Coast Guard Requirements for Commercial Fishing Vessels

Jon

2008-02-02 23:43:08

Here's a quick guide to the coast guard rules that apply to salmon trollers in Alaska.

All length measurements are documented length, not overall length.

Life Raft

If you are within 12 miles of shore, less than 36ft, and there are less than 4 people on board you do not need a Life Raft.[/*]

If you are within 12 miles of shore, more than 36ft, with less than 4 people on board you can substitute a Buoyant Apparatus instead of a Life Raft.[/*]

A skiff can not be substituted as a Life Raft on a troller. Seiners can substitute their seine skiff for a life raft.

Flotation Device

1 Survival Suit with an attached light, with the name of the Vessel, owner, or users name.[/*]

1 orange 24" throwable Life Ring with 60ft of rope marked with the vessels name.[/*]

Signaling Device

3-50 miles from shore - 3 Parachute flares, 6 hand held flares and 3 smoke signals.[/*]

3 miles or less from shore - 3 hand held day and night flares.[/*]

EPIRB

3 miles or more from shore and less than 36' in length. Manually -activated 406MHz EPIRB (Category II).[/*]

3 miles or more from shore and over 36' in length - Float-free, automatic 406MHz EPIRB (Category I).[/*]

All EPIRBS must be registered with NOAA and marked with the Vessel name. You can register online at NOAA's Website.

Fire Extinguishers

16' to less than 26' - One B-I Extinguisher.[/*]

26' to less than 40' - Two B-I Extinguishers and one B-I extinguisher fixed in machinery space.[/*]

40' to less than 65' - Three B-I Extinguishers and two B-I extinguishers fixed in machinery space.[/*]

(One B-II may be substituted for two B-I)

Placards

Report All Injuries[/*]

Oil Pollution[/*]

Garbage[/*]

Toilets

If you have an installed toilet you need a holding tank or Marine Sanitation Device[/*]

First Aid

First Aid Kit of suitable size[/*]

Manual[/*]

If you have more than 2 people on board you must have one person trained in First Aid and one in CPR.

Miscellaneous

Charts[/*]

Compass[/*]

Anchor and Line[/*]

Radar Reflector (not required unless your boat can't be seen on radar from 6 miles away).[/*]

VHF or cell phone or sat phone.[/*]

Emergency power source outside of the machinery space that can power your communication equipment for at least 3 hours.[/*]

If more than 36' feet in length you must have a high water alarm (audio and visual).[/*]

Bilge Pump(s).[/*]

Emergency Instructions must be posted.[/*]

Emergency Drills once a month by a trained individual.[/*]

Use this link to download the entire Coast Guard Regulations for Commercial Fishing Vessels.

ata

2008-02-06 18:02:06

Stay tuned as the US Coast Guard Reathorization bills make their way through Congress. ATA has commented on and is monitoring both House and Senate versions of the bill. The House bill (HR2830) would bring many existing requirements to boats fishing inside 3 miles and also includes some impractical new requirements that we are trying to get removed. There is a bit of info in our December newsletter. I was in DC last week and spoke to our delegation again about this matter - they are trying to help.

Dale, ATA

dan

2008-03-08 07:01:58

in regards to the bouyance apparatus, i have seen that uscg dock side examiners (aka tim clepper) will state that you need a manover light and a weak link. be careful on these weak links! make sure they are uscg approved. should only have to pay $30 roughly for a 4-6 person apparatus.

akfisher78

2012-11-12 03:34:13

Anyone have any idea if these rules Jon has posted are still the same? He says one immersion suit? One per crew member or only one? What if you have a friend come for three days does he need one? More than 36ft within 12 miles Do you need a SOLAS Life Raft if you cant use a skiff?