The U.S. Coast Guard today announced that it is seeking public comments by Monday, April 8 on recommendations from the National Commercial Fishing Safety Advisory Committee, which met in September and subsequently sent the recommendations to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Recommendations cover areas including:
- Best practices to ensure full crew access to all or parts of a vessel to allow for safe vessel operation;
- Procedures and guidance for crew standing navigation watches;
- Stability considerations that may pose severe risk to safety of a fishing vessel;
- Risk associated with fishing vessel operations and how the acceptance of risk is prevalent and accepted in the fishing industry;
- Dissemination of safety information for the commercial fishing industry;
- Development of a public website for fishing industry information;
- Watch alarms on certain vessels; and
- Distribution of personal location beacons
