory escorts for all oil barges, mandatory navigational routes through state waters, and a mandatory certificate of financial backing to dock in Massachusetts.

C) The Coast Guard assisted in the arrest of an intoxicated boater after receiving a 911 call of a 20 foot powerboat with two people on board, high and dry on a rock jetty. Both were removed from the boat and escorted back to shore where local paramedics and police were standing by. The skipper of the boat failed a field sobriety test and was arrested by the police. The passenger was transported to South County Hospital with minor injuries. The Coast Guard reminds all mariners that boating under the influence is illegal and dangerous. In Massachusetts, a boater convicted of driving under the influence could lose his or her automobile driver's license.

D) The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has temporarily closed the shellfish area along the North River in Scituate because of higher than normal bacteria levels. It is possible the harvesting of clams will not resume until September. A notice will be posted when it will again be safe to dig for clams.
  
E) The landlocked Swiss won the America's Cup again. Team Alinghi from Switzerland successfully defended the coveted America's Cup by beating Team New Zealand. The finish in the final race was so close that both teams thought they had won, but Alinghi won by one second. When and where the next America's Cup races will be held is now being discussed.

F) The National Transportation Safety Board has made an urgent request for the Coast Guard to inspect inflatable life raft systems on cruise ships that are similar to the system used by the Empress of the North cruise ship. During the Safety Board's investigation of the grounding of the cruise ship in Alaska earlier this year, the board found the launch ramps that the inflatable life rafts slide down to be defective, causing some of the life rafts to land upside down.

G) For the past 20 years, Boat/US has tracked boat names, listing the year's top 10 boat names in America. This year, four new names have made it to the list of the top 10 most popular boat names. They are: Knot Working, Life Is Good, Plan B, and Second Chance. The top 10 names in order are: Aquaholic, Second Wind, Reel Time, Hakuna Matata, Happy Hours, Knot Working, Life Is Good, Plan B, Second Chance, and Pura Vida (Spanish for "pure life").

H) Talk about being stuck in between a rock and a hard place! Last week we told you about President Bush going fishing with his father aboard Fidelity III in Maine just before Russian President Putin was scheduled to arrive. Even though the Bushes employed a fishing guide, apparently they caught nothing. Now here is the rest of story, which we didn't know at the time. When it came time to leave to greet the Russian president, President Bush couldn't get the anchor up. He yanked and yanked as hard as he could, but the anchor was stuck! The fishing guide then tried pulling as hard as he could, but he too failed. So what does the most powerful man in the world do? He simply untied or cut the line from the boat! Now for most recreational boaters, this would mean the lost of about $1000 in anchor line, chain, and of course the anchor itself, but we are talking about the President now, with his entourage of secret agents, Coast Guardsmen, and divers. So, the President called one of the divers to retrieve the lost gear and anchor, which the diver did. So for President Bush, "a bad day of fishing is still better than the best day at work."

7/15/07

A) Earlier this week, two commuter boats collided in Boston Harbor in pea soup fog. The Massachusetts and the Laura collided 7:30 in the morning about one mile from the Long Island bridge not too far from Castle Island. Two 25-foot Coast Guard rescue boats were sent out to assist the passengers and crews of both boats after receiving a 911 call from one of the passengers. The 88-foot Massachusetts was heading into Boston with 151 passengers on board from Hingham. The 101-foot Laura, which was heading outbound, had only its crew of 3 on board. Passengers were issued life jackets and the boat continued to it dock at Rowes Wharf. The Laura went to a pier in Charlestown Shipyard. The Coast Guard reported that neither boat took on water nor was damaged below the waterline. The Massachusetts had a broken forward window and a 3½ -foot dent in its bow. Damage to the Laura was estimated at $10,000. Both boats were equipped with radar. There was speculation that they collided while trying to avoid hitting a smaller boat. One passenger told a newspaper reporter that the captain first almost hit the Long Island Bridge, then almost hit a small boat just prior to the accident. The two commuter boats are owned by Boston Harbor Cruises.

B) Five boats from the state Environmental Police and two U.S. Coast Guard boats went into action this past week stopping, citing, and fining at least three captains for catching stripers illegally in federal waters off Cape Cod and New Bedford. The penalty for catching stripers in federal waters is $150 per fish for the first offense and $250 per fish for subsequent offenses. In 1990, the federal government closed its offshore waters to striped bass fishing in an effort to restore the striped bass stocks, which everyone agrees are now plentiful. Fishermen complained that they were surprised by the sudden enforcement of this 27 year old law, since it hasn't been rigorously enforced in Massachusetts or in other states. They believe that traditional fishing grounds should be reopened, now that bass stocks have been completely restored for the past 12 years. A letter-writing campaign to U.S. Secretary of Commerce and National Marine Fisheries Service is now underway to reopen striped bass fishing in federal waters.

C) A 10-year-old girl suffered serious head injury at Monument Beach in Bourne after she fell off a jet ski and then was struck by a following jet ski. She was flown by a Coast Guard helicopter from the Tobey Hospital in Wareham to the Mass General Hospital in Boston. The accident occurred around 3:30 Saturday afternoon. The girl was first picked up out of the water by people on a private boat and then taken to shore where Bourne EMTs were waiting.

D) The Cape & Islands District Attorney's office said no foul play was suspected after 66-year old Richard R. Vazza, Sr., a Quincy and Boston real estate developer, was found dead on his yacht "Shogun," which was docked in Falmouth Harbor behind the Flying Bridge Restaurant. Authorities cordoned off the dock with yellow police tape while state police detectives conducted their investigation. Vazza's son said he had dinner with his father the night before and never suspected anything was wrong.

E) Six superstar olympian athletes, including Eric Wunderlich, the record-holder in the 200-meter breaststroke - participated in Swim Across America's 12th annual 22-mile relay swim around the Boston Harbor islands. Over the past 21 years, Swim Across America has raised more than $16 million for cancer research. Also, as part of the fundraiser, some of the Olympian stars participated in a swim on Nantasket Beach. To become involved with Swim Across America, go to swimacrossamerica.org.

F) Seventy-three sailing yachts participated in the 30th anniversary of the Marion to Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race. Among them were three boats skippered and crewed by Duxbury sailors, with two of them receiving awards. One of them, a 44 foot ketch with the name Silhouette skippered by Dave Caso, was the ultimate overall winner. One of the other two also received a trophy. Duxbury sailor Jack May, who skippered his Tartan 41, received the Commodore's Cup for the best performance by a Blue Water Sailing Club yacht. The third Duxbury boat in the race was Shawn Dahlen's 42 foot Beneteau Sloop, Attitude. The 645 nautical mile race is sponsored jointly by the Beverly Yacht Club of Marion, Massachusetts, the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, and the Blue Water Sailing Club. "Nautical Talk Radio" salutes all three local skippers and their crews.

G) NOAA released its annual report on fisheries landings and seafood consumption in the United States. The report showed that Americans ate 16.5 pounds of fish and shellfish per person, a two percent increase over the 2005 consumption figure of 16.2 pounds. That made the U.S. the third largest global consumer of fish and shellfish, behind Japan and China. The report also showed that New Bedford retained its number one ranking for value of landings in 2006. Landings in New Bedford included sea scallops, ocean quahogs, lobster, mackerel, flatfish and herring.

H) The Coast Guard received an emergency call from an Italian-flagged tanker reporting that a crewmember had slipped and broken his leg. The Coast Guard launched a rescue helicopter, which was accompanied by a jet airplane as a precaution because the ship was so far offshore. The 577 foot oil tanker was 300 miles off Cape Cod, on its way to Portugal. The crew aboard the helicopter hoisted the injured man on board and flew him to a waiting ambulance at the Barnstable Airport.

I) Spanish police seized a boat operated by Odyssey Marine Exploration because Spanish officials believed the crew on board stole treasure worth hundreds of millions of dollars from a Spanish shipwreck. Spanish police said the US company Odyssey Marine Exploration either took treasure from Spanish waters or took it from a Spanish galleon which sank in the Atlantic during the colonial period. In its defense, Odyssey Marine Exploration, a Florida-based treasure hunting company, said it legally recovered gold and silver coins worth an estimated $500 million from a colonial-era wreck at a location in the Atlantic Ocean, which it refused to disclose. Other than the ship, no one has yet to be arrested or charged with a crime.

J) And last on today's nautical news, anyone interested in a free lighthouse? Cleveland Ledge Light, located eight miles from the west entrance to the Cape Cod Canal, is being given away by the government. According to the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000, any federal, state, or local agency, as well as any nonprofit corporation, can take possession of the lighthouse at no cost, as long as the lighthouse is properly maintained. Built in 1943, the lighthouse was named after President Grover Cleveland. So far, Bourne, the closest town to the lighthouse, has shown no interest in owning the lighthouse. Experts claim it could cost thousands of dollars per year to maintain the lighthouse, and that is after initial repairs are made, including the removal of any asbestos.

7/22/07

A) The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a new regulation that would require all boaters to get an annual Clean Water Act permit before using their boat. This rulemaking is the result of a recent federal district court decision that overturned a 34-year old regulation that exempted boatowners from discharges associated with the normal operation of a boat such as engine cooling water, bilge water, or even water used for washing the boat. The court has ordered EPA to implement this new permitting scheme by September 2008.

B) Tourists aboard a whale watch boat off the coast of New Hampshire photographed a 24 foot outboard boat running over a fin whale that surfaced in front of it. The whale suffered a cut on its back, but Coast Guard officials said it did not appear to be seriously hurt. Although the driver of the boat never stopped after hitting the whale, Coast Guard officials were able to track him down from the pictures the whale watchers took. No charges were filed against the driver, but they said the investigation was continuing. A special agent from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act are punishable by up to one year in prison, or up to a $25,000 fine. He said there would need to be proof that the driver of the boat did not intentionally hit the whale or act negligently. Officials were also amazed that the 24 foot boat didn't suffer more damage and that it was able to continue home. They are positive that the boat's propeller had to have been damaged.

C) Captain Ethan of Sea Tow South Shore is searching for the owner of an abandoned capsized 16 foot Hobie Cat sailboat. The Coast Guard received several calls about the overturned boat and conducted a search for anyone in the water, but eyewitnesses reported that the three people on board were picked up by another passing boat. Because the abandoned sailboat was a hazard to navigation, Captain Ethan of Sea Tow South Shore went out and towed the boat back to his dock as a goodwill gesture. Anyone with information about the Hobie Cat should call 781-834-5242.

D) After spending more than two decades examining the wreck of the pirate ship Whydah, underwater explorer Barry Clifford couldn't help feeling that he had missed a spot. About two years ago, relying on a hunch and a map of the seabed drawn in 1982 by John F. Kennedy Jr., Clifford returned to the spot where his dive team had first discovered artifacts from the Whydah in 1984. Clifford said JFK, Jr. was the first person to dive in search of the Whydah in November of 1982. This past week, Clifford acted on his hunch and returned to the site and found about 30 cannons buried in 10 feet of mud. Clifford now believes he will find more silver and gold coins where the cannons laid. The Whydah capsized and sank during a n'oreaster off of Marconi Beach in Wellfleet on April 26, 1717. The Whydah is the world's only verified pirate shipwreck. It has already yielded 200,000 artifacts, including coins, jewelry, pistols, and swords.

E) A Fairhaven commercial fishing boat was stopped by the Coast Guard and had its catch seized for allegedly fishing without required whale-safety equipment. The Coast Guard cutter Grand Isle found the fishing vessel Harvester working at sea in George's Bank without whale-safety weak links in its gill net. As a result, NOAA special agents seized the boat's catch, valued at $30,000. A Coast Guard official said weak links with specific breaking strengths are required on fixed fishing gear to minimize the risk of whales becoming entangled in the gear.

F) The Monster Shark Tournament on Martha's Vineyard ended yesterday. In years past, the shark steaks were donated to food pantries, but this year, because of a local board of health agent's ruling that all shark meat must be processed by an approved source, every shark that was caught had to be taken away by the fishermen after it was weighed. Organizer of the event, Steven James, said shark meat is a delicacy that sells for about $10 a pound. He argued that the shark meat shouldn't have to be processed if the tournament was just giving it away. The crew aboard a boat named Castafari out of Pocasset had caught a 536 pound thresher shark, but that wasn't big enough to be the winner. The winning boat was named Provider.

G) The Mayflower II will celebrate its 50th anniversary in Plymouth by setting sail this afternoon with some of the sailors who sailed her to America from England back in 1957. The ship, a replica of the original Mayflower that landed in Plymouth in 1620, was given to America's hometown by Warwick Charleton, a British soldier who fought in WWII. Warwick said he was so impressed and appreciative of what the American soldiers did for Britain, he couldn't wait to donate the ship to America. The Mayflower II will leave its dock at 3:30 this afternoon under tow, and once in the open ocean, its crew will unfurl the sails in celebration. It is hoped that hundreds of spectators will line the waterfront to watch the ship sail back into Plymouth Harbor and arrive at its dock at 6:30. An anniversary cake and hot dogs will be served by the Plymouth Rotary. 

H) Massachusetts Port Authority officials approved funding for a new commuter boat dock to be built in South Boston's Seaport District. Construction of the dock is expected to begin next year. It will be located in between Boston's World Trade Center and the Fish Pier.

I) Charlie Girard, the French man who failed in his attempt to row across the Atlantic from Cape Cod to France got his high tech $275,000 rowboat back. A Gloucester fisherman was hired to recover the boat that was abandoned 50 miles east of Cape Cod and drifting toward Canada. After the rowboat was towed back to Gloucester, Nauset Marine of Orleans trucked the rowboat back to the Cape, where it be placed in storage. Eventually the rowboat will return to France in a container ship.

7/29/07

A) The owner of a Massachusetts fish farm was sentenced to six months in a halfway house and another five years of probation for killing more than 200 herons and ospreys and a bald eagle, who were either eating his fish or polluting the water. Michael Zak was also ordered to pay a $65,000 fine. An employee at the fish farm was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and serve two years of probation for his role in killing the birds.

B) A boater on a mooring in Provincetown harbor somehow lost his toe (that's spelled t-o-e). The victim was put onboard a helicopter and flown to a Boston hospital. Police would not say how the accident happened, but confirmed it happened on a recreational boat on a mooring owned by the Fisherman's Wharf Marina.

C) Connecticut has joined Rhode Island and New Hampshire as the third state in New England as well as the third state in the U.S. that bans boaters from discharging sewage in its coastal waters. To qualify for the no-discharge area designation, Connecticut had to demonstrate to the EPA that enough pump-out facilities existed where boaters could empty their holding tanks. Massachusetts has only local no-discharge areas because of an insufficient number of pump out facilities in many of the state's harbors.

D) After recently spending a hundred million dollars or more upgrading Loran in the U.S., the Coast Guard now says it wants to stop spending $36 million per year it costs to maintain the 24 Loran stations and monitoring equipment. The agency is planning three public meetings this month to talk about four scenarios. One is to eliminate the Loran system, another is to transfer the system to another government agency, a third is to somehow completely automate the system, and the last is to keep the system as it is today.

E) In the world of boating business, Boat America Corp., which provides towing, insurance, and loan services to members of Boat/US, has been purchased by a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Corp. Boat/US has 650,000 members, and the acquisition did not include the separate non-profit corporation known as Boat/US.

F) Next summer, recreational fishermen in Delaware will have to pay a fee for a saltwater fishing license. Non-residents, tourists, and charterboats will also be required to buy the license. Delaware fishermen in the past had always opposed a saltwater license, but this time they seemed worn out. California, the first state to institute a saltwater fishing license also started out with relatively low license fee. Today the license costs $60 and California officials claim they issued 200,000 fewer licenses since their licensing law went into effect, despite that state's recent population boom. The only other state that requires a saltwater fishing license is Florida.

G) Lightning struck a scuba diver's oxygen tank just as he surfaced and killed him. The 36-year-old man was diving with three others off a boat near Deerfield Beach, Florida. He had surfaced about 30 feet from the boat when the lightning struck his tank. The other divers struggled to get the man back into the boat and radioed for help. The four were diving even though a severe thunderstorm warning had been in effect for the area at the time.

H) Thousands of recreational fishermen hit the waters in Florida this past week for that state's two day lobster season. In past years, the two day season has caused such a mad rush that a number of people have died in their quest for the lobster meat. The two-day "mini-season" is supposed to give recreational fishermen and divers a chance to hunt for lobsters before the commercial fishermen start. Last year, five divers died, and several more were injured during the two day lobstermania. Heart attacks, boat collisions, bad weather, drunkenness, and what one official called "plain stupidity," have been blamed for the casualties. One year a person shot at someone who was on what he considered his own personal lobster spot. By the way, the lobsters must be caught by hand.

I)  Jumbo squid that can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh more than 110 pounds are invading California waters preying on local fish. Fishermen say they don't need this kind of competition. The jumbo squid used to be found only in the ocean near the equator, but in the past 16 years, they have moved as far north as Alaska.

J)  And last on today's nautical news, a man fishing off a California beach in a kayak was attacked by great white shark. Although the man was thrown overboard, fortunately, the shark took a bite of out of the kayak and not the kayaker. At first the paddler thought he was struck by a powerboat, but after he saw the shark, he thought it best to get out of the water and back into his boat. As the shark swam away, the man paddled as fast as he could to a nearby bigger boat, which took him back to shore safely.

8/05/07

A) The owner of a Massachusetts fish farm was sentenced to six months in a halfway house and another five years of probation for killing more than 200 herons and ospreys and a bald eagle, who were either eating his fish or polluting the water. Michael Zak was also ordered to pay a $65,000 fine. An employee at the fish farm was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and serve two years of probation for his role in killing the birds.

B) A boater on a mooring in Provincetown harbor somehow lost his toe (that's spelled t-o-e). The victim was put onboard a helicopter and flown to a Boston hospital. Police would not say how the accident happened, but confirmed it happened on a recreational boat on a mooring owned by the Fisherman's Wharf Marina.

C) Connecticut has joined Rhode Island and New Hampshire as the third state in New England as well as the third state in the U.S. that bans boaters from discharging sewage in its coastal waters. To qualify for the no-discharge area designation, Connecticut had to demonstrate to the EPA that enough pump-out facilities existed where boaters could empty their holding tanks. Massachusetts has only local no-discharge areas because of an insufficient number of pump out facilities in many of the state's harbors.

D) After recently spending a hundred million dollars or more upgrading Loran in the U.S., the Coast Guard now says it wants to stop spending $36 million per year it costs to maintain the 24 Loran stations and monitoring equipment. The agency is planning three public meetings this month to talk about four scenarios. One is to eliminate the Loran system, another is to transfer the system to another government agency, a third is to somehow completely automate the system, and the last is to keep the system as it is today.

E) In the world of boating business, Boat America Corp., which provides towing, insurance, and loan services to members of Boat/US, has been purchased by a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Corp. Boat/US has 650,000 members, and the acquisition did not include the separate non-profit corporation known as Boat/US.

F) Next summer, recreational fishermen in Delaware will have to pay a fee for a saltwater fishing license. Non-residents, tourists, and charterboats will also be required to buy the license. Delaware fishermen in the past had always opposed a saltwater license, but this time they seemed worn out. California, the first state to institute a saltwater fishing license also started out with relatively low license fee. Today the license costs $60 and California officials claim they issued 200,000 fewer licenses since their licensing law went into effect, despite that state's recent population boom. The only other state that requires a saltwater fishing license is Florida.

G) Lightning struck a scuba diver's oxygen tank just as he surfaced and killed him. The 36-year-old man was diving with three others off a boat near Deerfield Beach, Florida. He had surfaced about 30 feet from the boat when the lightning struck his tank. The other divers struggled to get the man back into the boat and radioed for help. The four were diving even though a severe thunderstorm warning had been in effect for the area at the time.

H) Thousands of recreational fishermen hit the waters in Florida this past week for that state's two day lobster season. In past years, the two day season has caused such a mad rush that a number of people have died in their quest for the lobster meat. The two-day "mini-season" is supposed to give recreational fishermen and divers a chance to hunt for lobsters before the commercial fishermen start. Last year, five divers died, and several more were injured during the two day lobstermania. Heart attacks, boat collisions, bad weather, drunkenness, and what one official called "plain stupidity," have been blamed for the casualties. One year a person shot at someone who was on what he considered his own personal lobster spot. By the way, the lobsters must be caught by hand.

I)  Jumbo squid that can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh more than 110 pounds are invading California waters preying on local fish. Fishermen say they don't need this kind of competition. The jumbo squid used to be found only in the ocean near the equator, but in the past 16 years, they have moved as far north as Alaska.

J)  And last on today's nautical news, a man fishing off a California beach in a kayak was attacked by great white shark. Although the man was thrown overboard, fortunately, the shark took a bite of out of the kayak and not the kayaker. At first the paddler thought he was struck by a powerboat, but after he saw the shark, he thought it best to get out of the water and back into his boat. As the shark swam away, the man paddled as fast as he could to a nearby bigger boat, which took him back to shore safely.

8/12/07

A) Bridges in Massachusetts are causing problems for boaters. The Blynman Canal drawbridge in Gloucester has been ordered locked in its down position, preventing boats from entering or leaving the Annisquam River on the Gloucester Harbor side of the river. Engineers claimed they found structural problems in the granite block sea wall that supports the bridge tender's house. They say the house could fall into the river. Boats now moored in the Annisqaum River or staying at the local marinas must cruise north and around Rockport and Cape Ann to reach the open ocean. A contractor overseeing the bridge's emergency temporary repairs estimated it could be two to three weeks before the work is done. He added that permanent repairs could take months.

B) And although officials at the Massachusetts Port Authority claim that the 57 year old Tobin Bridge over the Mystic River is structurally sound, chunks of concrete and metal have fallen down, landing on boats docked at the Chelsea Yacht Club. It was reported last week that at least six boats at the yacht club were struck and damaged by debris falling from the bridge. One boat's windshield was smashed and another boat had a hole put in it. So far, no injuries have been reported. A net has now been place under the bridge to catch any additional debris that might fall.

C) The Coast Guard responded to a cell phone call in the wee hours of the morning that a Quincy man overdosed on heroin while aboard a 33 foot recreational boat near Lovell's Island in Boston Harbor. The call came from another man on the boat, who reported that his friend had overdosed on heroin and needed immediate medical attention. The Coast Guard transported the man to New England Medical Center in Boston for treatment. Meanwhile, another Coast Guard boat was underway to conduct a search of the boat and when they arrived, they found the boat aground on the rocks near the island. When the Coast Guard attempted to contact the man still aboard the boat, they got no response, but the crew could see his flashlight moving around on the boat. Because the boat was on the rocks, neither police nor coast guard boats could get close to the boat, so a helicopter was requested. The helicopter arrived on scene, airlifted the second man from the boat, and transported him to the hospital as well. The identities and condition of the two men were not released. No drugs or drug paraphernalia were found on the boat. 

D) More than 60 Boston firefighters battled a blaze aboard a Navy cargo ship that was dry-docked in South Boston. However, getting to the fire proved almost as difficult as extinguishing the flames. Firefighters needed a half hour and 600 feet of hose to reach the blaze as they navigated through a maze of cargo decks, narrow passageways, and steep ship stairs. The fire caused an estimated $750,000 worth of damages. The ship has been docked in South Boston for maintenance work since June 18.

E) Last weekend, beachgoers in Chatham saw a shark eat a seal. After examining the seal's remains, experts said the shark was more than likely a great white shark. The seals are plentiful right now up and down the Chatham coast, and their main predators are great white sharks and killer whales. Chatham harbormaster said swimmers don't have to worry about the sharks unless they swim along side of the seals, which could also be a violation of the federal Marine Mammal Act. The harbormaster added that swimming alongside of the seals could result not only in an accidental shark attack but also a bite from one of the seals.

F) Coast Guard Sector Boston has a new commander. Her name is Captain Gail Kulisch, who previously served as senior fellow for Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Study Group. She replaced Captain James McDonald who retired after three years in charge of Sector Boston and 25 years of active service in the Coast Guard. Sector Boston's area of responsibility goes from the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border to New York out 200 nautical miles. Kulisch is now captain of the port, federal maritime security coordinator, federal on-scene coordinator, and officer in charge of marine inspections.

G) After years of studying, NOAA has just released its final proposals on reducing the number of whales that become entangled in fish gear. The new whale protection plan will increase the area already closed to fishermen and will require lobstermen and gillnet fishermen to use lines and nets that sink. NOAA Fisheries Service claimed that between 2001 and 2005, along the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. and adjacent Canadian Maritimes, 26 whales died from being entangled, and 27 whales died from ship strikes.

H) Coast Guard officials said if you take a picture of a city's skyline from a boat, there's a good chance you will be stopped and questioned. However, federal and state authorities could not show the exact law that bans people from taking pictures of ports. The Coast Guard still urges all mariners to report any kind of suspicious activity that's out on the water.

I) Boaters on Cape Cod Bay should not be surprised if they see law enforcement personnel jumping out of helicopters. Coast Guard officials said personnel from the Maritime Safety and Security Team will be practicing jumping out of helicopters this coming week. Specially trained crew wearing body armor and carrying rifles and handguns will practice sliding down a rope onto a ship. The training coincided with the arrival of Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, who visited Cape Cod Air Station.

J) A man vacationing on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula claimed he found a life ring that came from the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The name "Edmund Fitzgerald" was still legible on the faded orange preserver, but there was still some doubt that it was from the ship that sank in a 1975 storm, killing 29 men. You see, Keweenaw Peninsula is roughly 200 miles from where the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior 32 years ago. However, the life ring was photographed by Tom Farnquist of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, and after comparing it to another life ring from the Edmund Fitzgerald, it was determined to be identical in size and configuration.

K) And last on today's nautical news, French President Nicolas Sarkozy lost his temper when two American news photographers snapped pictures of him while he was on vacation on a boat on Lake Winnipesauke. The French President, wearing only a bathing suit, jumped onto the photographers' boat, shouted at them in French, and grabbed one of their cameras. We were told the reporters apologized and their camera was immediately returned.

8/19/07

A) Two Coast Guard helicopters and a rescue boat responded to a collision between a jetski and a 12-foot boat in Vineyard Haven Harbor. In the 12-foot boat were four people; a man, a woman, and their two children. Operating the jetski was a 12-year-old boy with a 6-year-old boy as his passenger. All 6 people aboard both boats fell into the water. A Good Samaritan who witnessed the accident swam out and recovered the woman, who had been knocked unconscious. A second Good Samaritan recovered her children, and an Oak Bluffs Police boat rescued the man. The 12 and 6-year-old boys got back onto their jetski and went to the pier, where they were met by one of their fathers and the police. It is against Massachusetts law for anyone under the age of 16 to operate a jetski.

B) Two people in Maine were killed in a nighttime boating accident and a Medway, Massachusetts man was at the helm of one of the boats. The Massachusetts man could now be facing multiple charges after his 32 foot go fast boat ran over a 14 foot boat, killing its two occupants. The man and his female passenger in the go fast boat were thrown overboard, but were able to swim back safely to shore. Amazingly, the go fast boat kept on going with no one on board after the collision until it hit the shore, and even then it traveled another 135 feet across land with its engines still running. Police are investigating if alcohol was involved and if the smaller boat displayed any lights. It was speculated that victims in the smaller boat went out to watch the Perseid Meteor showers.

C) A Danvers, Mass. man was arrested by Salem police in what was initially described as a case of "boat rage" after it was all captured on videotape. Police said 53 year old Ronald J. Phillips faced a host of charges including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon - a pontoon boat, and attempted murder. The pontoon boat twice rammed another powerboat broadside, on purpose, at a high rate of speed, and then both skippers started fighting. In a few minutes, Salem Harbormaster Peter Gifford will tell us the details.

D) A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a mariner from his sinking boat near the mouth of the Bass River. The skipper called for help after his 31-foot cabin cruiser began taking on water in the Bass River. The man was uninjured and was taken off the boat before it sank in shallow water. Salvage arrangements were being made to have the boat removed.

E) Scituate charter boat captain Mike Evensen and his crew on the Alexa Ann caught a 455 pound Porbeagle shark, the largest ever caught in Massachusetts. The shark was hooked about 30 miles off the coast of Scituate and since it was too big to get in the boat, it took more than three hours to tow it back to Scituate Harbor. After weighing it in front of an estimated crowd of 100, a biologist who works for the Division of Marine Fisheries said the shark was a state record.

F) Here is good news for North Shore boaters. The Coast Guard has re-opened the Gloucester Cut and the Blynman Bridge. The Massachusetts Highway Department completed temporary repairs to that bridge tender's house two weeks ahead of schedule, so the waterway is now open to marine traffic. Mariners on the Annisquam River no longer have to go around Cape Ann to get to the open ocean. Many commercial vessels, which had to transit the river to get to the ocean, were going aground.

