Reedsport News

Last month, Birdon delivered the ninth and tenth boats for its 47’ Motor Lifeboat (MLB) Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). Since the contract award in 2019, Birdon has established full-rate production facilities on both the East and West coasts to facilitate the delivery process. Birdon said it remains on schedule to complete work for up to 117 47’ MLBs by 2029.On June 9, Birdon delivered the ninth boat for the Coast Guard’s 47’ MLB SLEP. The vessel was completed in Birdon’s Bellingham, Wash.

When she came into the Fred Wahl shipyard in Reedsport, Oregon, the Miss Berdie was a fine looking boat with a bright red hull. When she left the yard this summer she was still a fine looking red vessel but bigger and better. After taking the 77 by 27.8 by 11.5-foot boat apart, the crew at Fred Wahl’s, working with a design by Hockema & Whalen Associates, put her back together with a 39-foot beam, a 12.7-foot molded depth and an overall registered length of 80.8 feet. In order to keep regulatory requirements regarding the overall length…

State of Oregon has amended its Territorial Sea Plan to allow for siting of marine renewable energy development projects in state waters. The amendment identifies four "Renewable Energy Suitability Study Areas" along the Oregon coast where initial development of wave energy will be encouraged and pose the least conflict with existing ocean uses and natural resources. The four areas are located off the coasts of Lakeside, Reedsport, Nestucca, and Camp Rilea, and total about 22 square miles or two percent of Oregon’s territorial sea.

Afognak is the name of an island, and a mountain in the northern part of the Kodiak Archipelago. It is also the name of a passage between little Whale Island and Afognak Island on the shores of which Kevin O’Leary has 143 wilderness acres and a cabin. So when it came to naming their new boat it is the passage, Afognak Straits, that Kevin O’Leary and his vessel partner, Walter Sargent, chose for their new longliner. Delivered by Fred Wahl Marine of Reedsport Oregon this past summer the Afognak Straits is currently, as of September 20, in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. is pleased to announce it will collaborate with Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) in connection with OPT’s proposed commercial-scale wave power generation project at Reedsport, Oregon. Lockheed Martin will provide design, manufacturing, system integration and supply chain management expertise to enhance OPT’s PowerBuoy® technology. This builds on previous work conducted by Lockheed Martin and OPT. This collaboration follows a $2.4 million contract awarded by the US Department of Energy (DoE) to OPT as part of US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu’s initiatives announced in September 2010 to promote the development of renewable marine energy.

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPTT) announced financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter and year ended April 30, 2011. • Contract backlog increased to a record $8.9 million as of April 30, 2011. This reflects $10.3 million of new orders brought in during fiscal year 2011, including recent US Department of Energy (“DOE”) awards for the PB150 program in Reedsport, Oregon and for development of the next generation PB500 PowerBuoy. • Revenue increased by 31% for the twelve months ended April 30, 2011 compared to fiscal 2010, reflecting orders from the US Navy, DOE and the United Kingdom’s Technology Strategy Board. • Achieved Lloyd’s Register certification for the PB150 PowerBuoy design…

Just as America’s Cup racers spent decades tuning the near perfect design formula of the 12-meter boats required by that event, so to have fishermen fine tuned the 58-ft Alaskan Limit seiner. The 58-ft limit was implemented in an early move to limit the size of vessels in the Alaskan salmon fishery. The boats are now used in many fisheries including halibut long lining and crab pot fisheries. The latest incarnation resulting from decades of evolution for this highly adaptable vessel underwent sea trials this month at Reedsport, Ore.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) received an application for construction of a wave energy park in the North Pacific Ocean approximately 2.5 miles off the coast near Reedsport, Oregon. Comments on the application should be submitted within 90 days. 75 Fed. Reg. 32451 (June 8, 2010). (Source: Bryant’s Maritime News)

With fleet rationalization, reduced Alaskan crab quotas and dismal salmon markets, there has been a dearth of new construction in the fishing fleets along the Pacific coast of America in recent years. When there has been a new boat built, it was as likely as not that Fred Wahl would be doing the work. Fred Wahl Marine Constructors of Reedsport Oregon have steady work with repairs and haul outs of the crab and trawl fleet but interest around the yard of late is centered on a nifty 50-footer that Wahl is building for his own account.

Richard J. An Oregon charter fishing boat captain was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment today in federal court in Portland. Richard J. Oba, of Winchester Bay, was the owner and captain of the Sydney Mae II, a 38 foot boat Oba used to conduct fishing charters. On September 19, 2005, Oba steered the boat into dangerous waters after being warned to stay away by the U. S. Coast Guard. The boat was struck by large wave and sunk off the Umpqua River Bar, killing three passengers. Oba had pled guilty to three counts of Seaman’s Manslaughter, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1115. The Honorable Ancer L. Haggerty, Chief Judge, agreed with prosecutors that Oba had acted recklessly, and upwardly departed to sentence Oba to 6 years. The sentence is believed to be the longest ever in this type of case.