Bristol Bay News

Two new routes have been designated under the U.S. Marine Highway Program (MHP), U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced this week during a visit to Alaska.The newly designated M-11 in Alaska will add over 6,500 miles to the marine highway system, and the M-79 route extends the reach of the Ohio River system by nearly 250 miles in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. These designations allow any eligible applicant on these routes to apply for future U.S. Marine Highway Program grants…

The U.S. Coast Guard said its In-Service Vessel Sustainment (ISVS) Program has passed the halfway point in its effort to upgrade the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems on the service’s 140-foot bay-class icebreaking tugs.The HVAC upgrade on Coast Guard Cutter Katmai Bay was completed on June 1—20 days ahead of schedule—in Cheboygan, Mich., near the tug’s homeport of Sault Sainte Marie, Mich.Meanwhile, Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay arrived at Coast Guard Yard…

Cummins has introduced a new rating for its QSC8.3 propulsion engine, expanding the keel-cooled solution to 600 horsepower with an engine speed of 2800 rpm."This addition to the QSC8.3 power range means Cummins now offers 493 horsepower - 600 horsepower (368-441 kW) for both keel cooled and heat exchanger solutions," the company said."Cummins is the first engine manufacturer to bring this power dense rating with a keel cooling option to market," the company said."Optimized for use in light-duty applications including patrol boats and parasail boats…

One of the United States’ largest and most productive heavy-gauge aluminum boat builders has been humming along at its recently expanded manufacturing facility in Roseburg, Ore.Last spring, North River Boats added a new 33,750 square foot manufacturing building to house all commercial and large boat recreational fabrication. Additional remodeling of the existing factory was completed shortly after to expand small boat fabrication. The yard relocation of its canvas/upholstery shop and received new paint preparation bays…

In an era of increasingly complicated regulations and sophisticated technologies disrupting the workboat sector, one piece of the equipment – the Keel Cooler – remains as possibly the most important and at the same time, the simplest piece of hardware on the water. Likewise, much the same way as it was more than 70 years ago, Fernstrum remains the standard. For today’s workboat sector, the most pressing issue facing operators is arguably comprised of meeting and paying for the advent of so-called ‘Tier’ emissions standards. The American subset of 5,500 towboats additionally faces the subchapter M towboat rules and new requirements for hardware installation and physical construction. The one thing they shouldn’t have to worry about is engine cooling solutions.

The Trump administration on Thursday proposed opening nearly all U.S. offshore waters to oil and gas drilling, a move aimed at boosting domestic energy production that sparked protests from coastal states, environmentalists and the tourism industry. The effort to open previously off-limits acreage in the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans comes less than eight years after BP Plc's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - the largest in American history. The disaster…

Diversification is the key at Oregon-based North River Boats. Listening closely to the customer’s needs recently won the day on a multi-hull U.S. Navy contract, but that’s not all that’s happening in Oregon. Roseburg, Ore.-based North River Boats has, over time, thrived by delivering one of the most diverse vessel portfolios in North America. Those offerings include both domestic and foreign deliveries, as well as recreational, commercial and military hulls. And, if that formula has taught them just one thing, then that metric would be that different customers need different features. And, for a firm known initially for cranking out a well-known brand of nearly identical recreational craft, it has also learned that flexibility in design and offerings can also win the day.

U.S. environmental regulators have cleared the path for a stalled copper and gold mine in Alaska by agreeing to settle current lawsuits and other issues over the project, which had drawn environmental concerns over its potential impact on the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery. U.S. The Pebble Limited Partnership mining company had filed a lawsuit against the EPA under the previous administration of Democratic president Barack Obama, which had sought to block it. Backers of the project had been hopeful that Obama's Republican successor, Donald Trump would allow it to proceed. Shares of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd , which owns the massive Pebble deposit, have surged since Trump won the U.S. election back in November. Trump took office Jan. 20.