G) A 20 year old woman was bitten by a shark in Sarasota, Florida. She apparently went into the water at night off her boat and was floating on her back when the shark bit her in the ribs and hips. The shark shook her and then let her go. Somehow she managed to climb back on board her boat, and friends on board called for help. Doctors operated on her back and a full recovery is expected. 

H) And last on today's nautical news, the Town of Barnstable would like someone to take away an 80-foot wooden fishing boat that was abandoned almost a year ago. The boat arrived at the town owned Barnstable Marina last September, but the dockmaster said he and his staff never had any idea that the boat was being abandoned. The town claims they are owed $20,000 for unpaid docking fees, but really just want the boat gone before it sinks and pollutes Hyannis Harbor. The boat has become a nuisance, attracting unwanted guests at night. Last June, the town held an auction but only one bidder showed up. His bid of $10 was the high bid, but he too abandoned the boat after trying to repair the boat's engine. Now, all the town wants is someone to take it away.

8/26/07

A) Here is breaking news for Buzzards Bay. Starting this week, all oil tankers transiting Buzzards Bay will have to use tugboat escorts and file a certificate of financial backing before docking in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has decided to enforce the state's Oil Spill Prevention Act, even though last year, a federal judge ruled major portions of the Massachusetts law unconstitutional. The judge said the state's law violated federal supremacy in an area where the Coast Guard had sole authority to set regulations. However, a federal appeals court overturned that court's ruling, ordering another trial, so while the law is again being litigated, the Attorney General reinstated the law. A lawyer who represents a large shipping industry coalition said Coakley was "violating the spirit" of the process.

B) A scuba diver exploring a shipwreck off Cape Cod went into cardiac arrest shortly after surfacing in Sesuit Harbor in East Dennis. The man was part of a group on a Hyannis, commercial, dive boat, exploring a wreck known as the Target Ship. Authorities said they received a call that the diver had experienced a medical problem while underwater and was still feeling uncomfortable when he was brought back to the boat. The man was rushed to Cape Cod Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

C) And there was another fatal boating accident in the state of Maine. This was the second one in as many weeks. The Maine Marine Patrol said a 21-foot boat carrying three passengers rolled over after being hit broadside by a wave. A Massachusetts man was one of the passengers on board, and he became trapped under the boat. A Maine lobsterman attempted to rescue the man, but found him not breathing. CPR was performed to no avail.

D) Officials at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announced they will receive nearly $100 million in grant money to build a series of undersea laboratories off the Massachusetts coast on the continental shelf. The grant is courtesy of the National Science Foundation's Ocean Observatories Initiative competition and is the largest grant in Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's history. The underwater laboratories will have remote controlled underwater vehicles for scientists to gather data instantly. The grant money sends a message to other parts of the country, and the world, that Massachusetts is officially a major hub for oceanographic research.

E) The Coast Guard ended the voyage of a New Bedford fishing boat after two of its four crewmen failed breathalyzer tests. One crewman registered .15 and the other registered .12. The legal alcohol limit for anyone aboard a fishing vessel is only .04. Coast Guard spokesman Ted Harrington said, "Fishing is already the most dangerous occupation in the world, and if we find a fishing crew that is operating under the influence, we're going take action to make sure they're no longer a threat to themselves and others."

F) The USS Constitution hoisted her sails for a little exercise in Boston Harbor. Carrying more than 200 Navy sailors instead of her normal crew of 65, the nation's oldest commissioned warship reached a top speed of 3.7 knots. A 21-gun salute was fired to commemorate the occasion. Old Ironsides spokesman Petty Officer First Class Eric Brown said the sailors came from all over the world to learn how to sail a tall ship.

G) Volunteers from the Cape Cod Stranding Network are watching a sick dolphin to see whether it beaches itself like another dolphin just did and died. The distressed dolphin was swimming slowly in tight circles about 40 yards from a Fairhaven beach. Both dolphins were identified as common dolphins, which normally swim in large groups along the Atlantic Coast. However, volunteers explained that they don't send a sick animal offshore to be shark bait. If the dolphin beaches itself, the workers plan to test its blood and euthanize it. As of now, there is no rehabilitation facility available for common dolphins in the Northeast.

H) The captain of a Florida parasailing boat faces a reckless boating charge after he took two teenage sisters on a parasailing trip with strong winds blowing. The wind broke the parachute's tow rope, and carried the girls across a nearby hotel building and into several palm trees, leaving both seriously injured and in the hospital. Investigators said the wind was so strong that the hydraulic winch on the boat could not reel in the tow rope to bring the girls in the parachute back down. Furthermore, the wind forced the boat toward shore where it went aground. With boat stopped, the parachute then spun out of control breaking the tow line.

I) A submarine filled with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine was seized off the Guatemalan coast by the U.S. Coast Guard, Customs, and Navy officials. The four smugglers, operating the self-propelled submarine, were arrested. A Coast Guard crew, guided by a reconnaissance plane, intercepted the vessel and found 5.5 tons of cocaine inside. The interception occurred off the coast of Central America, about 300 miles southwest of the Mexico-Guatemala border. Several other submarines operated by Colombian drug cartels have been discovered in recent years.

J) Scientists in Maine are using the "shock, awe and release" method to catch fish. Marine biologists are studying Maine's fish population by shocking the fish with a device called an electrofisher. After the fish are stunned, they are picked up in a net. They are measured, weighed, and some scales are scraped off. The fish are then put in a bucket of water to be revived, and placed back in the ocean. If the fish doesn't make, it is one less fish for them to count!

9/02/07

A) The Coast Guard has been very busy this Labor Day weekend searching for mariners in distress. Saturday afternoon, the Coast Guard searched for a 29 year old scuba diver near the North River. Three people in a 28-foot boat were waiting for the diver to surface when they noticed the diver's air bubbles suddenly stopped coming to the surface. They called the Scituate Harbormaster for help who in turn called the Coast Guard. Participating in the search were two Scituate harbormaster boats, a rescue helicopter crew from Air Station Cape Cod, a 25-foot boat from Coast Guard Station Scituate, Scituate Fire Department divers, the Marshfield Harbormaster, and the Massachusetts Environmental Police.

B) And right now, the Coast Guard is searching for missing jet skier off of Plum Island, near the Merrimack River. The jet skier was last seen last night near Plum Island, traveling with two other jet skiers and a 24-foot boat heading up the Merrimack River towards Haverhill. This search is ongoing.
     (Follow-up: Coast Guard located the jet skier 1:30AM.
      He was OK)

C) Also this weekend, three recreational boaters were injured in a collision with a charter boat near Newport, R.I.  A 49-year old male and a 10-year old girl suffered head injuries and a 13-year old boy's leg was injured when their 23-foot center console boat collided with a 42-foot charter boat. They were taken to the hospital where their condition is unknown. There were no injuries reported by the nine passengers aboard the charter boat. This accident is now under investigation.

D) The laws regulating oil barges and tankers has been the subject of controversy and litigation the past few months. Last week, Massachusetts Attorney General Margaret Coakley announced new regulations for oil tankers transiting Buzzards Bay. This week, the Coast Guard released its new regulations, and they claim their regulations take precedence over the state's. They further asserted that if their regulations were in place a few years ago, the Bouchard Oil spill that occurred in Buzzards Bay due to navigational error would never have happened. The main points of the new Coast Guard regulations are: 1) Single-hulled tank barges transiting Buzzards Bay must be accompanied by escort tugs in addition to a primary tug; 2) A federally licensed pilot, separate from the vessel's master and crew, must be aboard the tug towing single-hulled tank barges transiting Buzzards Bay; 3) A Vessel Movement Reporting System (VMRS) will be established for Buzzards Bay, monitored by the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers; 4) Recommended navigation routes will remain as recommended, not mandatory. The Coast Guard's regulations take effect Nov. 28, 2007.

E) The Boston Tea Party gift shop, located on the pier where replicas of the Boston Tea Party ships are usually docked, fell victim to fire again. Officials believe sparks from welders' torches working on the adjacent bridge was the cause of the fire this time. However, plans were already in the works to tear down the building, replacing it with a larger, modern museum. The replica tea party ships were never in danger because they were away from the dock undergoing restoration. The museum is located on Boston's Fort Point Channel, site of the Boston Tea Party. History tells us that on December 16, 1773, colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians, dumped crates of British tea into the harbor, in protest of taxes. The tea   washed up on beaches around Boston for weeks. The event was said to be the spark of the American revolution.

F) The chief of staff of former Georgia Senator Max Cleland was found by police inside the Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha on Martha's Vineyard, allegedly making unauthorized phone calls and shuffling through papers. Michael Duga Jr., 31, of Coral Springs, Florida was released on $2,500 bail after pleading not guilty to charges of breaking and entering the Coast Guard barracks and boathouse, larceny of a Coast Guard officer's identification, trespassing, and possession of marijuana. Duga is alleged to have walked inside the Coast Guard station's barracks and took identification papers from a Coast Guard officer while he was asleep. Cleland told The Associated Press Duga was placed on unpaid leave. Duga said he was on Coast Guard property to bring food to the officers and that he took the officer's ID papers to notify him of 27 security deficiencies he had found.

G) The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation that included an amendment that could affect the future of ethanol gas. The amendment requires the Environmental Protection Agency to guarantee that any blend of ethanol gas higher than E-10 would not be harmful to recreational marine engines. The bill requires EPA to conduct a comprehensive study of the implications that ethanol blends higher than 10 per cent would have on recreational marine engines, recreational boats, and boating equipment. The bill was filed by a legislator who had to replace the fiberglass fuel tanks in his boat because of the damage caused by E-10 ethanol.

H) Maine lobstermen are protesting the low prices they are being paid for their lobsters. Some lobstermen are tying their boats together to protest the boat prices that are reportedly less than $4 a pound. Although there is strong local demand for lobsters, some lobstermen say prices are low because demand in Europe and Canada is weak and the lobster pounds are full. The lobstermen claim the price of lobster is so low that they can't make enough to pay for their fuel, bait, and labor. Traditionally, the price of lobsters always drops in the summer, but then demand for the critters picks up, especially in Europe as wholesalers   start to prepare for the busy international shipping season as the New Year approaches.

I) An invasive crab species known as the "cockroach of the sea" has been spotted in the waters off southern Newfoundland, posing a threat to shellfish. The European green crab, known for its voracious appetite for mussels, clams, scallops and other crabs has now made its way across the Atlantic. Scientists say the green crab could decimate the shellfish industry if they continue to spread.

J) Florida officials are considering using recycled crushed glass mixed with regular sand to replenish the sand on their beaches. This would be the first time such a plan would be put into effect in the United States. Recycled glass has been used for beaches in New Zealand and in Curacao. Supporters of the idea said the glass feels just like sand, sparkles in the sunlight, and point out that sand is the main ingredient in glass. Until now, most of the sand used to replenish the beaches was dredged from the ocean and piped to shore - about 13 million tons of it since 1970 in Broward county. That's enough sand to fill the Empire State Building more than 12 times over.

K) And last on today's nautical news, thirty-nine year old Roz Savage, a British environmentalist whose attempt to become the first woman to row alone across the Pacific Ocean, came to a quick, but temporary end after her 24 foot boat capsized. The Coast Guard found her in distress, 90 miles off of the coast of San Francisco, and she decided to abandon ship. After thinking about her setback, she decided to try to relocate her boat and attempt to row across the Pacific again. The Ocean Rowing Society said she could start again from the point where she was rescued if she could find her boat.

9/9/07

A) Two Hull firefighters are being hailed as heroes for rescuing kayakers who got pulled by a strong current into a culvert at the end of the Weir River. Captain Christopher Russo and firefighter John "Jay" King helped save the lives of five people - four in kayaks and one in a rowboat. All five were trapped under the Rte 228 bridge that connects Hull, Hingham, and Cohasset after their boats were swamped. One good Samaritan, who tried to help, became stuck himself as he found himself wedged between the kayakers and the bridge. The same thing then happened to a Hull fireman who was attempting the rescue. Hingham and Hull firemen dropped life rings attached to rescue lines, and fortunately, everyone was saved.

B) A rubbish boat, hauling some kind of gooey material on Boston's Charles River, burst into flames injuring three of its crew and two EMTs who came to their rescue. The crew had just picked up what they described as a taffy-like substance about eight inches long along with other trash and placed it in a container on their boat. It burst into flames as the boat approached the Mass Avenue bridge. The state's Fire Marshall said some sort of chemical reaction caused the fire. They mystery substance was taken to the state police chemical laboratory for analysis.

C) A Coast Guard helicopter crew airlifted a sick fisherman from a fishing boat approximately 100 miles southeast of Nantucket. The captain of the 90 foot Madison Kate called the Coast Guard after the fisherman complained of acute abdominal pain that lasted for more than 18 hours. The captain told the Coast Guard that it would be another 20 hours before he could arrive back in port. Air Station Cape Cod assessed the situation and launched a helicopter to fly the 39-year old fisherman to a waiting ambulance at the Barnstable Airport. No information was released by the hospital on the man's condition. Air Station Cape Cod counted this as their 9,588th search and rescue case.

D) A charitable, non-profit organization called Friends of Our National Marine Sanctuary announced the success of their first event - an AUKATHON. The AUKATHON was a three-day kayak paddling event led by environmentalist Dick Wheeler, who paddled his kayak across the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. The public awareness raising event had a two-fold purpose: to help people understand what makes this underwater plateau at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay so special, and to alert the New England public that they could lose this underwater sanctuary if they don't support it. The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is almost the size of Rhode Island, and is located between Cape Cod and Cape Ann. Ben Cowie-Haskell, the Assistant sanctuary superintendent, also paddled his kayak in the event. The AUKATHON get its named from the extinct species of birds that used to migrate to the bank. Also, the sanctuary's research boat is named the AUK.

E) Inshore Atlantic bluefin tuna landings have decreased for three years in a row, and last year's landings were the lowest in the past 50 years. Experts claim the bigger schools of bluefin tuna are farther out to sea beyond the safety limits of the inshore fishing boats. Some claim these ocean going animals have changed their routes, swimming across the Atlantic to Europe or Africa instead of to the Canadian Maritimes. Still others blame the herring factory ships and the dogfish for taking the tuna's supply of food. There are other possibilities as well. Third world countries with unregulated tuna fishing in order to satisfy the Japanese demand for sushi. The bottom line is that no one knows for sure.

