155 and counting

America’s fishermen are a pretty diverse lot with Norwegian, Italian, Vietnamese, French, Croatian, Portuguese, Irish — just to name a few — backgrounds, all fishing a multitude of gear types from boats with very different designs. Some fishermen are out for a day and others stay out weeks at a time. There are fishermen who are slow to accept new ideas, and fishermen who are more willing to try something new. In some fisheries you can make a lot of money, some not so much, and in others it’s a battle to pay for the fuel.

Despite their differences, one habit seems common to all fishermen: the refusal to wear a PFD. That’s what fishermen from Maine to Alaska seem to be doing — and it’s killing them.

That’s a pretty safe statement, because of the 155 commercial fishermen who died after falling overboard between the years 2000 and 2009 NONE were wearing a PFD.

That’s just one depressing statistic among many in a study on fishing vessel fatalities by Jennifer Lincoln and Devin Lucas with the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health in Anchorage, Alaska. A summary of the work is in the July 16, 2010, issue of the aptly named “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,” put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

A number of fishermen who died after going over the side were working alone, so what caused the accident will never be known, but 43 cases were the result of “slips or trips,” 34 were due to “losing their balance,” and 21 died from “gear entanglement.”

There really isn’t an excuse for not wearing a PFD. After all, these aren’t the cork life preservers of World War II. Those were definitely something to avoid. After a survey of men who had been on torpedoed tankers and freighters, a report was issued in 1942 that said not to “trust your life to the cork preserver… Men who have jumped overboard wearing cork preservers have had ribs, arms, and shoulders broken. The front of the preserver strikes the chin, knocking the wearer unconscious.”

We are not even talking about the PFDs of several years ago. Those could be a little bulky. Modern PFDs, like Mustang Survival’s MD3188 inflatable work vest, are lightweight, can be worn under foul-weather coats, will self-inflate, or can be manually inflated and are relatively easy to clean. And the Mustang PFD was designed with fishermen in mind.

These PFDs aren’t inexpensive — the Mustang is over $300 — but you can probably knock the price down by going in with several other fishermen and buying in volume. The other option is to be on the waiting list for the 155 And Counting Club.

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Oil and engines — not good

The last weekend in June the U.S. Navy was due to sea trial a new 509-foot destroyer out of Pascagoula, Miss. The ship would have been operating in the gulf at least four days. But then the Navy started thinking about what all that oil floating in the gulf would do to the engine’s cooling system. Sea trials were canceled.

Just because your boat is less than 500 feet, lacks four gas turbines delivering about 108,000 horsepower, doesn’t run easily at over 30 knots, and isn’t outfitted with Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles for deck gear doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be worried about oil contamination.

Of course, those with the most to worry about operate boats in the Gulf of Mexico, but if oil swings around the tip of Florida and starts floating up the East Coast, then the class of concerned boat owners becomes even larger.

Oil and dispersants in the oil are most likely to affect anything rubber — hoses, gaskets, seals, impellers — and cooling piping.

In a recently released service bulletin from Caterpillar, owners of Caterpillar engines — and this would apply to diesels other than Caterpillar — are advised that the following components are at risk: pumps, heat exchangers, aftercoolers, seals, hoses, and any other component in contact with the polluted water.

Outboards have some of the same problems. A bulletin to Mercury Marine repair centers listed things to be concerned about after running through oil contaminated water: thermostats, water strainers, and coolant passages can be blocked by oil; water pump efficiencies are reduced with an oil-water mixture; an oil-coated cooling system leads to higher than normal engine-block temperatures.

About those rubber-based components — hoses, impellers and engine mounts. Mercury says they can absorb oil and swell. That means less rigidity and strength, followed by possible failure.

What to do? Well, Mercury advises you to monitor the cooling system and when you are back at the dock then flush out the cooling system with 150-degree water for 10 to 15 minutes with the prop removed.

For its inboard engines, Cat says to check fluid levels, inspect for leaks and monitor coolant temperatures, inlet air, and the exhaust. Additionally you can monitor the flow rate of seawater by measuring the pressure drop across pumps or coolers.

For cleaning operations, Cat says to refer to the owner’s manual.