The safety and environmental impact of arctic shipping was on the agenda as International Maritime Organization (IMO)  Secretary-General Kitack Lim received a delegation of arctic indigenous leaders at IMO Headquarters, London (25 October). In the first meeting of its kind, a wide-range of issues surrounding climate change and the subsequent increase in number of ships operating in arctic waters were discussed. Secretary-General Lim outlined IMO’s work in this field, in the form of IMO’s Polar Code, which will enter into force in January 2017. The Code applies to ships operating in Arctic and Antarctic waters, provides for safe ship operation and protects the environment by addressing the unique risks present in polar waters but not covered by other treaties. Mr.

Last December, MAN Engines introduced its latest generation in-line six-cylinder engines for workboats. Now the first MAN D2676 LE443 engine off the production line will be installed aboard the new salmon fishing boat, LT32 Gilnetter, built by the Mavrik Marine boatyard in Washington State and set to launch in late autumn 2016. The D2676 LE443 is designed for light duty commercial operation and generates an output of 537 kW (730 HP) at 2,300 rpm with a cylinder capacity of 12.4 l. The maximum torque is 2,445 Nm at speeds of 1,300 to 2,100 rpm.

On April 25, Great Lakes Shipyard hauled out the U.S. Coast Guard’s 125’ x 52’ Aids to Navigation Barge (12001). Using the Shipyard’s 770-ton Marine Travelift, the yard lifted the 620-ton AToN barge quickly and easily, and placed it on drydocking blocks. Based in Detroit, Mich., the buoy tending crane barge is normally paired with the Ice Breaking Cutter Bristol Bay, and serves as a buoy tender to handle navigation buoys marking shipping lanes of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. The barge will remain in the yard until mid-June under a USCG contract for routine maintenance and repairs.

One of the best-known commercial fishing vessels in the world, the Cornelia Marie, has just undergone life-extending surgery. The Bering Sea crabber has gained a wide public following both for the family saga of ownership and for her role in the television series Deadliest Catch that portrays the challenges of one of the world’s toughest fisheries. When Roger Thomas and his partner Kari Toivola began searching for a Bering Sea crab investment, Roger called Casey McManus. Casey has skippered the Cornelia Marie and is a shareholder in the boat. After checking with the other owner, Josh Harris, he got back to Thomas and Toivola with an offer of a 50 percent stake in the famous boat. The two flew to Dutch Harbor in January 2015 to inspect the vessel.

Delayed restart of Exxon refinery draws down inventories. Valero and BP among traders shipping jet from Asia to U.S. Asian jet fuel shipments to the United States West Coast region could pick up this month as a prolonged cut in throughput at a California refinery is drawing down inventories, traders said on Wednesday. Arbitrage economics to ship jet fuel from North Asia to the U.S. West Coast are now profitable, so there would be an increase in spot jet fuel cargoes on that route over the coming weeks, they said. Demand from the U.S. helped push up Asian jet fuel margins to a one-week high on Wednesday. An explosion in February that shut the gasoline-making unit of Exxon Mobil's Torrance 149,500 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery near Los Angeles reduced throughput at the refinery.

Kvichak Marine Industries, Inc, a Vigor Industrial Company, delivered the first of three new Bristol Bay boats. The new, top house design all-aluminum 32’ x 16’ jet propelled gillnetter is a product of the Kvichak design team and is powered by twin Volvo D11 EVEC-E engines rated for 510 BHP coupled to ZF 305-3 marine gears and  Hamilton HJ364 water jets providing a top speed of 35 knots. This new Kvichak design combines shallow draft capability with short transit times to the line, and the ability to maintain planning speed when partially loaded.

The Coast Guard cutter fleet is flushing ice through the Great Lakes river systems to prevent ice jams and facilitate commercial shipping as the shipping season begins and the ice on the Great Lakes dissipates. Ice breaking operations, above freezing-temperatures, and rain has caused plate ice to weaken, creating large and small ice floes through the Great Lakes and its river systems. The Coast Guard posted a video of the Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay performing ice flushing operations on the St. Clair river. You can see the video here.