F) For the first time ever, researchers have recorded a series of clicks and buzzes from humpback whales during their nighttime feeding. Tiny microphones with suction cups were attached to the whales to study their behavior. Research teams participating in the discovery were from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of New Hampshire, and NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program.

G) And researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution launched a 5000 pound yellow and white buoy loaded with new wave testing technology just south of Martha's Vineyard. The buoy is being tested before it will be anchored for one year off the coast of Chile. Sensors on the buoy will transmit data by satellite to land-based computers measuring wave height, salinity, and water temperature. The buoy is powered by 3,000 D-cell batteries.

H) Friends of the Earth is suing the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to meet the deadline to regulate air pollution from large ships. The EPA recently postponed indefinitely its commitment to set emissions standards for engines on large ships. This past Wednesday, the environmental group sued the EPA in federal district court in Washington, DC to force the agency to impose limits on the ships' emissions. Another problem facing the EPA is that they cannot regulate pollution from foreign-flagged ships, which make up more that 80 percent of port traffic from large oceangoing vessels. These foreign flagged vessels are exempt from meeting the air quality standards required by U.S. law.

I) A German scientist tried to prove that ancient cultures made trans-Atlantic journeys against the wind in reed boats, but he and his crew of 10 had to abandon ship after 56 days at sea. He wanted to prove that ancient cultures in the Americas could have exported goods and had contact with the Old World long before Columbus discovered America, but a storm ripped apart sections of the sailboat approximately 558 miles short of the Azore Islands, their first port of call. They had departed from New York on July 11th. The scientist built the boat based on ancient rock drawings of riverboats. It took 17 tons of reeds to make the boat.

J) And last on today's nautical news, a New Hampshire fisherman got the surprise of his life when he reeled in an alligator on a rubber worm while fishing in the Nashua River. The fishermen needed the help of three police officers to contain the gator. Officials said someone probably released it into the river because it was getting too big for them to keep. The alligator was taken to a Massachusetts facility that handles reptiles.

9/16/07

A) A photo shoot for Powerboat magazine turned deadly when a helicopter crashed, killing two and injuring another. The copter went down in about 20 feet of water about 6 miles northeast of Venice, Florida. The two who died were identified as the photographers. The third person was the pilot. Witnesses said the helicopter flipped over as one of its legs hit the water while the photographers were snapping closeup pictures of the speedboat, which had also had three people on board. One of those onboard the boat was a model, who also happened to be an emergency room nurse, and she saved the helicopter pilot's life by jumping into the water and pulling him to safety. Investigators said the boat was slightly damaged from debris that spun off as the helicopter crashed.

B) This past Friday night, a Coast Guard helicopter flew low over Nantasket Beach and Cohasset as it searched for a boat sinking a half a mile south of Boston Light.  A Coast Guard rescue boat also responded and set off a bright parachute flare that lit up the shoreline. The Coast Guard said they received a 911 call from a cell phone caller who claimed to be on a sinking 27-foot Cabo Express powerboat with four people on board. The caller stated he had flares, but they were water logged, and the boat already had two feet of water on the deck. After a thorough 5 hour search, no trace of any vessel in distress was found, and officials believed it was a hoax call. Hoax distress calls to the Coast Guard are classified as a felony punishable by up to six years in prison along with a fine of $250,000. This case is now under investigation by the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the Massachusetts State Police. Hoax distress calls generate pointless searches that senselessly put the lives of mariners in true distress at risk as well as those attempting the rescue.

C) The Coast Guard encourages mariners to contact them as soon as any medical issue arises on the water, and two such cases occurred this past week. A Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod helicopter airlifted a 22-year-old female crewmember off the Norwegian Majesty cruise ship. At the time the cruise ship was 150 miles southeast of Cape Cod on its way to Bermuda after departing from Boston. The young woman was taken to Cape Cod Hospital. In another rescue, an Air Station Cape Cod helicopter crew rescued a 39-year-old crewmember from a 90-foot commercial fishing boat out of New London, Connecticut. The man had complained of abdominal distress that had lasted more than 18 hours. He too was taken Cape Cod Hospital. Both persons' identity and condition were not released.

D) The Coast Guard announced a new policy regarding releasing the names of people that they rescue. Only the names of people in an active, on going search and rescue case will be released, but their names will then be sealed after the case is closed. Those seeking information after the case is closed must file for it under the Freedom of Information Act. An attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said the Coast Guard's new rule would limit the public's ability to judge how the Coast Guard was performing its duties. The Coast Guard's ruling was made after a reporter requested the names of people saved in previous years, to determine whether the Coast Guard was spending taxpayer money to rescue "repeat offenders." That reporter's request was denied. The Coast Guard said it was an invasion of privacy to release the names of people rescued in previous years.

E) A 40 foot long gray whale became the first whale to be hunted and killed in the United States lower 48 since 1999 after it was harpooned and shot by members of the Makah tribe in Seattle, Washington. The whale now lies dead at the bottom of the ocean. The five Makah tribal members accused of killing it were arrested by the Coast Guard. Tribal leaders have denounced the killing and sent representatives to Washington to assure everyone that the hunt was not approved. The Coast Guard attempted to rescue the whale, but got there too late. The whale had already been tied up and shot about 20 times. All the Coast Guardsmen could do was cut the whale loose, and watch it drift with the current until it died. It eventually sank in about 500 feet of water.

F) Real estate owners aren't the only ones affected by the current loan crisis. Boatowners are having their problems too! Companies that repossess recreational boats say their business is way up from a year ago, and with boatowners in the northeast facing the end of the boating season, the crisis could get a lot worse. However, it is important to note that lenders want their money and not their loan collateral returned to them. Whether it is your house or your boat, if you are behind with your payments, you are advised to contact your lender. Sometimes a lender will make arrangements to reduce your payments or allow you to sell the boat for less than the amount owed, but be warned that whatever arrangements you make, you had better honor them. Your word has to mean something.

G) Some 450,000 trash bags donated by Dow Chemical Company and Glad Products have been distributed free of cost around the United States as the 22nd annual Coast Sweep cleanup gets underway this weekend. An anticipated 500,000 volunteers will turn out to collect debris and document what they find on our nation's beaches. Over the past 21 years, volunteers have removed almost 116,000,000 pounds of debris from our shorelines.

H) Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles named Leslie-Ann McGee to take over as the Director of CZM effective September 20th. Leslie-Ann is a fisheries scientist with more than a decade of experience in marine habitat, conservation, and government relations. She currently heads the Essential Fish Habitat and Marine Protected Areas Program at the New England Fishery Management Council in Newburyport. Prior to that, she served as Director of Legislation and Policy in the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and as Protected Resources and Fisheries biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in California.

I) And last on this week's nautical news, because of this summer's drought, some of our local rivers are lower than normal, and now boaters are hitting submerged objects like stolen cars. In the Merrimack River, where the water was reported nine feet lower than normal, police have discovered at least 20 cars that were dumped in one section of the river. Some of the cars are 70 models, but it is unknown how long the cars have been in the river. Police are also investigating if any of these cars were involved with other crimes including insurance fraud.

9/23/07

A) Coast Guard Investigative Services and Massachusetts State Police have found the cell phone that was used last week to make a fake distress call, in which the caller claimed to be on a sinking pleasure craft one mile south of Boston Light. The Coast Guard searched an area of 30 square miles for 5 hours with a boat from Station Point Allerton and a helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod before calling the search off. The cost of the search was estimated at nearly $30,000. The Coast Guard is still investigating the identity of the person who actually used the cell phone to make the hoax call. Hoax distress calls generate pointless searches that reduce the Coast Guard's ability to rescue mariners in true distress, senselessly putting lives at risk. Hoax calls placed to the Coast Guard are classified as a felony and are punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Reimbursement of the cost of the search is also possible. Nautical Talk Radio has received a tape of this hoax call, and will play it in just a little while with hope that someone listening might recognize the person's voice.

B) Authorities have identified the body recovered off of Scituate as that of Tim Ericson of Marshfield, who disappeared three weeks ago while scuba diving. The thirty year old man was diving near Scituate's Fourth Cliff, while his brother and two friends followed his air bubbles on the surface in a boat. When the group on the boat stopped seeing the bubbles, they called for help. The Coast Guard searched for two days before calling it quits. This past Friday morning, a homeowner on the cliff called Scituate police after spotting an object floating in the water. A Scituate fire department boat responded and recovered the body about 150 yards off of Humarock beach. It was later positively identified by the state's medical examiner.

C) The New England Fishery Management Council met this week in Plymouth and decided to make a portion of the Great South Channel a Habitat Area of Particular Concern to protect the codfish. The Great South Channel lies between Cape Cod and Georges Bank. The management council will next consider how to mitigate the impacts of bottom trawling, scallop dredging, and other fishing practices that threaten the sensitive bottom habitat. Fishermen, who claim there was no scientific rationale for the management council's decision, now fear that scallop boats and draggers will be banned from the area.

D) A 25-foot boat called the Clam Juice with four persons on board started sinking in Gloucester harbor because of a crack in the boat's exhaust pipe. When the Coast Guard arrived to pump the boat out, the four onboard were knee-deep in water. That's where SpongeBob - a squishy SpongeBob football - came to the rescue after the Coast Guard crew started searching the boat for something to plug the hole. The squishy football sealed the hole perfectly and allowed the Clam Juice to be towed safely back to port for more permanent repairs. No injuries were reported.

E) The latest study for crimes committed aboard cruise ships was just released. During a five-month period beginning in April, a total of 207 suspected crimes were reported, including 41 sexual assaults. During that same period, the cruise lines carried about 4.4 million passengers. Royal Caribbean Cruises officials said their company plans to refit cabin doors with peepholes as well as hire more security guards per ship.

F) Most people who join the Coast Guard do it to save lives. This past week, the Coast Guard got a chance to save the life of a stranded seal pup. The Coast Guard asks any mariner who sees a stranded marine animal to call them.

G) Remember a few weeks ago we told you about a trash fire on a cleanup boat on Boston's Charles River. The collected trash mysteriously ignited, burning several workers and the EMTs attempting to help them. Apparently, MIT students put explosive sodium in the trash as part of an annual ritual by returning MIT students. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has agreed to pay for decontaminating the cleanup boat, but nothing was said about compensation to those who were injured.

H) And last on today's nautical news, a New York man trying to tow his 35-foot boat with a 9-foot inflatable boat that he was paddling was ordered to cease and desist. He was attempting to bring the boat to a boatyard, some 20 miles away. After about 3 hours and going only 100 yards, police and the Coast Guard ordered the man to stop. A Coast Guard spokesman said that this was one of the most unsafe things he had ever seen a boater do. He was cited for unsafe operation and a hazard to navigation.

9/30/07

A) Six Plymouth fishermen were rescued 40 miles out to sea, southeast of Nantucket. Their 70-foot fishing boat Jacob Allen was in trouble, taking on water and sinking. The six fishermen made a mayday call before abandoning ship and getting into their life raft. The boat's Emergency Position Indicating Beacon hit the water and transmitted to the Coast Guard its exact location. The Coast Guard then advised all mariners in the vicinity to be on the lookout. Fishing boats Ms. Maria and Sancor heard the plea for help and luckily were nearby. When the Coast Guard helicopter arrived on scene, the fishermen aboard the Sancor were recovering the six fishermen from the life raft. The Coast Guard said this case was a perfect example of why all boaters, including recreational boaters, should have registered EPIRBs on board. Because of the EPIRBs, and the quick actions of the Good Samaritans, the fishermen are heading home safe to their families even though their boat sank. Now the Coast Guard is broadcasting safety messages warning mariners of the location of the unlit, partially submerged fishing boat.

B) Two mysteries, one local and one off the coast of Florida also top this week's nautical news. First the local mystery. Police are searching for a man who boarded the New Bedford to Martha's Vineyard ferryboat and never got off. Homeland security cameras recorded 27-year-old Walter Tyler getting on the ferry, but no cameras showed him getting off. Police said they don't know at what point during the trip Tyler disappeared. Tyler, a Navy veteran, is a strong swimmer and was trained in cold water survival.

C) And somewhere off the coast of Florida, a charter boat trip to the Bahamas turned into a mystery when its four crewmembers vanished. The two men who chartered the boat were found in a life raft, and the 47 foot charter boat named Joe Cool was found 12 miles away in perfect mechanical condition. A key to some handcuffs and traces of some blood were found on the boat. The Coast Guard said that the GPS on the boat showed that it suddenly turned south toward Cuba about halfway into its 50-mile trip. The FBI has joined with the Coast Guard in the investigation, and according to an FBI affidavit, one of the two found initially told his Coast Guard rescuers that pirates hijacked the boat, shot and killed the four crew members, and then ordered him to throw the bodies into the sea. The two in the lifeboat are now being held without bail in a Miami jail, charged with lying to federal agents and suspicion of murder.

D) A man and a woman were rushed to the hospital after they were pulled from a Jeep Grand Cherokee that drove off the State Pier boat ramp in Plymouth and landed upside down in 12 - 16 feet of water. Police and fire rescue personnel were on scene within minutes after the accident, and the Plymouth fire department's dive team was called to get the two out of vehicle. Witnesses said the pair was underwater for 30 - 45 minutes. Miraculously the two were still alive when they arrived at the hospital, although their condition was reported to be critical.

E) Sankaty Head Lighthouse on Nantucket is on the move. The 500 ton lighthouse will be moved about 500 feet to safer ground on a golf course, away from the eroding bluff where it has stood for the past 157 years. The structure was originally built 280 feet from the bluff's edge, but now just 75 feet remain between it and the ocean. The company moving the Sankaty Lighthouse previously moved two other lighthouses on the Cape - the Highland and the Nauset lighthouses. They also moved Block Island's Southeast Light and Cape Hatteras Light in North Carolina. If all goes well, the moving of Sankaty Lighthouse will be completed this week.   

F) The U.S. Navy conducted annual training exercises off the coast of Cape Cod and Nantucket this past week using red phosphorous flares. A Navy spokesman warned that every once in a while the Navy could lose track of one of its flares and that is exactly what happened. The flare could cause a chemical burn to anyone who finds and touches it. Fortunately, this time, a Cape Cod National Seashore park ranger found the flare on Race Point Beach in Provincetown and turned it over to the state police. State police destroyed the flare at the town's landfill and admitted that they are called to destroy stray flares about twice a year.