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Lockout/Tagout

There are all sorts of ways to be killed or injured on a fishing boat. Most of them are preventable. One type of injury that seems the most avoidable is machinery related: You are working on equipment when someone turns it on and your body parts are crushed or cut off, or you are electrocuted.

Avoiding this is smart for all parties concerned. It’s smart for you because you are still intact and functioning. And it is smart for the boat owner because he isn’t being hauled into court, where the damages can be notable. The Web site for one group of attorneys who obviously go after this type of case says they won a decision for $2.5 million for a fisherman who lost a hand because a machine didn’t have the proper guard on it.

I’m betting the fisherman would rather have his hand. And I’m betting the guy who started the engine on a boat a few years ago in Kodiak wishes he hadn’t. A diver was working on the boat’s prop. He was killed.

It happened again at the end of March on the factory trawler Ocean Peace, which was near Adak, an island in Alaska’s Aleutian chain, 450 miles west of Dutch Harbor. Joemar Lontoc was cleaning a fish-processing machine. When the machine was turned on, he almost lost a hand and had to be airlifted off the boat.

The way to avoid this kind of accident is not complicated: First, shut off all power to whatever it is you are working on; second, make sure everyone on the boat knows power isn’t to be activated to that piece of equipment.

The best way to do this is with a Lockout/Tagout program. As the name says, you put a lock on the power source to physically prevent someone from operating a switch, key or lever. The tag that accompanies the lock has your name on it and when the power was shut off.

Jennifer Lincoln with NIOSH in Anchorage, Alaska, and Jensen Maritime Consultants in Seattle, Wash., developed a handout explaining how Lockout/Tagout works.

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Wake-up call

The 54-foot steel trawler Patriot sink early on the morning of Jan. 3, 2009 on Middle Bank, 15 miles off Gloucester.  The two-man crew died. It was at least two hours before the Coast Guard launched a search and rescue mission, after concerns were raised when a remote fire-alarm signal was received from the Patriot.

The Coast Guard said part of the problem in sending out a search and rescue mission was they “were with out a known location” for the boat.

As a result of the Patriot’s sinking, Ted Harrington, fishing vessel safety officer for the Coast Guard’s 1st district out of Boston, often hunkers down with his phone when winds get above 50 mph and a weather alert is issued.

But first he finds out what boats are offshore by accessing a VMS-data base. From that list he selects the names of 10 boats. Each of those boats is supposed to have an EPIRB, and that EPIRB is supposed to be registered, and with that registration must be thee phone numbers to contact in case of an emergency. From an EPIRB-data base he gets the three phone numbers for each of the 10 EPIRBs and starts calling.

The people that answer Harrington’s calls should know where the boat is fishing. After all, that’s what an emergency number is for. Except in many cases they don’t know. They don’t even know whether the boat is fishing or not.

“This is really important. If the EPIRB goes off and it doesn’t get just the right satellites, calling the emergency contact numbers can make a difference of two to four hours for arriving at the spot of the incident. It can be the difference between living and dying,” Harrington says.

Having the people listed as emergency contacts aware of where a boat might be fishing is  critical for the Coast Guard’s search-and-rescue command center. Harrington hopes that as a result of his calls, if one of those emergency numbers is contacted again — when an EPIRB goes off because a boat is in trouble — this time the person knows where the boat is fishing.

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Man overboard

It is generally recognized that commercial fishing is safer than it was in the early 1990s. And the statistics show that is true. But a lot of fishermen are still dying. Just look at the fatalities as a result of falling overboard between 2000 and 2008. By region, the numbers read New England 13, Mid- and South Atlantic 17, Gulf of Mexico 49, Alaska 34.

The numbers for other types of fishing fatalities have gone down over the years, but not for falling overboard. That’s why one of the products exhibited at Seattle’s Pacific Marine Expo, which was held Nov. 19—21, seemed like a partial answer to this ongoing problem.

The Autotether is a small (3 1/8" x 1 1/2" x ¾") wireless electronic sensor that can be carried in your pocket or clipped onto your oilskins. When it is submerged or goes more than 150 feet from the wheelhouse-mounted receiver, it sets off an alarm. It can also be rigged to shut down the boat’s engine within 1 ½ seconds of going under water. 

