Newport Oregon News

The U.S. Coast Guard has launched a formal marine casualty investigation into an incident involving the commercial crabbing vessel Mary B II, which capsized off Newport, Oregon, January 9, 2019, resulting in the loss of three lives and loss of the vessel.The crew of the 42-foot fishing vessel Mary B II were attempting to cross the Yaquina Bay Bar when the vessel capsized in rough waters with all three crewmembers on board.Rear Adm. David Throop, Coast Guard 13th District Commander, authorized the investigation pursuant to the authority contained in Title 46, United States Code, Section 6301 and the regulations promulgated thereunder.The probe will be led by Cmdr. Karen Denny, the executive officer of Marine Safety Unit Portland, who will issue a report upon the investigation's completion.

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…

Debris from Japan's 2011 tsunami will continue to litter the North American coastline over the next three years, with everything from refrigerators to lumber and sports balls still floating offshore in the Pacific, an expert said on Tuesday. About one million tons of debris was still lingering in the Pacific Ocean four years after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the most powerful ever recorded in Japan, set off a series of massive tsunami waves that devastated a wide swathe of Honshu's Pacific coastline and killed nearly 20,000 people. It also damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, leading to a series of explosions and meltdowns in the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years earlier.

As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, cut carbon pollution and develop domestic energy sources, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is assessing whether there is competitive interest in wave energy research or development in an area of federal waters offshore Oregon where the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center at Oregon State University (NNMREC-OSU) proposes to site a hydrokinetic energy facility to test utility-scale wave energy devices. BOEM will publish the "Notice of Potential Research Lease on the Outer Continental Shelf Offshore Oregon, Request for Competitive Interest” in the Federal Register on March 24…

The Newport Ocean Observing Conference, sponsored by the Yaquina Bay Ocean Observing Initiative, will be held April 30 and May 1 in Newport, Oregon, a growing center of marine research on the U.S. West Coast, with approximately $1 billion in marine research infrastructure investments in recent years. The conference will inform businesses and other potential partners about the burgeoning economic opportunities in the Newport region. The agenda will include presentations on the current state of major marine research projects on the Oregon coast…

Northwest Energy Innovations deploys first wave energy converter at National Marine Renewable Energy Center, off Oregon coast. After a multi-day installation operation, Northwest Energy Innovations (NWEI), a Portland-based company, has successfully installed a wave energy device off the coast of Newport, Oregon. The device, known as Wave Energy Technology-New Zealand (WET-NZ), is now deployed at the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center’s (NNMREC) open ocean test facility.

Art Anderson Associates, a Bremerton-based multidisciplinary engineering services firm, was recently awarded a contract for On-Call Naval Architect Design Services with the Navigation Division of the Port of Portland. The Navigation Division owns and operates a fleet of vessels and barges, including the Dredge Oregon, and has retained the firm to provide naval architecture and marine engineering services in support of fleet maintenance and operations. While the firm has maintained a presence in the Portland area for many years, providing facilities construction management services on behalf of the U.S. General Services Administration, it is only recently that it has focused on doing more naval architecture and marine work in the region.

Joe Rock is in the habit of doing things himself. After 47 years as a commercial fisherman it seems to just come naturally to him. When he bought a Cajun-style shrimper in Louisiana in 1992 he drove the boat 30 days home to Newport Oregon himself. When he wanted to add five feet to the stern of the boat to give it better floatation he and his son Corey did the job themselves. So this year when he felt it was time to change out the 73x22-foot Kylie Lynn’s main engine for a 500 hpCummins KTA19 , he and Corey did the job themselves. This is a routine kind of chore for this fishing family who work crab, shrimp and scallops with the boat. Not only does Joe know how do fix just about anything on the boat, he knows how to live the good life.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a press release stating that the ex-owner of a now-closed Newport, Oregon ship repair facility pleaded guilty in federal court to violating the Clean Water Act. The company renovated and painted ships by pressure washing and sand blasting the hulls. The owner allowed grit and paint from his operation to be discharged into the Yaquina River. When sentenced, the owner faces a maximum sentence of up to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. Source: HK Law

Scientists from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) will join colleagues from federal and state government, academia, and industry to examine potential effects of wave energy at the Ecological Effects of Wave Energy Development in the Pacific Northwest Workshop at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon, on October 11-12, 2007. MMS is a major co-sponsor of the scientific workshop along with Oregon State University, the Oregon Department of Land Development and Conservation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Fisheries, Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea, the Oregon Wave Energy Trust, several Pacific Northwest utility companies and others.

Agustin Díaz, deputy general manager of the Curaçao Ports Authority, Inc., was installed as Chairman of the Board of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) during the September 26th Annual Membership Meeting at The Breakers in Palm Beach, FL. Díaz succeeded as Chairman of the Board Dick Steinke, Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach. “We’re pleased to have Agustin lead the Association on behalf of AAPA’s Latin American delegation,” said Kurt J. Nagle, AAPA President. “He will be working to help connect and build stronger relationships between our 150 port members who come from more than 30 countries and speak a variety of languages. Before joining the Curaçao Ports Authority, Díaz was the commissioner of the island government in charge of ports.

When pioneering king crab fisherman Oscar Dyson of Kodiak had Jensen-designed 99 ft. Peggy Jo built back in 1966, Pacific Fisherman hailed her as "the first U.S. vessel ever built specifically to fish for King crab." She was big for her day - capable of carrying 100 pots and packing 12,000 live crab. The yellowing magazine copy tells us she was equipped with the latest electronics including "a loran set which enables the skipper to establish his bearings electronically." An earlier article trumpeted another innovation, "An unusual feature of Peggy Jo is the articulated hydraulic boom mounted in the middle of the main deck working area." Built at Martinolich Shipyard in Tacoma, the new vessel carried a 850 hp Caterpillar D-398 in her engine room.