G) More than 150 boats participated the third annual Boston Harbor Islands Regatta. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy served as the honorary chair. The regatta featured a figure-eight course around several of the Boston Harbor Islands, with the city skyline as the backdrop. The Boston Harbor Island Regatta serves as a fundraiser for the Island Alliance, the non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the awareness and usage of the Boston Harbor Islands national park area. Capturing the Mayor's Cup in Fleet One was Hingham Yacht Club's Michael Feeley aboard his sailboat, the Lady Love.

H) Although boat sales were down last month, the fall boat shows are reporting increases in attendance. Attendance at the 37th Annual Newport, Rhode Island International Boat Show was reported to be up 15 percent and the Norwalk, Connecticut Boat Show also reported an increase of almost 10% in attendance. Fall shows in the mid-west also claim to be seeing more people. We will have to wait and see how the Boston show did.

I) A 22 year old male passenger was found dead after being ejected from a swerving boat on the Suwannee River in Florida. The skipper of the boat, who was also thrown overboard, said he was trying to avoid a large fish that jumped out of the water. A number of boaters on the Suwannee River have been knocked unconscious or suffered broken bones when fish weighing up to 60 pounds jump out of the water and smack them. So far this year nine people were injured in such accidents. No one knows why the bottom-feeding sturgeons jump out of the water.

J) And last on today's nautical news, a mock ferry disaster off Newfoundland's west coast turned into a real rescue when 21 people onboard a lifeboat were overcome by smoke inhalation, breathing in fumes from burning fiberglass. The practice drill was a year in the planning and about 600 personnel were involved. The drill was supposed to involve an explosion on the ferry, abandonment into lifeboats, and then a search and rescue bringing survivors to the hospital. Little did officials know that a real fire would happen. Fortunately, the real rescue operation went smoothly.

10/7/07

A) The couple who were trapped in their submerged vehicle for nearly a half hour after it plunged off the Plymouth State Pier boat ramp last week have both died. A Boston Medical Center spokeswoman said the couple died within minutes of each other this past Thursday. The dating couple had been in critical condition ever since arriving at the hospital. Family members said the young lady was trying to teach her boyfriend how to drive when he accidentally drove the vehicle off the pier.

B) A Steamship Authority ferryboat collided with another ferry at the Woods Hole terminal. The 242-foot long M/V Governor was returning to Woods Hole while enroute to its first daily trip to Martha's Vineyard when the captain realized he had no steering. The collision occurred when the captain tried to dock the ship. The ferry collided with the Island Home that was tied up at the dock. The Coast Guard safety officer who inspected the ships reported a dent in the Island Home's hull above the waterline. No injuries were reported.

C) The Coast Guard advises fall season boaters and coastal duck hunters to exercise caution while enjoying New England's coastal waters. Fall and the changing weather bring the added danger of cold-water immersion. In the event of capsizing or falling overboard, the Coast Guard recommends staying with the boat, because it's easier to see than a person alone in the water. From now until May, it is mandatory in Massachusetts and Connecticut for canoeists and kayakers to wear their life jackets while on the water.

D) The Coast Guard terminated the voyage of a fishing vessel three miles southwest of Martha's Vineyard after discovering the crew did not have enough safety gear aboard. The Coast Guard Cutter Hammerhead, an 87-foot patrol boat from Woods Hole boarded the fishing vessel Corvo II and found the four-person crew had only three survival suits and no other personal floatation devices aboard. The boat was escorted back to its dock in New Bedford and ordered not to go back out until the boat had adequate safety gear aboard.

E) A group of U.S. obstetricians and nutritionists said women who are pregnant or breast-feeding should eat at least 12 ounces of fish a week because the benefits for infant brain development outweigh any worries about mercury contamination. This recommendation contradicts earlier government warnings that women should consume no more than 12 ounces of fish. The medical specialists said fish and seafood are important for brain and motor skill development in children and can help prevent postpartum depression in mothers, and they further added that there has been no case of fetal mercury toxicity due to fish consumption ever reported in the United States.

F) After a 4 month ban, the herring trawler purse seiners were allowed to resume fishing off the coast of Massachusetts. Charterboat fishermen said that they saw an astounding improvement in the number of tuna fish, groundfish, and whales after the seiners were banned, so they say the return of them is very unfortunate. They are now asking for emergency action and a permanent ban starting in 2008. The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has put the topic of a ban on purse seiners on the agenda at their next meeting this Thursday, October 11th at 11am at the Weston Public Library in the town of Weston. Fishermen say which way the vote will go will on the ban will depend on attendance.

G) A leatherback turtle entangled in lobster gear about 100 yards off Sandy Neck Beach was rescued by the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and the Town of Sandwich's harbormaster. Town employees working on the beach noticed the turtle bobbing and splashing offshore. After the turtle was freed, it was brought aboard an environmental police boat for an examination. It was deemed OK and then tagged and released into Cape Cod Bay.

H) And last on today's nautical news, off the coast of Japan, a 28-year-old deckhand fell off a tanker into the sea while he was relieving himself over the side of the deck. He managed to survive until he was found the next day by a fishing boat. He wasn't wearing a lifejacket, but he said he stayed afloat by hanging on to an empty 2 liter plastic bottle with a handgrip that was floating nearby after he fell. According to the Japanese Coast Guard, an empty two-liter plastic bottle is sufficient to keep an adult afloat.

10/14/07

A) A Mass Maritime cadet spotted a man in the water and a boat adrift at the Sandwich Marina. He immediately called for help and then jumped into a dinghy and headed toward the drifting 44-foot Hinckley boat. Upon reaching the boat, he saw the semi-conscious man in the water trapped between one of the boat's dock lines and the side of the boat. The line was tight and appeared to be caught underneath the boat. Fortunately, the cadet had a knife with him and cut the man free. He then helped him out of the water. Officials said there was no doubt that the Mass Maritime cadet saved the man's life. After the rescue, the rescued man told how he got into trouble. He said he was attempting to dock the boat singlehandedly at the marina's fuel dock. He jumped off the boat with the dock line in hand and hit his head on the overhang of the fuel attendant's shack. The impact dazed him and fell in the water, still holding the line. The line then got sucked into the boat's jetdrive propulsion system, trapping him on the side of the boat.

B) The New England Fisheries Management Council has voted to keep its leadership intact by re-electing John Pappalardo and Rip Cunningham as its chairman and vice chairman for another year. Both votes were unanimous. Pappalardo of Chatham is a fisherman and policy analyst whereas Cunningham, of Dover, is the former editor and publisher of Saltwater Sportsman magazine.

C) Local fishermen got support from a non-profit environmental law firm called Earthjustice. At last week's Division of Marine Fisheries hearing in Plymouth, Massachusetts, local fishermen protested the return of the herring trawler fleet in the Gulf of Maine. Although not represented by the law firm, Earthjustice filed an emergency petition with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Guttierez asking that the industrial-scale midwater herring trawler fleet be banned from in the Gulf of Maine and George's Bank. An Earthjustice representative said his firm was representing two Maine fishing groups which shared the same concern as the Massachusetts fishermen. A midwater trawler, of which there are approximately 40 in the region, uses nets that are the length of a football field, the width of a soccer field, and the nets are approximately six stories high, catching everything in their path.

D) The Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard held a war room exercise on Cape Cod to evaluate the area's ability to respond to a terrorist-related incident. The entire port community was involved, including local, state, county, and federal agencies as well as private industry. This exercise was part of a test that is being done around the country to determine how well we are prepared to work together.

E) Canada took action to protect North Atlantic right whales from collisions with ships. The Canadian government designated the Roseway Basin near Nova Scotia as an "area to be avoided" by ships from June 1st to December 31st. The basin is about 30 nautical miles south of Cape Sable Island. The action follows the decision made by the United States to change the shipping lanes that approach Boston.

F) Boatbuilding in Maine has been a proud tradition for four centuries, but industry leaders say its future is in jeopardy because of a severe shortage of skilled labor. Maine's small, aging population is also part of the problem. However, state officials are not sitting still. With the help of a $15 million federal grant, they are developing a boat building curriculum that offers scholarships and re-imbursements for tuition to those who enter the trade. The state Legislature is also being asked to approve a two-year, associate's degree program in boat building as part of a post graduate school's curriculum.

G) Sankaty Light on Nantucket was successfully moved this past week from an eroding cliff to its new location, which currently is the 5th hole on a golf course. The 550-ton, 70-foot-tall lighthouse was moved 280 feet from its original location overlooking the Atlantic. Now the question is whether they will relocate the 5th hole on the golf course.

H) And last on today's nautical news, fishing is now part of the physical education curriculum being taught at the Bourne Middle School on Cape Cod. The school's physical education teacher said fishing is the school's newest - and perhaps most popular - sport in gym class, as educators put an added emphasis on "lifelong learning skills" as opposed to competitive sports. Subjects being taught in the fishing class are casting, knot tying, baiting, and water safety. The course also teaches patience, responsibility, and problem solving skills. This past week, 40 fifth grade students went fishing along the Cape Cod Canal hoping to catch striper, albacore tuna, and bluefish. One thing that didn't have to be taught was describing the fish that got away. It was how big?

10/21/07

A) A bill passed by the U.S. Senate calls for $15 million in compensation to all Massachusetts commercial fishermen. The money would be given to the state's  Division of Marine Fisheries to reimburse ground fishermen for losses they incurred because of a federal law that limited the fishermen to only 24 days at sea a year. An additional $5 million would be used for fisheries research in Massachusetts. That money would be divided between the School for Marine Science and Technology and the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute. Senator John Kerry said in a press release, "The fishing industry is a major part of Massachusetts economy, and we've got to do all we can to help our fishing families deal with these extraordinarily difficult times." Before any money is released, the bill must now be passed by the House of Representatives, and then signed into law by the President.

B) A Maine fisherman faces $510,000 in fines and loss of his fishing permits for allegedly breaking the federal commercial fishing reporting laws. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration alleged that the fisherman failed to report about 15 million pounds of herring he caught this past summer. Federal law mandates fishermen to report their catches every week and to keep daily logs detailing their catch information. The fine was the largest ever assessed in Maine for a herring fisherman. The owner of the boat said the amount of the fine was "crazy" and that he hopes to work out a settlement or else he will be on welfare. He admitted he was late in reporting his catch because he was given the wrong phone number to call it in, but he said his daily log was nearly up to date.

C) President Bush signed an Executive Order that prohibits the sale of striped bass and red drum fish caught in Federal waters, and encourages more accurate, up to date scientific records about the fish population. The President is directing Federal agencies to work with State officials to find other innovative ways to help conserve striped bass and red drum populations, including the use of the designation of "gamefish status" for the species in state waters. Again, we will hear from the President in just a few minutes.

D) Woods Hole scientists exploring a deep ocean basin have found marine life believed to be previously undiscovered, including a "box shaped" fish and a tentacled orange worm. About 100 different specimens were found in the ocean south of the Philippines - a region recognized by scientists as having a high degree of biological diversity. The scientists were able to explore to a depth of about 9,100 feet using a remote controlled camera.

E) Last week, federal officials implemented temporary restrictions on the lobster gear used by Maine lobstermen after reports of right whales sited off the Maine coast. Maine lobstermen complained that there was no way they could change their gear on such short notice, and any restrictions this time of year would have a severe economic impact on them. This week, federal officials rescinded the restrictions after a flyover found no evidence of right whales in the area.

F) Also this past week, port workers, longshoremen, truckers and others in Wilmington, Delaware became the first in the nation to wear a national ID card. The ID cards are a requirement of the new federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential program. Workers in Georgia ports will be next. The ID cards ensure that anyone wearing the badge has passed a thorough background check and is not a security threat. Officials said anyone who goes on the dock, whether it is a trucker or someone delivering coffee, will need the ID card. The fee for obtaining the federal ID card is $132.50, and it will be valid for five years.

G) It took volunteers at the Plimoth Plantation about 900 hours to build a 16 foot work boat so that they could maintain the Mayflower II whenever it is in the water tied to the dock. Many of the volunteers gathered at Plymouth' boat ramp to watch the boat's official launching. One of the biggest contributors to the project was Honda Marine, which donated a brand new outboard motor. Honda Marine's national sales manager came from Georgia to attend the launching.

And last on today's nautical news, the Sandy Neck Lighthouse was officially re-lit last night after being dark and headless for the past 75 years. Located at the entrance of Barnstable Harbor, the 48-foot light served as an aid to navigation from 1826 to 1931. Then in 1931, the light was decommissioned and moved to a skeleton tower down the beach. The Coast Guard literally beheaded the beacon, removing the entire lantern room, so that sunlight reflecting off the glass would not confuse mariners.

10/28/07

A) Even though last week the U.S. Senate passed the 15 million dollar emergency aid fund for New England fishermen, this week the House of Representatives voted it down. The emergency fund was supposed to help the region’s fishermen who could only fish 24 days a year due to the government’s regulations. Officials from the National Marine Fisheries Service in Washington testified that there was no economic disaster or collapse of species in New England. Talk about a Catch-22! Fishermen can’t catch cod, flounder, and other groundfish because stocks of those fish are depleted, but improving. So while there aren’t enough fish to allow fishermen to catch them, there are too many fish to justify declaring a “fisheries disaster.” U.S. Representatives also said that overall fishing revenues in New England were up because of the lobsters and scallops. The fishermen responded saying that more than 1,000 groundfishermen do not fish for lobsters or scallops, and that they cannot by fishing only 24 days a year.

B) A boating accident off the coast of New York killed two and injured two. It happened at night when a 24 foot power boat crossed between a barge and tugboat and struck the 1500 foot long towline. The captain of the tug said he sounded the warning signal and illuminated the cable with a spotlight, but the powerboat ignored his signals. The boat collided with the tow line and capsized, spilling its passengers into the dark waters of the Ambrose Channel, New York’s busy shipping channel. A 61-year-old man was rescued by a passing fishing boat, and a 46-year-old man was pulled from under the capsized boat by police scuba divers. Both were listed in stable condition at area hospitals. Two others were dead at the scene. The Captain of the tug boat was alcohol and drug tested and no charges were filed.

C) The Coast Guard ruled that a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on the Taunton River in Fall River wasn’t safe because the LNG tankers wouldn’t have sufficient space to safely navigate between two bridges that are about 1,100 feet apart. The Coast Guard’s decision dealt a fatal blow to the project proposed by Weaver’s Cove Energy. Coast Guard Capt. Roy Nash, Captain of the Port for southeastern New England, said the safety risks were too great to favorably recommend the waterway as suitable. A Weaver’s Cove spokesman said his company would appeal the Coast Guard’s decision because of the acute demand for natural gas in the region.

