Recent Updates
August 30, 2010
Alaska Fishing Boat Sinks After Hitting Iceberg; Crew of Three Saved By Nearby Vessels
August 26, 2010
Tug Boat Deckhand Suffers Head Injury
August 12, 2010
Marine Electrician Recovers $740,000 Jones Act Verdict After Fall From Ladder
August 12, 2010
Crewman On Fishing Vessel RONDYS Suffers Head Injury
August 09, 2010
Capsized Charter Boat Found Off Vancouver Island
August 04, 2010
Fisherman Suffers Head Injury Off Oregon Coast
July 29, 2010
Court Rules Statements In Crewman's Accident Report Not Admission of No Fault
July 28, 2010
Seattle Fishing Vessel Aground in Prince William Sound
July 09, 2010
Alaska Fishermen's Fund Benefits Increased to $10,000
July 09, 2010
Price Fixing Suit Filed Against Pacific Seafoods
Interesting Information
Three Bills Introduced In Congress to Increase Damages Recoverable In Maritime Injury Cases
Posted by: James M. Beard
June 14, 2010
The catastrophe that caused the explosion and sinking of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon has focused attention on the need to change damages available to injury victims in maritime torts. Three separate bills have been introduced in the United States Congress to amend and repeal out- of-date Federal Statutes.
Crab Boat Deckhand From TV's Deadliest Catch Pleads Guilty to Three Bank Robberies
Posted by: James M. Beard
May 28, 2010
A 23 year old crab boat deckhand who appeared on the Deadliest Catch television series has pled guilty to three bank robberies in Eugene, Oregon. Joshua Tel Warner worked on the Alaska crab boat WIZARD, which is featured on the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch. Warner's appearance on the show led viewers to identify him as the person who committed the Oregon bank robberies. During the robberies which occurred in 2007 and 2009,Warner passed the bank tellers notes threaten to kill them if they did not give him money. Warner will serve 9 ? years in jail for the robberies.
American Seafoods Refinances Alaska Fishing Fleet - Buyout Alters Relationship With Coastal Villages Region Fund
Posted by: James M. Beard
May 11, 2010
American Seafoods, an Alaska fishing company, yesterday announced a major refinancing of its company. Coast Villages Region Fund had a 46% ownership interest in American Seafoods. As part of the refinancing of American Seafoods, the Coastal Villages Region Fund has been bought out. As part of the agreement, Coastal Villages Region Fund will receive the 341-foot pollock catcher processor NORTHERN HAWK and its fishing rights. It will also receive the freezer longliner vessels LILLI ANN, NORTH CAPE and DEEP PACIFIC. The deal involving an estimated $750 million dollars in financing is being backed by Bank of America.
Lynda Edwards Wins Award For ABA Journal on Sinking of The ALASKA RANGER
Posted by: James M. Beard
April 26, 2010
The American Legion has announced it has awarded the American Bar Association Journal its top award for journalism for a story, "The Cemetery Sea," written by Lynda Edwards. The award is for outstanding achievement in the field of Journalism. Edwards battled to write and publish a story not typically printed by the ABA Journal. She should receive special recognition for her outstanding work and the award she has earned for the ABA Journal.
Edwards' award winning article told the story of the 2008 sinking of the ALASKA RANGER in Alaska's Bering Sea. Edwards skillfully portrayed the lives of the crewmen who work risking their lives each day on Alaska fishing vessels and highlighted the maritime injury lawyers who battle big fishing companies and their insurance companies to get fair compensation for crewmen's injuries and deaths. James Beard of Beard Stacey & Jacobsen was featured in the article. Edwards spent several days with Beard in Seattle researching the article. Previous winners of the American Legion's journalism award include NBC, C-SPAN, USA Today, ABC NEWS and Life Magazine.
K-SEA TRANSPORTATION FINED FOR OIL SPILL IN SEATTLE
Posted by: Joseph S. Stacey
April 09, 2010
The Washington State Department of Ecology has fined K-Sea Transportation $21,000 for an oil spill in Seattle's Salmon Bay. The ten gallon oil spill occurred on March 31, 2009 while the K-Sea Tiger tug was transferring fuel between two tanks on the vessel. K-Sea reportedly quickly responded to contain the pollution and conducted clean up operations. The Tiger was previously involved in another Washington State spill in 2008. Lack of training on the part of a new engineer was cited as the cause of the most recent spill. David Byers, who handles the Department of Ecology's spill response section, stated that crews must consistently implement their written procedures and that manuals only work when they are followed.
