Chatham Strait News

NOAA announced the official launch of its 2015 Arctic hydrographic survey season took place this morning, in Kodiak, Alaska, in a World Ocean Day ceremony which showcased the deployment of the NOAA ships Rainier and Fairweather. “Most Arctic waters that are charted were surveyed with obsolete technology, with some of the information dating back to Captain Cook's voyages, long before the region was part of the United States,” said NOAA deputy under secretary for operations Vice Admiral Michael S. Devany in remarks directed to the crews of NOAA ships.

Coast Guard law enforcement officials terminated a fishing vessel’s voyage Tuesday afternoon in Southeast Alaska waters after the boat’s captain failed to meet federally required safety equipment regulations. Boarding officers from the Petersburg-based cutter Anacapa boarded the 37-foot vessel Charisma at about 10 a.m. near Takatz Bay in Chatham Strait. The Coast Guard officials cited Charisma’s operator for safety equipment violations that included unserviceable survival suits, an expired life raft, an expired electronic position indicating radio beacon and having no sound-producing device. The Anacapa crew terminated the vessel’s voyage and escorted the Charisma to Petersburg where the boat’s master resolved the safety discrepancies Tuesday evening. The 110-ft.