D) The Coast Guard terminated a fishing vessel trip about six miles east of Boston’s Graves Light. The Coast Guard stopped and inspected the fishing vessel Anne Carole, a 40-foot lobster boat out of Saugus and found the vessel’s emergency position indicating radio beacon and life raft certifications had expired. Also there were no emergency signaling devices like flares onboard. The fishermen and boat was escorted back to Lynn and instructed not to leave the dock until all the discrepancies had been corrected.

E) The Massachusetts Legislative Boating Caucus met at the State House to discuss issues relative to the Massachusetts recreational marine trades and boating community. The Caucus consisted of over 50 members of the Legislature who meet several times throughout the year to discuss preserving the marine trades' recreational boating industry in Massachusetts and enhancing the boating experience. Legislators from the South Shore in attendance were Representative Frank Hynes from Marshfield, and Senator Michael Morrissey and Representative Bruce Ayers from Quincy. Topics discussed at last week’s caucus included various legislative bills and environmental regulatory codes that could seriously affect marinas, boatyards, and yacht clubs and the way they bottom wash and bottom paint boats.

F) The 48th edition of the world’s largest boat show opened this week in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. More than 1.6 billion dollars worth of boats, yachts, megayachts, electronics, engines, and thousands of accessories from every major marine manufacturer and builder worldwide were on display. The show encompasses more than 3 million square feet of space, both on land and in water at six different locations all connected by water taxis in the city that has become known as America’s Venice. Industry experts said the fleet of megayachts has nearly doubled in the last 10 years and that segment is booming. That’s the good news!

G) The bad news came from officials from Brunswick Corp., the world’s largest maker of recreational boats. They said that the drop in demand they were seeing for some of their boat models was “unprecedented.” The demand for 2007 aluminum boats over 16 feet in length was down 20 percent compared with 2004, and the demand for these boats in the Upper Midwest was down 43 percent. According to officials, that means half of that market had disappeared. Brunswick Corp. reported a $23.7 million net loss for the third quarter.

H) The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba fulfilled a former shipmate’s wishes and took him on his final voyage for burial at sea. Boatswain Mate Ray O’Malley had served during WWII on another CG Cutter named the Escanaba. O’Malley was one of two who survived German U Boat torpedoes that sank his ship. Now, 64 years later, Ray O’Malley has rejoined his long lost shipmates. As he was laid to rest at sea, a 21-gun salute was heard, followed by the gentle sounds of a bagpipe playing Amazing Grace. As the Escanaba returned to its homeport, the Coast Guard crew remembered their ships motto: “The Spirit Lives On.”

I) And last on today’s nautical news, fish feed is a major expense for many aquaculture operations. Plus the farmers add drugs and chemicals into the feed to prevent the spread of disease and to make the fish grow bigger, faster. Now, farmers have found a new way to save on the fish feed. They are adding ethanol co-products into the mix so now almost half the food given to farm raised fish is from ethanol. Scientists said the ethanol co-products provided protein for the fish, cheaper than the soybean-corn combinations that were commonly used. The farmers said the results were amazing. The tilapia and catfish were thriving on their new ethanol food just as if they had a tiger in their tank!

11/4/07

A) The state's bomb squad was called to Hyannis Inner Harbor after the crew of the 78 foot Jenna Lee fishing boat returned to its dock with an unexploded bomb. The military ordnance had been on the boat for about a week after being dragged up in the fishing vessel's net off the coast of New Jersey. Other than the fact that the bomb looked like a piece of a rusty pipe with barnacles on it, it was not clear why the fishermen waited until returning to Cape Cod before calling authorities.

B) Members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez asking him to reconsider his last week's decision that denied a disaster declaration to the New England groundfishermen. The disaster declaration would have granted millions of dollars in emergency aid to New England fishermen and fishing-related businesses. Federal officials said that New England groundfish stocks were improving and that fishermen were still making a living, so there was no reason for a disaster declaration. However, the Massachusetts congressional delegation wrote in their letter that groundfish landings were less than half what they were in 1994 when the Department of Commerce first declared a fisheries disaster for the region. The letter also asserted that revenue losses for fishermen could mean that essential shoreside services such as boat repair and fish processing would be lost.

C) Scituate commercial fisherman, Frank Mirarchi, is now fishing for trash. His clean-up efforts are funded with a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is the first cooperative venture between fishermen and the government to remove debris in this region. Mirarchi was drafted by the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to haul in whatever trash he could find with his 55-foot fishing boat while fishing for cod and haddock. It was reported that his time and labor were free, but he is reimbursed for the fuel used. So far, Mirarchi and his crew have pulled in toilet seats, electrical wiring, pipes, helium balloons, plastic bags, milk crates, detergent bottles, coffee cups, clothing, and even old fishing gear.

D) This coming Wednesday evening there will be a hearing   at the town hall in Norwell regarding that town's first ever mooring bylaw. An estimated 125 boats have moorings on the North River in Norwell, and until now, boaters have been placing and using the moorings without any town rules or fees. Some believe the moorings are too close to one another creating a hazard to navigation. Others see the moorings as a potential revenue enhancer, calculating that at $2.50 a foot per boat, the town could collect $9,000 a year in fees.  

E) A new national ID card required of all people who work at a port, threatens to cost hundreds of ex-cons their jobs. The new homeland security regulation referred to as TWIC - Transportation Workers Identification Credential - was designed to deny port access to anyone deemed a security threat. However, the existing federal rules include a list of past offenses that will temporarily or permanently disqualify workers from receiving the ID card. For example, anyone convicted of espionage or treason could never receive a card. Immigrants without legal work status also will not qualify, and even convictions such as unlawful possession of a firearm, or possession of an illegal substance, would mean temporary disqualification at a minimum. Applicants for the ID card must bring various forms of documentation, submit to fingerprinting, and pay a fee.

F) A recent court decision in Florida has found that certain local anchoring ordinances were in violation of state law. Boaters in Florida were faced with a number of different anchoring regulations depending in what municipality or county they were dropping anchor. Some counties restricted recreational boaters to a maximum 12-hour anchoring period when located within 300 feet of a seawall, while another said it was OK to anchor in the same spot for six days. Finally a boater decided to violate Florida's anchor law and brought his case to court. The judge ruled that the various municipal anchoring ordinances were "an unlawful regulation of publicly owned sovereign waterways in violation of Florida law."

G) Despite a decrease in this year's attendance at the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show, some exhibitors did better than they expected, especially those who showed off new products and models. Europeans had much more buying power this year because of the lower value of the dollar, and as one might expect, the megayacht market is insulated from the economic ups and downs. Organizers of the show said literally hundreds of boats were sold, and they blamed Hurricane Noel for the drop in attendance.

H) And last on today's nautical news, talk about an unlikely discovery. Salmon sperm makes brighter lights. Andrew Steckl, an expert in photonics from the University of Cincinnati, has discovered that salmon sperm can make LEDs, Light Emitting Diodes, brighter! And the best part of his discovery is that the fishing industry has had no use for the salmon sperm. It's been thrown away by the ton. Talk about one man's trash being another man's treasure! Steckl remarked that the salmon sperm is natural, renewable, and perfectly biodegradable. Can you believe he is now receiving salmon sperm by the truckload! You have heard about sperm whales. Think sperm salmon!

11/11/07

A) A new battle is brewing between the Commonwealth and the Coast Guard. This past week, the Massachusetts Senate unanimously approved tougher protections against oil spills in Buzzards Bay, saying the Coast Guard's regulations do not go far enough. The new legislation requires the state's Department of Environmental Protection to assign an escort tugboat to shadow every oil shipment through Buzzards Bay. The rule would apply to both single and double hulled vessels. Experts said the cost of the extra tugboat would increase the already record price of oil to New Englanders about 3 cents per barrel. The state's Representatives now have to vote on the bill. You might recall, a similar attempt by the state to pass tougher oil spill laws were thrown out in court because the laws violated federal interstate commerce laws. However, an appeals court sent that case back to U.S. District Court for a new hearing. An industry group fighting the new law has again warned that the federal laws take precedence over the state's laws.

B) After nearly three years of trying to negotiate a new long term lease, 14 boat and yacht clubs on state owned land are now facing eviction. The state has given the clubs until November 23rd to pay the increased fees they owe and allow the public to access to their docks and piers and restrooms. Otherwise, the matter will be turned over to Attorney General Martha Coakley for prosecution. The clubs on the south shore that are affected are Squantum Yacht Club and Wollaston Yacht Club in Quincy and the South Shore Yacht Club in Weymouth.

C) Endangered humpback and fin whales swam hundreds of miles north of their usual habitat this summer in what environmentalists say is another sign of global warming and the shifting Arctic ecosystem. However, a spokeswoman for NOAA's fisheries service said humpbacks have been previously spotted in that area, and a spokesman from the Center for Biological Diversity said the humpback sightings simply might indicate a recovering population expanding their range in search of food.

D) Norwegian Cruise Lines struck a new 10-year deal with the government of Bermuda that solidifies it as the exclusive Boston-to-Bermuda cruise line through 2018. The Miami cruise company's Norwegian Majesty, a 1,500 passenger ship, will be replaced next year with the 1,700 passenger cruise ship Norwegian Dream. The Norwegian Dream is scheduled to make 21 trips to Bermuda. Then in 2009, the 2,000-passenger Norwegian Spirit will take over and make at least 22 annual cruises to Bermuda.

E) Out on the west coast, a major oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The worst of its kind in 20 years. Human error is said to have caused an oil tanker to crash into the San Francisco Bay Bridge. This was the first time the bridge was ever struck by a ship since it was built in 1936. The ship was headed out of the bay in thick fog when it sideswiped a support on the bridge, leaving a gash of nearly 100 feet on the side of the 926-foot long tanker. Two fuel tanks leaked about 58,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil into the bay. Coast Guard officials said they believe there was a communication problem between the Chinese crew and the American pilot guiding the vessel. However, the ship's captain and officers are required to speak English if they enter U.S. waters. There was an unconfirmed report that the Coast Guard had warned the pilot about the ship's course shortly before the crash, but the pilot responded saying the electronic navigation instruments on board showed he was on the correct heading. Rescue teams are now trying to save hundreds of birds covered with oil. At least 60 birds have been found dead so far, while 200 live birds were sent to a rehabilitation center to be cleaned.

F) The Colombian coast guard, on routine patrol, came upon a mini-shipyard where drug traffickers were building two 55-foot-long diesel powered submarines, capable of navigating hundreds of miles underwater. The subs had cargo space that could hold up to 5 tons of cocaine and cabin space for a crew of four. In the past two years, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard have seized 13 similar drug running submarines. The increase in the number of submarines could also be a security threat. Many law enforcement officials are concerned that the submarines could be used by   terrorists, delivering 5 tons of explosives and weapons of mass destruction.

G) The Coast Guard and a commercial salvage company worked together to save life and property about 16 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. Here is what happened. The Coast Guard received a call from a New Bedford fisherman stating he was alone on his 42-foot fishing boat named the Linda C and it was taking on water. The Coast Guard got his location and immediately headed for the fishing boat. A local salvage company boat also responded and was first on scene. After nobody on the fishing boat responded to the salvage crew's shouts, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer was lowered from the helicopter on to the fishing boat to investigate. The rescue swimmer used an ax to break into the pilot house where he found the fisherman curled up in a corner in shock, suffering from hypothermia. The fisherman was then hoisted into the helicopter and flown to the hospital where he was treated and saved. The salvage company towed the fishing boat into shallow water and grounded the vessel so it could not sink.

H) And last on today's nautical news, the captain of a small cruise ship with 66 people aboard intentionally ran his ship aground along an isolated stretch of the Intracoastal Waterway in Virginia to prevent it from sinking after he discovered it was taking on water. There were no reports of any injuries and the passengers actually ate their breakfast as they waited to be rescued. The Coast Guard arrived and transported all the passengers to a nearby ferry boat. Just prior to the accident, the owners of the ship announced they had changed the ship's name from The Spirit of Nantucket to The Spirit of Glacier Bay.

11/18/07

A) The Coast Guard was rocked in the wake of the way it handled last week's San Francisco Bay oil spill. The agency replaced its Bay Area disaster commander and admitted it mishandled drug tests for crew members of the ship that struck the Bay Bridge. Coast Guard officials said that the ship's crew members linked to the crash were not tested for drugs until 53 hours after the accident. The Coast Guard's vessel traffic controllers were also criticized for failing to warn the ship that it was on course to hit the bridge.

B) Japanese whale hunters started their largest whaling expedition in decades, going after protected humpbacks for the first time since the 1960s, despite international opposition. A Greenpeace anti-whaling    boat was awaiting the fleet offshore. The hunting of humpbacks is believed to be the first large-scale hunt for the once nearly extinct species since a 1963 moratorium in the Southern Pacific put the giant marine mammals under international protection. The Japanese insist they will be killing the whales for scientific purposes.
 
C) Fishermen aboard the Boston fishing vessel Guardian picked up a body in their net about 20 miles east of Cape Cod's Nauset Beach. The fishermen immediately contacted Coast Guard Station Chatham to report the incident. The Coast Guard picked up the body and brought it to the local medical examiner, who identified the body as a man who was properly buried at sea in March of 2001. The identity was made from markings on the body which were still intact even though the body was under sea for 6 years. The man was one of only two people buried in full body rites at sea within the past seven years in waters off New England, according to the U.S. EPA's Boston office. You see, the EPA regulates ocean burials, requiring that full-body services be conducted at least 3 nautical miles from shore in waters at least 600 feet deep.

D) A New York company called Cargo Ventures is proposing to build a second cruise ship terminal in Boston. Included in the 200 million dollar terminal project are office buildings, warehouse space, and a 1000 car parking garage. Massport predicts the port will handle up to 500,000 passengers annually in the next five years, and the builders of the new terminal said they could complete their project by 2009 if the permitting process goes smoothly.

E) Massachusetts State Senator Bruce Tarr called on the state's House of Representatives to quickly pass legislation that allows the state to zone and manage what industries can locate on Massachusetts' coastal waters. The bill, called the Massachusetts Ocean Act, would allow the state to identify what economic uses it wants to encourage and what uses it wants to discourage. The bill, which has the support of environmental groups and the Patrick administration, already passed the Senate, but has been stalled in the House. Senator Tarr said he sees the fishing industry as one of the most important industries in Massachusetts and predicts it would emerge as a priority once the state decides how it wants its waters used.

F) Despite rumors of a recession and low consumer confidence, millions of dollars in new boats were sold at the Ft Lauderdale Boat Show last month. Tiara Yachts led all manufacturers with more than 30 boats sold including 15 of their brand new 58 footers at an average price of 1.6 million dollars each. Viking Yachts also had a good show, selling 25 of their 60 foot model sportfishing boats.

G) A team of researchers in Rhode Island has designed a groundfish net that effectively eliminates the problem of bycatch when fishing for haddock. The team entered its design into the World Wildlife Federation's International Smart Gear Competition and won the $30,000 grand prize. The team consisted of University of Rhode Island Fisheries Center researchers Laura Skrobe and David Beutel and Rhode Island fishermen Jon Knight, Phil Ruhle Sr., Phil Ruhle Jr., and Jim O'Grady. They call their net the "Eliminator," which takes advantage of haddock's tendency to swim up when faced with a net, while other fish, such as cod and flounder, swim down.

H) FEMA is refusing to pick up the cost of restocking the New Orleans' aquarium after Hurricane Katrina killed the fish in the tanks because the new fish were obtained with nets straight from the sea. FEMA was willing to pay more than $600,000 for the new fish if they had been bought from commercial suppliers, but the agency won't pay a dime because the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas went on an expedition to the Florida Keys and Bahamas to replace the dead fish. Although that expedition saved the taxpayers a half-million dollars, it did not comply with FEMA  regulations, which do not allow for people to go on trips or expeditions. The dispute has dragged on for 17 months and is expected to go to federal court.

I) Sig Hansen, the star of TV's "Deadliest Catch" filmed in Alaska is in a little hot water. Apparently Hansen sold his name and image of his Alaskan fishing boat to a Russian company that is marketing Russian crabmeat. Alaska's speaker of the House is calling for an investigation in what he is calling fraudulent marketing. The speaker said anyone who recognizes Sig Hansen would think the crabs were caught in Alaska's Bering Sea. Alaska King Crab is known the world over as the premium crabmeat, yet a foreign company is demeaning its name, its value, and its standing in the market. In his defense, Sig Hansen said that he hopes his endorsement will boost sales and increase crab prices everywhere, thus benefiting the Alaska fleets.

J) And last on today's nautical news, scientists claim there are several mistruths in Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth. The latest error of fact is that 1998 is not the hottest year on record in the United States as Al gore claimed. Scientists from NASA now quietly admit they made a mistake in their calculations of temperatures. They say the error had something to do with the Y2K bug and algorithm used to adjust the data. Scientists now claim that the warmest temperatures on record occurred back in the 1930s, with the warmest year on record being 1934, not 1998. It is now expected that similar revisions will also be made for global temperature recordings, meaning the world does not have a fever. In fact some scientists are saying what they said 10 years ago. We might be in for a period of global cooling and not global warming!

11/25/07

A) Dr. William Hogarth, NOAA's Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, has announced his intention to leave NOAA at the end of this year to join the University of South Florida where he will serve as the Interim Dean for the College of Marine Science. Dr. Hogarth joined NOAA Fisheries in 1994, and oversaw most of today's fishing regulations and management methods including the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. He has been at the forefront of the Bush administration's drive to enact its new aquaculture legislation.

B) Massachusetts Senator John Kerry proposed a three to five year moratorium on bluefin tuna fishing in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea at last week's ICATT meeting. ICCAT is an acronym for International Commission of the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna. According to Senator Kerry, New England fishermen have faced drastic tuna shortages because European fishermen had harvested a majority of the fish before they were able to swim close to the waters off New England. Canada and Mexico supported the Senator, but all the ICCAT member countries in Europe voted the Senator's proposal down.

C) Closer to home, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is backing a federal bill that would ease fishing restrictions by allowing regulators to rebuild depleted fish stocks over a longer time frame. The present law sets a 10 year timeline to rebuild certain fish species. Representative Frank suggests that a 13 year or longer time frame might make more sense, alleviating the economic burden that has been placed on New England fishermen.

D) An upgraded Coast Guard communications system is coming to Stations Gloucester, Boston, and Scituate. The new system will allow for quicker rescues of mariners in distress and eliminate most hoax calls. Rescue 21, a $730 million system, will allow rescuers to quickly locate a vessel's position from the radio signals received from inland towers. The system is expected to in full operation before the end of 2009. So instead of relying on mariners in distress to determine and relay their coordinates, the radio they use to call for help will automatically tell the Coast Guard where the boat is located. The system will work with the radios boaters already use. Coast Guard officials estimated that of the 422 emergency calls they received in the past 12 months, 15 per cent of them were hoaxes.

E) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that this year's production of Atlantic Salmon eggs at facilities in Massachusetts and Vermont will have to be destroyed because a virus was found. The fish that were used for the breeding, the broodstock, will also have to be destroyed. It was not clear how the virus was introduced, but the biologists claim that humans do not have to worry about contracting the disease.

F) A 70 year old Duxbury man had to be rescued by the local fire department after he became stuck in the mud while clamming. The fire department received a call from the police stating a man was stuck in the mud near the boat launch ramp. Fortunately, the man was not injured after he was dug free.

G) The city of Boston has been formally announced as a stopover in the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race. Boston will be the only North American stopover in the race. The boat representing the united States will be skippered by Rhode Island sailor Ken Read and sponsored by PUMA, the global sport lifestyle company which has its North American and international brand headquarters in Boston. Ports in the Middle East and Asia will also be added for the first time in the race's 34 year history.

H) More than 30,000 birds and countless fish were killed in what Russian officials are calling an "ecological disaster." Hundreds of thousands of gallons of heavy crude oil leaked from a tanker that broke apart near the Black Sea. The tanker was originally carrying about 1.3 million gallons of fuel oil. Birds weighed down by the oil hopped weakly along the shore or sat helplessly in the sand. The spill from the oil tanker was seen as potentially the worst environmental disaster in the region in recent years and prompted worldwide criticism that many Russian tankers are simply not seaworthy.

I) Billions of jellyfish, covering 10 square miles, have wiped out the entire population of more than 100,000 fish at Northern Ireland's only salmon farm. A dozen workers tried to rescue the salmon, worth about $2 million, but their boats struggled for hours to push through the 35 feet deep mass of jellyfish. All the salmon were dead from stings and stress by the time the boats could reach the salmon, confined in two pens, about a mile off the coast of Ireland. One worker said, "the sea was red with jellyfish and there was nothing we could do about it." Some scientists blame global warming as causing the jelly fish to move so far north.

12/02/07

A) The Boston Globe newspaper reported that more than 2,000 fish in Boston Harbor were killed by underwater blasting since late October. Far more serious fish kills could occur in the next 18 months as the Army Corps of Engineers dredge Boston's shipping channel.  The state's Division of Marine Fisheries director Paul Diodati said the number of fish killed actually might be twice that amount. He explained that it was difficult to count how many fish were killed by the underwater blasts because not all of the dead fish floated to the surface. Experts said the shock waves from the explosives burst the air bladders in the fish, drowning them.

B) The Coast Guard put into effect their new rules for oil barges that pass through Cape Cod Canal and Buzzards Bay. They are slightly different than the state's new rules, so the state's attorney general said she will challenge the Coast Guard in court. You see, the Coast Guard claims the state's regulations violate the Coast Guard's jurisdiction in these navigable waterways. The big difference between the state's regulations and the Coast Guard's is that the Coast Guard requires tugboats to escort single-hulled ships carrying more than 5,000 gallons of oil whereas the state's law requires a tug escort for single and double hulled tankers. The state argues that since federal law phases out all single hull tank barges, the new rule would eventually leave all tank barges unescorted. So which law applies now? Lawyers say that until the court makes it decision, both sets of regulations apply.

C) Even after getting an eviction ultimatum last week from the state, eight of the 14 boat and yacht clubs that occupy state land have refused to sign new leases or pay their rent. The commissioner of the state's Department of Conservation and Recreation, whose land the clubs use, said that despite his agency's earlier threats of prosecution and eviction, he would continue negotiations and was optimistic of reaching an agreement. The eight clubs involved in this dispute are the Charles River Yacht Club in Cambridge, the East Boston Yacht Club, the Medford Boat Club, the Neponset Valley Yacht Club in Milton, the Newton Yacht Club, the Squantum Yacht Club and the Wollaston Yacht Club in Quincy, and the South Boston Yacht Club. A spokesman for the clubs said that the clubs have certain rights to protect their property and are looking for long term leases instead of the annual permits they are being offered for the land they maintain.

D) The Coast Guard assisted a freighter about 150 miles off Cape Cod after the vessel's captain reported damage to the ship's hull sustained during a storm. The freighter, loaded with 4,300 tons of wood pulp, sustained two holes in its hull approximately 10 feet above the waterline caused by the anchor striking the hull during severe weather. The vessel's captain also reported damage the to the anchor windlass and to its backup fire pump. The Coast Guard Cutter Dependable escorted the freighter into Boston harbor for the repairs to be made.

E) The 126-foot Gloucester fishing vessel Western Venture spilled about 300 gallons of diesel into Gloucester harbor. The cause of the spill is still under investigation by the Coast Guard, but initial reports indicated it happened while fuel was being transferred between tanks. At 300 gallons, the Coast Guard considers that to be a minor spill, but the owner of the vessel could still be subjected to fines. The spill was contained and was in the process of being cleaned up.

F) The Coast Guard captain who was in charge of the agency's response to the San Francisco Bay oil spill is stepping down after 29 years of military service. Uberti was the region's sector commander when a couple of weeks ago a container ship sideswiped the Bay Bridge in dense fog, dumping 58,000 gallons of thick fuel oil into the bay. The Coast Guard's reaction to the spill was widely criticized by public officials, and about a week after the accident Uberti was replaced as the official overseeing the agency's spill response.

G) And last on today's nautical news, the new Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw delivered 1,000 Christmas trees to needy families in the Chicago area. Volunteers from the Sea Cadets, Young Marines, and the Sea Explorer Scouts assisted the Mackinaw crew with this year's giveaway. The Christmas tree shipping tradition on the Great Lakes - one the Coast Guard renewed in 2000 - goes back more than a century, when Christmas trees were often transported down the lakes by ships whose captains were anxious to extend their season with a December run. In the early 1900s, the three-masted schooner Rouse Simmons probably was the best-known Christmas tree ship because her captain sold trees directly to the public from the Chicago docks instead of to merchants. He would fix a tree to his mast to signal that he was open for business.

12/9/07

A) Here is some good news for recreational clam diggers in Scituate. The State's Division of Marine Fisheries has declared the shellfish beds along the North River open for clamming. The beds shall remain open almost until the beginning of summer. However, a clamming license is required and can be purchased at Scituate Town Hall. The fee for the one year license is $20 for Scituate residents and $50 for non-residents. I am told that seniors 65 and over will be issued the license free of charge.

B) For the first time since the 1970s, Dolly Snowe-Bicknell, the daughter of the late maritime historian Edward Rowe Snow will be making the rounds with this year's Flying Santa, delivering holiday cheer to Coast Guard families at a number of Massachusetts Coast Guard bases. Dolly used to accompany her father when he served as the Flying Santa. In just a little while, the President of the Friends of Flying Santa as well as Dolly Snowe-Bicknell will be joining us to tell us more about the Flying Santa tradition.

C) The Coast Guard said this year they found fewer safety violations on fishing boats in the Northeast than the previous year. The Coast Guard said they stopped and inspected 172 Northeast fishing boats during the month of November and found most of them in compliance with all safety regulations. Some common safety violations found on the boats not in compliance were lifeboats with outdated safety inspection tags, expired batteries on the boat's EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon), and insufficient number of survival suits. A Coast Guard officer said, "The best thing fishermen can do for their families this season is to make sure all their vessel's safety equipment is in good working condition before heading out to sea. We want fishermen to come home safe for the holidays."

D) The Commandant of the Coast Guard also announced a record year for cocaine busts. So far this year, 355,755 pounds of cocaine worth more than $4.7 billion have been seized. Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Thad Allen, said that drug smugglers today are resorting to riskier, more desperate tactics in an attempt to evade detection and interdiction at sea. He said they can run, but they cannot hide, even thought that is exactly what the smugglers have tried by using submarines. In other cases they have liquefied the cocaine and mixed it in with their diesel fuel.

E) Representative Barney Frank wrote a letter to the New Bedford Times editor answering his critics from the Pew Charitable Trusts. Congressman Frank has proposed extending the timeline to rebuild the fish stocks in order to minimize the economic impacts on fishermen and the communities where they work. Congressman Frank said the bill he is co-sponsoring would change the timeline from 10 years to maybe 13 or 14 years to rebuild the fish stocks whenever the cause of the decline in fish stocks was proven to be unrelated to fishing. Another part of his bill would extend the timeline whenever there was a change in the arbitrary population goal set. According to Representative Frank, passing his proposal would save more jobs in fishing communities like New Bedford, Plymouth, Marshfield, and Scituate.

F) States from Maine through South Carolina have scheduled hearings to gather public comment on a new Fishery Management Plan for Shad and River Herring. Between 1985 and 2004, commercial landings of river herring dropped by 90%. Since then, four states-Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and North Carolina-have completely closed their river herring fisheries. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input at the hearing, which is scheduled for the evening of January 8th, at the Radisson Hotel in Plymouth.

G) A recent survey revealed that two-thirds of today's parents started feeding their children seafood before their fifth birthday. Experts said a lot has to do with the parents being better educated and more health conscious than previous generations. Also, the TV's Food Network was given some credit. A lot of kids today, who are 10 years old and older, are willing to try different kinds of fish that their parents are eating, and in some cases catching. Doctors admit that kids are much more adventurous eaters than in years past, and that's great news for the seafood industry.

H) An ornament representing Boston Harbor Islands is now on display on the official White House Christmas Tree. The tree is the centerpiece of elaborate White House decorations celebrating the theme of "Holiday in the National Parks." First Lady Laura Bush has been an active supporter of the National Park Service, and the tree, located in the Blue Room, is adorned with handmade ornaments representing the country's 391 national parks. The Boston Harbor Islands ornament features a sea-glass mural of the Boston Harbor Islands logo, designed and made by local Hingham artists Carol Smith-Sloan and Holly Rader of "All Cracked Up." These artists are scheduled to be guests on next week's "Nautical Talk Radio" program.

I) The tenth Commanding Officer of the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier, Vice Admiral Diego E. Hernandez, is "on a mission" to save the recently decommissioned carrier as a museum and tourist attraction. "Big John" as former shipmates refer to her, is destined for mothballs in Philadelphia, or worse, may be sunk as an artificial reef. Admiral Hernandez believes that there is a higher and better use for this $1.5 billion US taxpayer asset. He envisions a profitable John F. Kennedy Maritime Museum center located in southern Florida, adjacent to the world's largest cruise ports in either Miami or Fort Lauderdale. If you want to help save "Big John" go to the admiral's website: SaveTheJFK.com.

12/17/07

A) Fishermen are hoping for good weather to go on one last Christmas fishing trip to make extra money for the holidays, but over the years, December has proven to be a very dangerous month. Fishing regulations limit the number of days the boats can go to work, so captains of fishing boats must make smart decisions about when to fish. They have a choice to use up their days in spring, when the weather is better, or save some days for later in the season, when the seas are rougher and the weather colder, but the market price for their catch could almost be twice as much. Trying to time the trips to coincide with cheaper fuel prices is also part of their decision. In December 2003,  three fishermen died and four were rescued from the lost scallop boat Atlanta. In December 2004, another scallop boat, the Northern Edge, was lost. Five men died and one was rescued on that trip. In 2007, the fishing trawler Lady of Grace was lost and all four men aboard died.

B) A Massachusetts State police helicopter pilot reported that his aircraft was lit up by a laser beam as he escorted an LNG tanker's approach to the Everett facility just outside of Boston harbor. The helicopter crew using cameras and other high tech equipment determined the area of origin for the laser beam, and about an hour later, the Coast Guard and police found a suspect. Maybe he thought it was funny to point a hand-held laser beam at a helicopter, but he now faces a federal prison term if convicted. Officials would not reveal exactly how they found the man, nor would they release his name, but they did not believe that he was acting as a terrorist.

C) Forget about global warming! Mercury is a bigger health problem. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health will soon be releasing new warnings about eating freshwater fish contaminated with mercury. Industrial plants in the Midwest are to blame. The smoke and smog from the Ohio Valley area blows the mercury east along the jet stream right into Massachusetts. The mercury then enters the lakes and ponds through rainfall. Once the mercury is in the water, plankton absorbs it, and then it becomes part of the food chain. Health officials said pregnant women and small children are particularly at risk of neurological damage and are advised not to eat certain types of freshwater fish. Residents can also help curb mercury emissions by not throwing away products that contain mercury. Products such as thermometers, button cell batteries, and fluorescent lights.

D) In unrelated incidents, two New Bedford fishing vessels had to be rescued by the Coast Guard Wednesday night. The Tropico, an 81-foot fishing boat with a crew of six, began taking on water about 35 miles east of Chatham. The fishermen were able to pump out the water with the Coast Guard's help and returned to New Bedford under its own power with a Coast Guard escort. The fishermen said they were wearing their survival suits and were prepared to abandon ship if the Coast Guard hadn't arrive on time with their emergency pumps.

E) After that rescue, several hours later, a call came in from The captain of the 88-foot Moragh K fishing boat and he stated that his boat was dead in the water and adrift because the propeller was fouled. He reported his position as about 75 miles east of Chatham. The Coast Guard Cutter Dependable was the first on scene and towed the disabled fishing boat toward Cape Cod Bay as a commercial tow boat headed out to meet them. The Coast Guard officer explained that the winter sea is an unpredictable and often unforgiving place. It's absolutely imperative that fishermen have their emergency plans laid out, and their safety gear onboard.

F) The Bush administration is again pushing for open ocean fish farms as an alternative to the imported seafood industry. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said developing ocean fish farms would allow the United States to reduce its dependence on imported seafood, help balance the federal trade deficit, and would allow U.S. officials to control its food standards. When questioned about the danger of farm raised fish escaping from their pens into the wild and then mating with the wild natural fish, the only answer the Secretary could offer is that "he is aware of the dangers."

G) The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has renamed its ship the Steve Irwin, in honor of the late crocodile hunter. Captain Paul Watson, founder and president of Sea Shepherd Society along with Steve Irwin's wife Terri, officially renamed the ship this past week in Australia. Terri Irwin said her late husband would have been extremely honored to be acknowledged in this way, as he shared the Sea Shepherd Society's passion to stop all whale hunting. And as I speak right now, Captain Paul Watson aboard the Steve Irwin is steaming south in the Antarctic Ocean to stop the Japanese whale ships from killing any more whales.

H) While we in the Northeast are freezing you know what, the 36th annual Fort Lauderdale Winterfest Boat Parade took place Saturday night. Some 80 boats, including several 100 foot megayachts, traveled down the New River as well as the Intracoastal Waterway. All were decorated with Christmas lights and trees, red bows, American flags and fake snowflakes. The boats threaded their way east on the New River, then north on the Intracoastal Waterway to Pompano Beach. People in beach chairs and at restaurants lined the Riverwalk and the Intracoastal Waterway creating one very big party.

I) And last on today's nautical news, underwater archaeologists in South Carolina have revealed that a pocket watch found in the civil war submarine Hunley was stopped at 8:23. Historians tell us that the hand-cranked submarine named the Hunley, rammed explosives into the Union's blockade ship, the Housatonic, on February 17, 1864, and became the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship. Unfortunately that night, the Hunley also sank as it tried to escape, taking with it a crew of 8, with one of the men wearing this watch. The Hunley was found off Charleston in 1995, and brought to the surface some 5 years later. The watch, owned by Lt. George Dixon, was opened in 2004. It was stopped at 8:23. Was that the precise time the Hunley sank? There is no positive way to say for sure, because the watch might not even have been working that night. It might have been broken before that fateful night.

12/23/07

A) A carefully planned and executed exercise to thwart a terrorist attack in Portsmouth, New Hampshire took place last week. A team of federal authorities from the Coast Guard, the Navy, the FBI, and U.S. Customs all participated in the exercise. The scenario included an underwater mine explosion at the mouth of the Piscataqua River that crippled an outbound container ship and the discovery of explosive devices planted on the Memorial Bridge in Portsmouth. Exercise planners said they chose Portsmouth because the port is home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and a host of key industrial facilities, many of which are vital to the New England energy infrastructure. A follow up full scale exercise is scheduled to take place in Portsmouth next June.

B) A barge filled with dredge material being pushed outbound by a tugboat owned by the Jay Cashman corporation struck the commuter railroad swing bridge in Beverly, Massachusetts. The bridge crosses over the Danvers River. Both the barge and bridge sustained minimal damage and no injuries were reported. Even so, commuter rail service had to be interrupted to make repairs to the bridge's mechanisms. Investigators from Coast Guard Sector Boston investigated the cause of the accident and reported that that there were only 12 inches of clearance on either side of the barge as it passed between the bridge's fender system.

C) An inmate in a Florida jail told investigators that a fellow prisoner, who is a suspect in the killings of four people aboard the Florida charter fishing boat named Joe Cool, admitted to him that he was indeed involved in the murder of the boat's captain, the captain's wife, and the two mates on board. The four were shot and their bodies thrown overboard. He said the four were killed because they refused to take his friend and him to Cuba. Previously, the two suspects claimed the four were killed by Cuban pirates who attacked the boat at sea. The two allegedly paid $4,000 to charter the "Joe Cool" to take them to Bimini, but then tried to force the captain to take them toward Cuba.

D) During the height of last week's most recent northeaster, a Canadian sailor reported he was adrift in 12 foot seas about 270 miles east of Cape Cod in his 29-foot sailboat bound for Bermuda. He asked to be rescued and taken off the boat. The Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma was dispatched, departing from Portland, Maine, to rescue the sailor. The cutter had to navigate through 15-foot seas, wind, and ice, and could only achieve a speed of 6 knots. The Cutter finally arrived on scene the next day and made visual contact with the sailor, but still, the Coast Guard had to wait for the sea and wind to subside before the crew felt it was safe to pick up the sailor. At last report, the sailor was safe, returned to shore, but his sailboat was left behind, abandoned.

E) The Lori Emily, a 35-foot fishing boat from Portland, Maine, was ordered back to the dock after a Coast Guard boarding team found the following safety violations: the vessel's life raft inspection tag had expired; the emergency flares and emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) were expired; and the fire extinguishers were expired or not working. The Coast Guard escorted the boat back to the dock, explaining that the regulations exist to keep mariners alive.

F) A 40-foot humpback whale was cut free of fishing lines in Canada's Bay of Fundy. A worker from the non-profit Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies on Cape Cod assisted the Canadians in the rescue. A fisherman spotted the whale entangled and reported its location to the Canadian officials.

G) Every five years, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife conducts a winter waterfowl survey asking where people are feeding wild ducks and geese during the winter season. The survey is conducted in January and includes sites in urban and suburban and on or near fresh and salt water. While the feeding of wildlife is discouraged, there is no state law or regulation that prohibits the feeding of ducks which has been going on for decades.

H) After 800 years of lying on the bottom of the South China Sea in 65 feet of water, a 100 foot long merchant ship loaded with some 60,000 to 80,000 rare items made of porcelain was raised to the surface in a specially built basket. In addition to the porcelain antiques, archaeologists also recovered containers made of gold and silver as well as about 6,000 copper coins.   
I) Some people are upset about the iPond - a portable speaker with built in fish tank. People are buying the miniature tank with a real live fish in it, but animal activists say they are being cruel to the fish. Not enough room for the fish swim. Not enough oxygen! Experts also said the noise from the speaker would be louder underwater creating another hazard for the fish. Somehow, however, the pet stores selling the iPonds said the fish in the iPonds appeared to flourish.

J) Two ice fishermen in Green Bay, Wisconsin, became stranded on a piece of floating ice. The two men were on snowmobiles, about 100 yards offshore, when the section of ice they were standing on broke away. They did not realize they were stranded on the ice until they tried to return home on their snowmobiles. The Green Bay Coast Guard station was called, and about two hours later, the two young men were rescued. There was no word if the snowmobiles were saved or left behind on the ice floe.

12/30/07

A) A member of the Hyannis Cape Cod Yacht Club was the winner of one of the world's most prestigious and most dangerous sailboat races. Roger Sturgeon and his 14 person crew, aboard the 65-foot Rosebud, won the overall prize at the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. The only other overall winners from the United States in the event's 63-year history were Ted Turner in 1972 and Jim Kilroy in 1977. The Sydney, Australia to Hobart, Tasmania Race happens every year between Christmas and New Year's Day.

B) President Bush signed into law an energy bill that increases vehicle fuel economy standards for the first time in 32 years. The law also allows oil companies to double the amount of the ethanol mixed in gas from E10 to E20. The National Marine Manufacturers Association, made an amendment to the law, which was also approved at the midnight hour. That amendment stipulates that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must ensure any increased amount of ethanol in the gas will not destroy recreational marine engines or damage boat fuel systems and components before it is offered for sale. Until such proof is offered, only a maximum of 10% ethanol will be added to the gas sold at the fuel docks.

C) 2008 is being called the Year of the Reef, and scientists from seven countries have warned that most coral reefs will not survive the rapid increases in global temperatures over the next 50 years caused by carbon dioxide emissions. However, as we approach the eve of the International Year of the Reef, some scientists claim that even reducing the carbon dioxide emissions to zero still would not be enough to save the reefs because of a new virus that is killing them.

D) January 1, 2008 marks the 60th Anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary's public education program. Educating the boating public on recreational boating safety as a means of "preventative search and rescue" has been one of the Auxiliary's cornerstone missions since its inception. In 1939, Congress created the Auxiliary as the civilian, nonmilitary component of the U.S. Coast Guard.  In January 1948, the Auxiliary's public education program was launched when it offered free public safe boating course at the National Motorboat Show held in New York City's Grand Central Palace. By the mid-1950s more than thirty-thousand men and women had taken an Auxiliary safe boating course.

E) Wondering where the giant blue fin tunas have gone? Is there more than one stock? An American stock and a European stock? Researchers have put chemical markers in the tuna's ear bones and satellite tags on the migrating fish to learn these answers as demand for the tasty fish has soared among sushi connoisseurs. Scientists say they now have proof. DNA tests prove that there are two different blue fin tuna populations, a Mediterranean stock and an American stock, and although they both swim back and forth across the Atlantic, amazingly they do not interbreed. For years, Europeans have been fishing bluefin tuna, exceeding their quotas by nearly twice the amount allowed by the European Union, whereas in the past five years, American fishermen have caught less than 15 percent of their official catch quotas.

F) The government of Japan suspended its plans to kill 50 humpback whales this year but only on condition that the International Whaling Commission reinstates its original task of whale resource management allowing for the whaling industry to exist. The Japanese whaling fleet sailed to the Southern Ocean planning to hunt about 850 minke whales, 50 fin whales, and 50 humpbacks. They said they were killing the whales for scientific research and have killed more than 10,000 whales since 1986. Japan's decision to suspend the pursuit of humpback whales came after Australia's new government said they would send a ship and an aircraft to monitor the Japanese whale hunt. The Sea Shepherd Society's anti-whaling ship was also steaming to the Southern Ocean to confront the whale hunters.

G) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a multi-state plan to lower the mercury levels found in fresh water fish throughout New England and New York. The plan calls for a 98-percent reduction of the atmospheric emissions of mercury that was being released 10 years ago. The goal is to reduce the mercury levels in bodies of fresh water so that fish consumption warnings will no longer be necessary. Most of the mercury emissions released into the atmosphere comes from coal burning power plants.

H) A cruise to the Antarctic brought back memories of the Titanic. A Norwegian cruise ship lost power and struck an Antarctic glacier that smashed one of its lifeboats. Passengers were shakened, but no injuries were reported. The passengers were ordered to go above deck and were given drinks on the house. After the incident, the cruise liner continued to King George Island where an inspection of hull showed no structural damage. About a month ago, another cruise ship hit an iceberg and sank hours later. All 154 passengers and crew on that cruise got into lifeboats in the icy waters and were rescued.

I) And last on today's nautical news, a prototype boat that doubles as a submarine was tested this week in Jacksonville, Florida. Eyewitnesses to the boat's sea trial at first thought that a million-dollar yacht was sinking and called the Coast Guard. The builder of the vessel called it a submersible powerboat, the first of its kind. The boat can go as fast as 35 mph on the surface and 5 mph underwater. It can dive as deep as 600 feet. The builder said it took him 32 years to design the boat and that that he started designing it when he was about 11 years old. Wondering how much it costs to buy? The base price is expected to be around $3.5 million.