COURT DENIES ICICLE SEAFOODS MOVE TO REDUCE $1.3 MILLION DOLLAR PUNITIVE DAMAGE AWARD
Posted by: James M. Beard
March 08, 2010
A King County Washington Superior Court Judge has denied Icicle Seafood's motion to reduce a $1.3 million dollar punitive damage jury verdict against it. The punitive damage award arises out of a November, 2009 jury trial where Icicle Seafoods was found to have willfully and wantonly denied an injured fisherman his maritime rights of maintenance and cure. In the Court's written decision denying Icicle Seafood's motion to reduce the punitive damage award, the Court harshly criticized Icicle for showing intentional indifference to the health of their injured seaman. The Court stated that Icicle was under the most stringent legal obligation to take detailed and affirmative action to ensure that their injured crewman received maintenance and cure.
ALASKA CRAB BOAT NORTHWESTERN DOCKS AT SEATTLE FISHERMANS TERMINAL
Posted by: James M. Beard
February 22, 2010
The Alaska crab fishing vessel the NORTHWESTERN docked today at Fisherman's Terminal in Seattle following the 2010 Opilio crab season. The NORTHWESTERN is featured on the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch television show. Crab fishing is not all Hollywood though! Each year crab fisherman prove with their lives and career ending injuries just how dangerous working on a commercial fishing vessel in Alaska can be.
ALASKA FACTORY TRAWLER FLEET BEGINS 2010 FISHING SEASON
Posted by: James M. Beard
January 25, 2010
The fishing season opened today for the Bering Sea Factory Trawler fleet targeting Pollock. The total allowable catch this year is 813,000 metric tons. The Bering Sea Pacific Cod season also opened today with a similar quota of 168,000 metric tons.
ALASKA FISHERIES OBSERVER FINED FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Posted by: Joseph S. Stacey
December 23, 2009
A NOAA fishing observer working in Alaska has been banned from working as a observer anywhere in the country for ten years. The observer was fined $10,000 with $9,000 suspended as a result of sexually harassing another observer. The incident occurred over several days while the observers were housed in a Kodiak bunkhouse. The violations were reported and investigated by NOAA Office of Law Enforcement. NOAA observers monitor catch and by-catch aboard many commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea.
MEXICAN FISHERMAN MAY BE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION FOR INJURIES UNDER US MARITIME LAW
Posted by: James Beard
December 10, 2009
The story of Gerardo Cruz Garcia's injury while working for Texas based Zimco Marine again raises interesting questions under United States maritime law. It comes as a surprise to many people that the Jones Act may apply to foreign seaman as well as to foreign flagged vessels. In Garcia's case he was reportedly an illegal alien that came to the United States to try to make a better living fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. He was working for a United States employer aboard a United States fishing vessel. Garcia suffered a head and scalp injury when he was struck by heavy equipment. It is highly probable that if injury claims were brought by Garcia, a United States Court will apply United States maritime law and the Jones Act to Garcia's case.
MORE CRUISE SHIPS TO PULL OUT OF ALASKA IN 2011
Posted by: James Beard
December 10, 2009
Holland America Lines and Princess Cruise Lines announced that they each intend to reroute another ship for the 2011 cruise season. Holland America Lines' 1,270 passenger Ryndam will sail in Europe in 2011, it typically sailed seven night cruises between Vancouver B.C. and Seward with stops in Southeast Alaska along the way. Princess Cruise Lines is removing the 710 passenger Royal Princess to cruise Europe in 2011. The Royal Princess was the only major cruise ship to regularly make calls in Kodiak. The end result of the removal of these vessels will result an estimated reduction in cruise visitors to Alaska of 19,500.
DUTCH HARBOR ALASKA LEADS NATION IN COMMERCIAL FISHING LANDINGS
Posted by: James M. Beard
August 25, 2009
Dutch Harbor, Alaska was the leading port in the Nation in commercial fish landings in 2008. Fueled by pollock landing, statistics released by NOAA recorded that 612.7 million pounds of fish were landed in Dutch Harbor - nearly twice that of its closest rival, Reedville, Virginia, which had deliveries of 354.2 million pounds of product. In terms of value of the catch, Dutch Harbor finished in second place behind New Bedford, Massachusetts. The value of the catch landed at Dutch Harbor was listed as 195,000,000 million dollars, as compared to New Bedford, whose landings were valued at $241,000,00.
Alaska dominated the fish landing statistics for 2008, with Kodiak landing 250 million pounds of product. Naknek, Cordova, Sitka and Ketchikan all had landings in the top 20 ports in the Nation. Kodiak came in third place in terms of value of the product offloaded, with values of landings estimated at 98 million dollars.
Westport, Washington and Astoria, Oregon also had strong statistical commercial fish landings. Westport was in 11th place nationally in terms of pounds landed, and Astoria was in 13th place. The value of the catch landed at Astoria was reported to be 31.7 million dollars.
