The Mason County Coroner’s office have released the name of a scuba diver who died this past Saturday in Washington state’s Hood Canal. Joshua Michael Parke of The Balles, Oregon, was on a training dive in the Sund Rock Conservation area near Hoodsport, Washington. Officials say that Parke, age 36,…
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Research Vessel has just located the wreck of the missing F/V DESTINATION that sank in the Bering Sea this past February. The vessel and its six crew members were tragically lost in the capsize. On the cold morning of Saturday, February 11, 2017, crew…
An 8-year-old boy from Woodland, Washington became an honorary rescue swimmer today when the Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak and Make-A-Wish foundation granted Andrew Bishop’s wish to be a rescue swimmer in Alaska. After completing training in a modified rescue pool and basic air crewman training, Andrew donned a flight…
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevaced a 58-year-old male after he suffered an ankle injury while aboard the F/V NEW DAWN. The 50-foot commercial vessel was near Shelikof Strait when the incident occurred on Sunday, June 18th. “Due to the crewman’s possible need for an…
A crabber working in the Alaska Bering Sea aboard the TIME BANDIT (the vessel made famous by the popular Discovery Channel reality series “Deadliest Catch”), was awarded $1.35 million by a Seattle jury for injuries sustained in a fireworks related explosion aboard the vessel. According to court documents, David Zielinski…
Astoria is set to receive two new lifesaving Sentinel-class cutters. One has already been deployed in Ketchikan, the USCGC John McCormick. These are part of a Coast Guard plan to commission 58 new Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters, replacing aging Island-class cutters. The new cutters are 154 ft. long (compared to…
What began as a small fundraiser for the minor children of the F/V Destination crew quickly gained momentum and turned into a sold-out gala as community members saw a tangible way to help the families of the fishermen lost at sea. Tickets for “A Night Among the Stars” went on…
Commercial fishermen are familiar with the Fisheries Observer Program. Launched in 1972 by NOAA, there are between 450 and 1000 observers working on commercial fishing vessels alongside fishermen collecting data at any given time. They are trained scientists (often marine biologists) who collect information that is used to estimate stock…
The U.S. Coast Guard responded to the sinking of an out-of-service tugboat on Wednesday April 19th at approximately 10:15 p.m. The 81-foot tug, POWHATAN, had been docked at the Samson Tug and Barge pier. The vessel initially sunk to a depth of about 15 meters but then shifted. The downward…
It is with great sadness that we report the death of a 36-year-old diver. The Pierce County Sheriff’s office dive team responded to a 911 call at approximately 2 p.m. on Tuesday April 18, 2017. They were informed that the diver was unresponsive just south of the Navy Surface Warfare…