Decommissioned Oil Rig News

The U.S. Coast Guard said it has medevaced five boaters who were injured after striking a decommissioned oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, Sunday.Coast Guard watchstanders in New Orleans received a mayday call on VHF-FM Channel 16 at 12:03 a.m. from a boater stating multiple persons on board had suffered injuries after their vessel struck a decommissioned offshore rig 23 nautical miles southeast of Venice, La..A helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans hoisted two patients with more severe injuries…

It looks like a typical Gulf of Mexico double-rigged shrimp trawler. However at 110 by 28-ft she will be bigger than most shrimpers. Like her sister, the Poncho, delivered in 2009, the new vessel is also built with robust framing and extra power. Like the Poncho, the as yet unnamed vessel, will be trawling for scrap metal, old tires and any other scrap is at the site of a decommissioned oil rig. The work, mandated by U.S. Mineral Management Services in 1990, requires the site to be cleaned to the point that it can be safely trawled by typical Gulf shrimp gear.