EPIRB

Published on: September 9, 2026

Back to School, Back to Sea, Safety Refresher for the Fleet

September brings its own version of “back to school” for Alaska’s maritime workers. Southeast salmon crews are finishing their season, Bering Sea crab boats are completing preseason registration ahead of the 2026-2027 season, and deckhands across the region are pulling gear out of storage. It is a good time for a refresher to remember the basics for keeping crew members safe when conditions turn treacherous.

This week, the U.S. Coast Guard ended a search near St. Lawrence Island after an 18-foot skiff carrying three people capsized in the Bering Sea. One teenager survived after clinging to the overturned hull for hours. Tragically, two others did not make it back. The outcome highlights something every mariner knows. In cold water, an overboard victim has very little time. At Bering Sea temperatures, a person without proper protection can lose useful hand and arm function within minutes and can succumb to hypothermia before help arrives, even when a search begins quickly.

That is exactly why immersion suits and EPIRBs are not optional gear on a commercial vessel, they are required by federal regulation for good reason. An immersion suit, when properly stowed, sized, and in good working order, can buy a person in the water hours rather than minutes. An EPIRB that is registered, tested, and mounted where it can be reached in an emergency gives searchers a starting point instead of open ocean to cover, the same kind of search area the U.S. Coast Guard faced off Gloucester, Massachusetts earlier this year when the F/V LILY JEAN was lost with her crew. Safety equipment does not help anyone if it goes unused.

Published on: May 5, 2026

How to Survive an Overboard Fall for Commercial Fishermen

by Nigel Stacey

Commercial fishing remains one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. Between 2000 and 2019, 878 commercial fishermen died from traumatic injuries on the job, an average of more than 43 deaths per year. Vessel disasters are the leading cause of death however falls overboard are second, accounting for 266 of those deaths, or 30% of all fatalities.

Of all 266 workers who died after falling overboard between 2000 and 2019, not one was wearing a Personal Flotation Device (PFD).

Why Fishermen Don’t Wear PFDs And Why That Has to Change

Published on: April 14, 2026

NOAA Budget Cuts and Fishing Safety: Your Legal Rights When Training Programs Vanish

by Nigel Stacey

Earlier this year, we reported about how proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service were putting commercial fishermen in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon at greater risk by degrading marine weather forecasts. That threat has not gone away, and now a new federal budget proposal makes clear that it is deepening. This time, the target is not just forecasting. It is the safety training programs that have quietly kept Pacific Northwest and Alaska fishermen alive for decades.

The proposed federal fiscal year 2027 budget calls for a $1.6 billion cut to NOAA’s overall budget, a 32 percent reduction that would eliminate entire programs. Congress rejected an identical proposal for FY2026, but the proposed cuts keep coming. The agency has experienced significant staffing reductions due to recent layoffs and attrition. Alaska fishermen reported greater uncertainty about storm forecasts during the 2025 season, and the conditions driving that uncertainty have not improved.

What is different this year is that the scope of that threat has expanded. The proposed cuts are not limited to weather forecasting offices and buoy networks. They also target the federal programs that fund commercial fishing safety training, specifically the Commercial Fishing Safety Research and Training program and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) fishing industry programs.

Published on: March 17, 2026

Three Fishermen Rescued After Vessel Sinks Off Maine Coast

by Nigel Stacey

A prompt U.S. Coast Guard response saved three fishermen’s lives off the coast of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, on Wednesday March 11^th, 2026, after the 40-foot F/V VESTA RENEE sank approximately 23 miles offshore.

The distress call came in at 7:03 a.m., when the crew radioed U.S. Coast Guard Sector Northern New England on VHF Channel 16. The vessel was taking on water fast, and the mariners made the decision to abandon ship.

Within ten minutes of receiving the mayday, the U.S. Coast Guard had launched a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Boothbay Harbor, an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft, and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Cape Cod. Rescuers also asked the fishermen to activate their Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), a critical step that helped pinpoint the crew’s location in open water.

Published on: February 10, 2026

Coast Guard Launches Formal Investigation into Fatal F/V Lily Jean Sinking

by Nigel Stacey

The U.S. Coast Guard has officially launched a district-level investigation into the sinking of the fishing vessel LILY JEAN, which occurred approximately 25 miles off Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and resulted in the loss of seven lives.

Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Northeast District, Rear Adm. Michael Platt, authorized the inquiry after the 72-foot commercial fishing vessel’s entire crew was lost in the incident. Emergency responders were alerted when the vessel’s emergency beacon (EPIRB) activated around 6:50 a.m. that morning.

Multiple U.S. Coast Guard units responded to the distress call, including an Air Station Cape Cod helicopter crew, a Gloucester small boat team, and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter THUNDER BAY. Rescuers discovered a debris field at the beacon’s location and retrieved one deceased individual from the water. The vessel’s life raft was found deployed but empty.