The US Coast Guard began to prepare for the upcoming shipping season this week, with ice breaking operations on the Great Lakes, says a report in AP.   The U.S. Coast Guard's 140-foot icebreaking cutter Bristol Bay broke up ice that remains on some Great Lakes shipping channels in the St. Clair River near Algonac   The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay welcomed aboard members of the media Friday to demonstrate icebreaking on the St. Clair River. It's all part of an effort to remove unstable ice, provide flood relief and facilitate commerce.    The Bristol Bay was cutting ice well into May last year. Henry hopes to be done in April this year. But, as he says, "Mother Nature always does her own thing."

The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards are working to break free the motor vessel Arthur M. Anderson, which is beset in ice near Conneaut Harbor, and turn it around in Lake Erie so it can head to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for its winter layup. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay, a 140-foot ice-breaking tug homeported in Detroit, has been just outside of Ashtabula for several days battling 8 to 10 feet of ice in areas and brash ice up to 5 to 6 feet thick. The progress has been slow in getting into Ashtabula, so the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Griffon has been called to assist.

Continued icebreaking operations from the U.S. The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards are jointly continuing Operation Coal Shovel, the seasonal domestic icebreaking operations in the southern part of Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair and Detroit River systems, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. As of Sunday, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) icebreakers have logged 493 icebreaking hours and assisted 53 vessels since beginning Operation Coal Shovel on January 8. Operation Coal Shovel’s mission…

"Ava Jane", was launched in Washington state on April 15 as the first workboat with a MAN EPA Tier 3 commercially certified engine. Right in time, the German engine manufacturer made its entire product line conform with the current emission standards, by optimizing the internal engine design without increasing its fuel consumption at full load. RDI Marine, MAN’s west coast distributor has been heavily involved in the workboat industry since the early 90’s. They commissioned the installation on April 21…

Kvichak Marine Industries, Inc. announced the start of a production run of 32’ Bristol Bay Gillnetters for the 2015 season. This new, top house design all-aluminum 32’ x 16’ jet propelled gillnetter is a product of the Kvichak design team and will be powered by twin Volvo D11 EVEC-E engines rated for 510 BHP coupled to ZF 305-3 marine gears and  Hamilton HJ364 water jets. This fresh design will combine shallow draft capability with short transit times to the line, and the ability to maintain planning speed when partially loaded. The unique top house arrangement maximizes creature comforts while maintaining a large efficient working deck.

The Commercial Fisherman for Bristiol Bay organization has announced that 77 commercial fishing groups from Alaska to Maine have sent a letter to the Obama Administration urging it to protect Bristol Bay, its epic salmon runs and the commercial fishing jobs that rely on them. The groups include the Maine Lobstermen's Association, Gloucester Fishermen's Wives, Maryland Watermen's Association and Southern Shrimp Alliance. In all, they represent more than 16,000 commercial fishermen across the country.

Presiding over busy waterways and airspace that serve as unofficial highways of an inhospitable state twice the size of Texas, the federal government has a looming presence over Alaska and its famously live-and-let-live residents. And Uncle Sam considers marijuana illegal over every inch. This poses unique hurdles for entrepreneurs hoping to capitalize on an Alaska move to legalize recreational marijuana, and who seek to grow and process products to be marketed across the state, much of which is accessible only via transport links policed by U.S. agencies and governed by federal law. To get around such obstacles, some investors say they plan to launch location-specific seed-to-sale businesses…

The U.S. Coast Guard concluded icebreaking operations on the lower Great Lakes, Monday, more than four months after it started, Dec. 15, 2013. Operation Coal Shovel is a binational domestic icebreaking effort covering the St. Lawrence Seaway, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, the Detroit/St. Clair River System and southern Lake Huron. Crews aboard Coast Guard Cutters Mackinaw, Hollyhock, Bristol Bay, Neah Bay and Morro Bay were joined by crews from Canadian Coast Guard Ships Samuel Risley, Griffon and Des Groseilliers during this year’s operation.