Porthole King Crab

In the next few months, Americans will be enjoying cracked crab at crab feeds all over the country. When you crack your crab leg or enjoy a crab cocktail, you probably do not give much thought to the anglers who risked their lives to bring the moderately sized crustacean to your table.

However, fishing in general and crab fishing in particular are considered among the most dangerous professions in the world. For crab anglers, the danger is compounded by stacking crab pots high on the deck on the way in and out of the harbor. The trick is to minimize the number of trips from the harbor to the fishing grounds and overloading is a frequent result. A high center of gravity for the boat is caused by the need to stack the pots on deck and, consequently, severe stability problems.

Marine Safety Office, San Francisco Bay did its part to increase the safety of crab fishermen this year by executing “Operation Safe Crab,” a week-long outreach effort to advise the crab fishermen of safety concerns and to perform commercial fishing vessel safety checks on their vessels well in advance of the season opening.

Eight Coast Guard Auxiliary, Active Duty and Reserve personnel assisted with this effort, which focused on four fishing harbors in the San Francisco Bay area. These included Moss Landing and Monterey on the southern end and Bodega Bay to the north, as well as Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay and of course the San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf.

DSO-MS Steve Mitchell & Lt. Maria Tulio

Efforts by these communities to preserve their fishing fleets, which are integral to the local ambience, have resulted in high concentrations of fishing vessels in particular areas. Crab processing facilities are located nearby for receipt of the fishermen’s catch.

The “Operation Safe Crab Team” included three Auxiliarists – Bob Aparton, Steve Mitchell and Nick Tarlson – who are qualified commercial fishing vessel examiners. Other participants included LT Doug Ebbers, LT Maria Tulio, SCPO Leon Artac, CPO Jessica Brooks, and PO Brian Monahan from the Marine Safety Office (MSO), located on Coast Guard Island in Alameda, CA. The effort was organized and coordinated by Manny Ramirez and Rob Lee, current and immediate past fishing vessel examiners at the San Francisco Bay MSO.

The outreach effort involved walking the docks, distributing literature, and performing voluntary dockside examinations. These examinations are comparable to vessel safety checks (VSC) performed by the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Due to the federal requirements for commercial fishing vessels, these safety checks are much more involved.

Successful vessel owners receive an impressive sticker that is good for two years and indicates whether the vessel is documented or registered. Based on the vessel’s equipment, the sticker also indicates how far from the coast the vessel can fish.

Crab boat

Like VSC stickers, it is generally believed that displaying the sticker can avoid Coast Guard inspection boardings. These boardings can be an expensive proposition for fishermen since their fishing seasons are short and every minute counts. Official Coast Guard policy does provide boarding officers with an abbreviated equipment checklist in the case of vessels displaying CFVS stickers. The boarding report highlights these eight classes of lifesaving equipment (the “Big Eight”) which the Coast Guard regards as especially important for commercial fishing vessels.

Auxiliary support of the District 11 Northern Region CFVS program has expanded significantly in the last year, from two examiners in 2002 to 8 today. Because of its geographical diversity, Auxiliarists are well suited to the program. Fishing harbors extend from Crescent City near the Oregon border to Morro Bay on the Central California Coast, a distance of about 600 miles.

Auxiliarists are ideal for the program because of their continuity in the local community. Fishermen are known for their independence. Many are uncomfortable with underway boardings and resent the potential interference with their livelihood. Auxiliarists are usually long standing members of the community, and are in a position to establish the trust it takes to maintain strong relationships with the fishing fleet. They also possess an understanding of local concerns and seasonal variations in activity.

Concern about the safety of fishermen led to the enactment of “The Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Act of 1988,” which requires a variety of lifesaving equipment be carried on fishing vessels.

The sea is relentless and unforgiving. As said by one crabber, "You are surrounded by death." This photo is from the captain's vantage point, where he can observe the deckhands from a warm, dry wheelhouse.

The requirements vary depending on the length of the vessel, number of crew, and distance from the coast. The lifesaving equipment include survival suits, emergency position indicating radio beacons, survival craft, visual distress signals, ring buoys. Much of the equipment must be marked with the vessel or crewmember’s name, to ensure the equipment is kept aboard the vessel and provide identification in case of a mishap.

If a vessel is documented, it will also need to have high water alarms, backup electrical power for its radios, and various navigation aids, such as charts, tidal information, Coast Pilot, Light List, and deviation table.

In 1998 and 1999, four separate incidents involving clam and conch fishing vessels on the East Coast led to the establishment of a national task force to investigate commercial fishing vessel safety.

Clam and conch fishing involve the use of heavy pots, which can lead to overloading, similar equipment to crab fishing. The conclusions of the task force were published in a report, Living to Fish – Dying to Fish, http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/moa/docs/fishing.htm and led to increased activity in this area within the Coast Guard, and hence increase Auxiliary support of the Commercial Fishing Vessel Program.

Northern California communities have a high regard for their local commercial fishing fleets. At San Francisco’s “Fisherman’s Wharf,” the fishing fleet is as much of a tourist attraction as it is a source of fresh product.

In the last 3 years, the Port of San Francisco constructed a brand new fishing pier with 65 berths reserved exclusively for commercial anglers. The pier includes state of the art fueling and bilge water disposal systems. During “Operation Safe Crab,” the owner of a historic Monterey fishing boat, berthed at the new harbor, asked Auxiliarist Nick Tarlson and LT Doug Ebbers to perform a commercial fishing vessel examination on the vessel.

Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety is one of many areas the Auxiliary is supporting the Marine Safety Office, San Francisco Bay. Qualified Auxiliarists receive a letter of designation that helps them qualify for the new “Trident” marine safety specialist programs “Pro” pin.

In the San Francisco Bay area, Auxiliarists performed 86 out of 240 – about a third - of the commercial fishing vessel exams in 2003.

DSO-MS Steve Mitchell and Lt. Maria Tulio