Coast Guard Raises Marine Casualty Reporting Threshold
The U.S. Coast Guard has raised the decades-old monetary threshold for reporting marine casualties in order to keep pace with inflation and reduce reporting of minor incidents.
The final rule changes, which were published March 19 and take effect April 18, 2018, lift the reportable marine casualty property damage threshold amount from $25,000 to $75,000 and raise the serious marine incident property damage threshold from $100,000 to $200,000.
The original regulations that set these dollar threshold amounts had not been updated since they were written in the 1980s.
Because the monetary thresholds for reporting have not kept pace with inflation, vessel owners and operators have been required to report relatively minor casualties. Additionally, the original regulations require mandatory drug and alcohol testing following a serious marine incident, forcing vessel owners and operators to conduct testing for casualties that are less significant than those intended to be captured by the original regulations.
Several industry groups had lobbied for an increase in these monetary thresholds, and on January 23, 2017, the USCG published a proposed rule in the Federal Register, providing a period for public comment.
According to the Coast Guard, updating the original regulations will reduce the burden on vessel owners and operators, and will also reduce the amount of Coast Guard resources expended to investigate these incidents.