Coast Guard Cutter Naushon Escorts Sitka Fishing Vessel Back to Port for Violations

The wooden-hulled, 42-foot fishing vessel "Snark" found its trip cut short after being boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday.

A boarding party by the Coast Guard Cutter “Naushon,” during an at-sea vessel inspection found several violations aboard the “Snark” while inspecting the vessel in Sitka Sound on Friday.

The Coast Guard found that the vessel, that was manned by three people, was lacking survival suits, and that the buoyant apparatus aboard the vessel had several cracks that raised questions of its usability according to the Coast Guard.

“We perform at-sea safety inspections to ensure mariners are operating in compliance with required standard safety gear regulations, which help ensure the safety of those who work at sea,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class David Volkmar, Coast Guard Sector Juneau command center watchstander. “Ensuring the safety of life at sea is one of our primary missions, and we will take the necessary steps to ensure that safety, including sending a vessel back to port to fix any safety issues.”

The Coast Guard immediately terminated the “Snark’s” voyage and escorted them back to the Sitka boat harbor where they were ordered to fix the descrepancies in coordination with a commercial fishing vessel examiner before once again getting underway.

This is the second instance of a vessel being boarded, found out of compliance, and escorted back to port by the Coast Guard in a week. Earlier, the Cutter Mustang, based out of Seward, escorted a vessel in Prince William Sound for inoperable fire extinguishers.

Although having a dockside inspection to make sure your vessel is in compliance with Coast Guard rules and regulations does not exempt you from at-sea boardings and inspections, having these inspections done before-hand lessens the chance of your trip being cut short for violations.

You can call the number of the Detachment closest to you to schedule a dockside inspection using one of these numbers: