Recent Updates
March 08, 2010
COURT DENIES ICICLE SEAFOOD?S MOVE TO REDUCE $1.3 MILLION DOLLAR PUNITIVE DAMAGE AWARD
March 03, 2010
ALASKA RANGER DOCUMENTARY - MAYDAY, BERING SEA TO AIR ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL
March 02, 2010
Three Crewmen Die When Cruise Ship Crashes While Docking In Egypt
February 22, 2010
ALASKA CRAB BOAT NORTHWESTERN DOCKS AT SEATTLE FISHERMANS TERMINAL
January 29, 2010
ICICLE SEAFOODS ORDERED TO PAY INJURED SEAMAN ATTORNEY FEES FOR MAINTENANCE AND CURE TRIAL
January 28, 2010
FOUR CREWMEN RESCUED FROM MISSING TUGBOAT
January 25, 2010
ALASKA FACTORY TRAWLER FLEET BEGINS 2010 FISHING SEASON
January 20, 2010
EXXON OIL TANKER LOSES POWER IN PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND
January 20, 2010
MARATHON OIL DECKHAND DIES AFTER FALL OVERBOARD
January 20, 2010
ALASKA FISHING VESSEL ORDERED TO RETURN TO PORT FOR SAFETY VIOLATIONS
Interesting Information
COURT DENIES ICICLE SEAFOOD?S MOVE TO REDUCE $1.3 MILLION DOLLAR PUNITIVE DAMAGE AWARD
Posted by: euser
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: euser
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: euser
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.