Published on: February 3, 2026

Seven Lost Following the Sinking of F/V Lily Jean

by Nigel Stacey

It is with great sadness that we report the U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for the F/V LILY JEAN after more than 24 hours of effort by air and sea turned up no survivors. One body was recovered from the water. Six crew members remain missing and are now presumed dead.

The distress began early Friday morning, when the U.S. Coast Guard received an emergency beacon activation signal from the F/V LILY JEAN, a 72-foot groundfish trawler based out of Gloucester. The vessel had gone down approximately 25 miles off the coast of Cape Ann, about 40 miles northeast of Boston. Repeated attempts to reach the boat by radio went unanswered.

The F/V LILY JEAN was captained by Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo, a fifth-generation Gloucester fisherman. The crew included Paul Beal Sr. and his son Paul Beal Jr., John Paul Rousanidis, Freeman Short, and Sean Therrien. Also aboard was Jada Samitt, a 22-year-old NOAA fisheries observer from Virginia, assigned to collect data on the vessel’s catch.

Published on: April 6, 2025

Coast Guard Urges Safe Use and Registration of Emergency Beacons

by Nigel Stacey

Every April 6th marks “406 Day,” a nationwide effort led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to educate mariners about Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs). EPIRBs are critical life-saving devices that send out distress signals to rescue teams when someone is in danger on the water.

EPIRBs work by transmitting a recognized distress signal via satellite, quickly alerting search and rescue (SAR) teams to the location of an emergency. However, for these devices to effectively save lives, it’s crucial that they are correctly registered, regularly tested, responsibly used, and properly disposed of when no longer in use.

The Fifth Coast Guard District highlighted the need for responsible EPIRB management by sharing these 2024 statistics: they responded to 830 EPIRB alerts. Of these, only 18 were genuine distress signals. 386 alerts were confirmed as false, and another 426 were unknown or suspected false alerts. These unnecessary alerts resulted in over 40 hours spent on surface searches, more than 45 hours on air searches, and over 2,550 command center man-hours.

Published on: January 21, 2025

Fishing Vessel Tanusha Capsizes Near Kodiak

by Nigel Stacey

Watchstanders at the 17th Coast Guard District Command Center received a distress alert from the fishing vessel emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) at 9:48 a.m. on Wednesday, January 15^th from the F/V TANUSHA near Kodiak.

A helicopter aircrew was launched from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak and requested assistance from the Alaska State Troopers. The watchstanders also made attempts to contact vessels near the location of the distress signal via radio, but the two crewmembers abandoned ship after the F/V TANUSHA began taking on water approximately 23 miles southeast of Kodiak.

Crewmembers aboard the F/V VICTORY received the request for assistance and navigated toward the last known location of the distressed vessel and found the two fishermen in a life raft. The F/V TANUSHA had capsized.

Published on: October 22, 2024

Coast Guard Rescues 5 from Tug Luther After Loss of Steering

by Joseph Stacey

A dramatic maritime rescue took place off the coast of La Push, Washington, on Friday, October 18^th, 2024, as U.S. Coast Guard and commercial tug crews worked urgently to prevent the 130-foot tug LUTHER from running aground after it lost steering in stormy seas.

At approximately 4:10 p.m. the tug LUTHER was towing a loaded cement barge when the vessel suffered a steering malfunction 10 miles offshore. The crew immediately sent a distress call to the U.S. Coast Guard.

“We’re getting our butts kicked,” the LUTHER captain can be heard saying over the radio as crews fought to save the vessel amid the harsh conditions. Readers can listen to the distress call at U.S. Coast Guard.

Published on: September 3, 2024

Six Fishermen Saved by Personal Locator Beacon

by Nigel Stacey

A group of fishermen stranded in the remote Western Pacific were recently rescued, thanks in large part to a personal locator beacon they had with them, according to a U.S. Coast Guard search coordinator.

According to a news release from the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam, the six fishermen became stranded about 30 miles north of Satawal Atoll in the Caroline Islands when their engine failed at approximately 9 a.m. on August 17, 2024. The fishermen activated a personal locator beacon (PLB), sending a distress signal that transmitted their location to the Joint Rescue Sub-Center Guam, over 430 miles away.

The distress signal was relayed to the USCGC OLIVER HENRY, which was on patrol approximately 270 miles northeast of the fishermen, as well as the Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel ZHONG YU MARINE, a 97-meter cargo vessel located about 160 miles north of the stranded boat. Despite challenging conditions, including the remote location, thunderstorms, and low visibility, both ships reached the search area by 3 a.m. on August 18, 2024. The distressed fishing vessel was located, then towed to a nearby atoll.