Setting up the receiver to shut down the engine is not a big problem. No wiring is required. Just expose the adhesive strip on the back and attach it next to the kill switch. Turn on the Autotether system and the man overboard alert is activated. It runs on three AAA batteries.

An alarm like that provided by Autotether is only part of the answer. If the alarm goes off and you die of exposure by the time you are picked up or shortly after, the Autotether will not have done you any good.

Between 1990 and 2008, 78 fishermen in Alaska drowned after falling overboard. None of them were wearing a PFD. In October 2008, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Anchorage, Alaska, began surveying 400 fishermen to get their opinions about the risks of falling overboard and what they thought of PFDs. Plus six different styles of PFDs were distributed among half the fishermen to be evaluated over a month of actual fishing.

The PFDs were graded on the following criteria: lightweight, not tight, non-constricting, non-chafing, not bulky, no snagging, ease of donning, and keeps clean.

Final results should be published in late January or February, but from preliminary results distributed at Pacific Marine Expo, it appears the Mustang MD3188 Inflatable Work Vest was the number one choice and Stearns Manual/Automatic Inflatable 1339 was right behind in favorable ratings.

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NMEA 2000

If you are wiring up a new boat or rewiring part or all of an older boat, it seems like you can’t help but like the NMEA 2000 networking system. This is a bidirectional, multitransmitter and receiver system that allows electronic products from different manufacturers to share data. NMEA 2000 can handle data up to one megabit per second, versus the older NMEA 0183 system’s normal operating speed of 4,800 bits per second.

It is pretty much a plug-and-play network, allowing you to add or take away electronic devices without powering down the network. Electronic devices used with the 2000 network need to be “certified,” which means that data from one manufacturer’s device can be sent to the instrument of another manufacturer.

Besides NMEA 2000’s operating advantages, designing and wiring the system seems like it would be a real time saver. Basically you have a trunk line, also called a backbone. Into that go Tee-connectors with drop lines having premolded connectors on the ends. The connectors can be set up for individual electronic devices or multiports. There’s a single power feed for the entire network.

The waterproof cables are color coded to reduce wiring errors. Data lines are always white and blue and the power lines are always red and black. And, instead of having to climb in and out of your boat numerous times, a NMEA 2000 system can be designed at your shop bench, after making basic measurements on the boat.

Good tools make things easier and Maretron recently came out with one for designing a NMEA 2000 system. It’s a free software program that works with Windows PC. The N2KBuilder lets you match up and move around on the computer screen cables, connections, numerous electronic devices and the power source until you have a wiring layout in a blueprint format.

N2KBuilder tells you if there’s a problem with your design and what the Maretron components in the system will cost.

So, spend some time putting the system together at the bench. Plug it in to make sure everything works and then take it out to the boat.

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Maine's Clean Marine Engine program

In February and March, Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection started the Maine Clean Marine Engine program to take out of service marine diesels that are heavy emissions producers and burn a lot of fuel.

The engines are to be replaced in a repowering program that pays 50 percent of a new diesel through the Diesel Emission Reduction Act, an EPA grant program.

The goal, says Lynne Cayting with Maine’s DEP, is to take 40 engines out of service in the next 12 months or so. The formula she uses to select the most offending diesels is based on emissions and fuel usage “to get a cost effectiveness number for the cost to reduce 1 ton of diesel particulate and NOx.”

From the original applications, 45 were accepted (mostly fishermen along with a couple of ferries, an aquaculture boat, a schooner and one barge).

“One-third of those didn’t respond,” Cayting said. So 15 more letters of acceptance went out. Of the 60 only 30 boat owners have committed to the program.

“I’m having trouble getting 40 committed vessels to the program,” she says.

So far, the top 20 to 25 engines on the acceptance list are Detroit Diesel two strokes, with the rest of the offenders made up of Luggers, Cats, Cummins, John Deere and Volvo diesels.

Committing to the Maine Clean Marine Engine program means a boat owner has to agree to repower within 12 months; destroy the old engine by putting a hole through the block; agree to use and maintain the engine; and provide evidence you can pay your 50 percent, usually with a letter from a bank indicating a loan approval, a line of credit or a reference.

Cayting thinks low boat prices for lobsters is the major reason it has been hard getting boat owners to sign up for the program.

