Homer Alaska - Seawatch -

The proposed changes would enhance maritime safety by adding new requirements for vessel stability and watertight integrity, stability training and assessments, vessel maintenance and self-examinations, immersion suits, crew preparedness, safety training, emergency preparation, safety training and personnel, safety equipment, and documentation. Miscellaneous administrative changes also are being contemplated.

Commercial fishing remains one of the most hazardous occupations in the United States, with 641 fatalities and 1,398 vessel sinkings between 1994 and 2004. Congress addressed this problem by enacting the "Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Act of 1988;" however, the Coast Guard says that two recent studies indicate the need for further regulatory action.

The Coast Guard is interested in the potential economic impacts from this proposed rule on small businesses and is requesting public comment on those impacts, as well as general comments.

The Coast Guard anticipates wide interest in this regulatory overhaul, and is considering how to best obtain early spoken comments from the public. If a cost-effective way is found to receive spoken comments from all segments of the commercial fishing vessel industry and from the general public, it will be posted in the Federal Register.

The proposed rule is contained in an 18-page document that covers some of the history of safety regulations in the industry, as well as interesting details of some of the specific sinkings and other incidents that have highlighted the need for regulatory change.

It also contains 30 questions that will help fishermen assess the potential impacts of the changes and provide useful information to the Coast Guard. For example, it asks "What impact has safety training had in improving safety within the commercial fishing industry? Do you have any recommendations concerning safety training?" and "Have you experiencedor are you aware ofany situations where any of the measures under consideration have saved lives, or prevented/reduced harm/damage to vessels?"

For a copy of the entire proposed rule, visit www.fishsafe.info or call the Coast Guard's Fishing Vessel Activities Division at (202) 372-1245. Comments must be received by July 29.

One lone legislator from the Kenai Peninsula has been tapped to serve on the Cook Inlet Legislative Task Force pushed through the Legislature in the last nine days of the 2008 session.

Kenai Sen. Tom Wagoner was picked by Senate President Lyda Green to serve on the controversial task force, something he told the Peninsula Clarion he was conflicted about since he opposed the idea of the task force in the first place.

"Then I decided that if asked, I would," Wagoner told the Clarion. "Someone from this area needs to represent commercial fishing and processing in the debate. That's a very important part of the economy, when you look at the jobs."

The task force roster is now complete and is heavily populated with legislators from up north, with four Valley legislators, four from Anchorage, one from Kenai and one from Ketchikan. The House members are Mark Neuman, Bill Stoltze, Mike Doogan, Craig Johnson and Kyle Johansen. Senate members are Lyda Green, Charlie Huggins, Lesil McGuire, Bill Wielechowski and Wagoner.

Imports of Chinese seafood are raising red flags among inspectors who are only able to test a tiny fraction of the massive flood of fish being sold in U.S. markets.

In March, inspectors checking Chinese seafood arriving at U.S. ports reported finding fish infected with salmonella in Seattle and Baltimore, and shrimp with banned veterinary drugs in Florida. A shipment intercepted in Los Angeles on March 19 labeled "channel catfish" wasn't catfish at all, although records don't say what it was.

China has rapidly become the leading exporter of seafood to the United States, flooding supermarkets and restaurants. And while China agreed late last year to improve the safety of its food exports, the inspectors' March findings were not isolated cases.

According to Food and Drug Administration, inspectors turned away nearly 400 shipments of tainted seafood in a year's time from China. More than 100 of the shipments were rejected for being filthy, decomposed or otherwise unfit for human consumption.

A former FDA official reports that only about 1 percent of the shipments are inspected, and only about a fifth of those are tested for contaminants.

Imported seafood now makes up about 80 percent of U.S. consumption, totaling about 4.8 billion pounds out of the 5.8 billion pounds consumed domestically.

Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978. She also designs and builds gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and gillnets salmon in upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist. She can be reached at cristy-fry@excite.com.