“When they applied, they didn’t think lobsters were going to $2 a pound,” she says. “Once they commit, they can’t change their mind because I’m going forward and purchasing the engine,” she notes.

True, it’s hard financially for a lot of fishermen, but as Cayting observes after looking at all of the applications, “Most people that are participating are near the point of having to rebuild their engine, and paying half the price of a new engine is about the cost of rebuilding an old engine.”

If you haven’t applied to the Clean Marine Engine program and think your smoke belching hunk of iron qualifies, you can fill out the application to apply.

There is a fall deadline for this year’s program, but Cayting is also taking applications for a 2010 Clean Marine Engine Program. You can apply for the 2010 program using the same application. That is an alternative if you don’t think you have the funds for this year’s program.

Clean Marine Engine Application (Excel document)

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Collision course

Ask most fishermen what the most likely ways are to lose a boat and you’ll probably get flooding and fires as the top two answers. And that would match up with statistics that the Coast Guard has kept for fishing vessel casualties for the period 1992 to 2007 in all U.S. waters.

In those fifteen years, 685 boats were lost to flooding and 383 to fires.  In fifth place (behind grounding with 310 boats and capsizing with182 boats) is collision (70 boats lost), which, I bet, is not something that most fishermen ever think will happen to them. In fact, I recently talked with someone that constantly deals with fishing vessel safety issues and when he looked at the record for collisions involving fishing boats in New England, his  reaction was “Holy Smoke” after seeing that in 2008 there were 12 incidents. That was far more than he had expected. (Most of these  didn’t involve major damage.)

That said, the reality of collisions has recently grabbed some East Coast media attention after the scalloper Dictator was rammed by a container ship off New Jersey on April 14, and the lobster boat The Misses sank on June 3 after it was hit by the 46-foot gillnetter Tenacious six miles off Phippsburg, Maine, on a clear, sunny day. In another  New Jersey incident that is looking more and more like a collision, the scalloper Lady Mary went down with six crewmen on March 24.

Now, losing a boat and crew to a collision — while it might not be on most people’s mind — is nothing new for commercial fishermen.

Back in 1839, the Gloucester schooner Sevo was run down in the night by the steamer Huntress. The Captain got aboard the steamer, while “Winthrop Sargent, a lad of 12 years, crawled out to the end of the bowsprit, and as the vessel was going down, grasped a splitting table, which floated by, and by his cries attracted the attention of those on board the steamer who rescued him with much difficulty.” So reads the account in the “Fishermen’s Memorial & Record Book,” which was published in 1873 and is, in part, a record of the 281 boats and the 1,252 men lost from the port of Gloucester, Mass., between 1830 and July 1, 1873. Like all its entries, the book lists the men who went down with the Sevo: Richard Triton, Nathaniel Remby, Jonathan Osgood and James McDonald. It also gives the value of the schooner ($1,300) and what she was insured for ($1,150).

Numerous other entries for collisions are listed in this book as well as the “Fishermen’s Own Book,” which was printed in 1882 and records the 137 schooners lost and 997 men from Gloucester that were drowned between 1874 and 1882.

In a lot of those 19th century collision cases it was probably just a case of bad luck — being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A schooner that was anchored on the grounds or jogging with just a riding sail up would have a hard if not impossible chance of getting out of the way of a fast moving steamer or a full-rigged sailing ship flying all her canvas. And kerosene anchor or running lights were easily blown out in any wind.

The same can’t be said for today’s fishing boats. They have a very large number of electronic tools to avoid collisions: radar, AIS, alarms and radios. I suspect the primary reason fishing boats are run down (or hit another boat) is because neither the captain nor the crew thinks such a thing will ever happen to them. That, in turn, leads to what people today refer to as a lack of situational awareness, which is probably a behavioral psychologist’s fancy term for “not paying attention.”

It’s not such a smart idea to leave no one in the wheelhouse while you drop down to the fo’c’sle for a cup of coffee, go out on deck to help the gang with whatever it is they are doing, or read a magazine on your wheel turn. (In the interest of full disclosure, I have done all those things.)

To avoid an unexpected encounter with another boat, it would be a good idea to consider a few lines from the “Fishermen’s Own Book” about the schooner Guy Cunningham with 13 crewmen that was thought to have been run down in July 1881.

“The utmost precaution is necessary to avoid the dangers which a thick fog engenders, and the lookout’s position on board all vessels crossing the Banks, as well as on board the fisherman, is one of great responsibility.”

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Calculating the cost of bottom paints

It’s spring, and the smart fisherman’s fancy turns to what else — painting the bottom of his boat, of course. For many fishermen, there’s something energizing about watching the boat hauled, seeing the slime and crud of the past year scraped off the bottom and replaced with a fresh, bright coat of bottom paint. It marks the start of another season.

As one squarehead who had watched his share of yearly launchings once told me as the last bit of paint was rolled on to his troller: “Ya, boy. She be ready for another go.”

That was more than a few years ago. Then it seemed there was only one kind of paint. It was thick, dark red and had a lot of copper in it.

It also wasn’t all that expensive, as were a lot of things then, including fuel. If the antifouling paint didn’t work that well and turned into a breeding ground for underwater organisms that at the end of the trip had dragged a few more gallons of fuel out of your expenses than anticipated, it wasn’t that big of a deal.

The cost of fuel today means it is a big deal. The smoother the bottom of the boat, the less fuel you use and the more money you save. Foul-release paints are said to be very good at keeping the bottom of a boat smooth and reducing fuel costs, but they are very expensive. Are they an option for you? One way to find out is by logging into National Fisherman’s interactive paint-estimating calculator. You will quickly find out if these paints make sense for you.

If you want to go with a paint that’s not so pricey, use the calculator to quickly compare the cost of having the job done at one boatyard as opposed to another. Or if the boat is small enough and you think you can do the job cheaper, use the calculator to figure your costs.

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Maine diesel swap

Are you running a diesel engine in a boat operating in Maine? Do you want to swap out an old engine for a new one? Do you want 50 percent of the new engine paid for? Well, if you act really quickly, you can take advantage of the fed's $782 billion stimulus plan that was passed in February and get that engine.

The stimulus plan gives $300 million to the Diesel Emission Reduction Act or as it is better known, DERA. Thirty percent of that money goes to states that have a clean diesel program. If all fifty states sign up for the program, then Maine gets $1.7 million, which could go to replacing old, worn out, polluting marine diesels. 

I say “could” because where the money goes hasn’t been determined. The person trying to decide how best to spend the money is Lynne Cayting with Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection. She has to come up with a proposal by March 20 that meets DERA’s health initiative criteria of reducing diesel emissions, and “meets the criteria for the stimulus bill, which is to create and retain jobs and stimulate the economy,” she says. 

Cayting’s proposal is the Maine Clean Marine Engine program. The thing about the program, says Cayting, is that it fits both the DERA and the stimulus requirements. “It takes the oldest, dirtiest engines out of the fleet, and helps engine manufacturers, engine distributors, boatyards, mechanics and fishermen.” 

Now this is why you have to act quickly. If there’s not enough interest by boat owners in getting a new engine through the Maine Clean Marine Engine program, the money will go to another state program, and boat owners will lose out on the chance for 50 percent funding.

On March 20, Cayting has to tell the EPA how Maine’s $1.7 million will be spent. If the choice is the Maine Clean Marine Engine program, Cayting will continue to take applications for engine swaps until the end of April.

A large number of applications also give Cayting the flexibility to go after a share of the remaining 70 percent of the stimulus money. Of that money, the EPA’s region 1, which includes Maine, would get up to $2 million.

“In a competitive application for my region, I could compete for and get $600,000 to $2 million, if I have enough applications. It all could go to the clean marine energy project,” she says.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

•Besides funding 50 percent of a new Tier II diesel, the Maine Clean Marine Engine program will fund 100 percent for exhaust control devices.

•The old engine will be put out of business by drilling a hole in the engine block and manifold.

•You have to stick with the same horsepower, and transmissions are not included.

•Maine’s EPA will start obtaining engines, or at least get the bidding process going, in June.

•The money must be spent by September 2010

Contact Lynne Cayting, DEP, #17 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333. Tel. (207) 287-7599. Fax. (207) 287-7641.  E-mail: lynne.a.cayting@maine.gov; Web site www.mainedep.com

Or download the new engine application here.

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