Operation “Safe Crab” has been set in motion on the Washington and Oregon coasts in an attempt to limit further deaths in the commercial crab fishery. In November, the Coast Guard will be conducting dock-side examinations throughout the Northwest ports for the safety of the crab fleet. These inspections will…
On November 12, 2009 the search for three fishermen aboard the F/V Sea Tractor was suspended by the United States Coast Guard. The F/V Sea Tractor was a 44-foot commercial fishing vessel home ported in Cape May. The vessel is believed to have sank in heavy seas of up to…
The search has been suspended for Gregory Luckett who is reported to have fallen into the water off a 25 foot construction barge near the mouth of the South River in Chesapeake Bay. Luckett and two other workers were reportedly returning from a construction site towing a barge when they…
Erin Reiman has been charged with murder of fisherman John Adkins. The crewmen were in Ilwaco aboard the F/V TIGER on July 5, 2009 when the murder is alleged to have taken place. According to information contained in the Court files, the murder happened as follows: Reiman and Adkins had…
A vessel accident has left one person dead and three others injured when their 18 foot May-Craft vessel capsized approximately one mile east of Fort Monroe according to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard, Norfolk Fire Department and two Good Samaritan vessels responded to the capsizing. Four people were rescued…
A pleasure boat crash near Long Island has left three dead and injured four others. The 40 foot pleasure boat ran aground South of the Hamlet of Wantagh, N.Y. Sea Tow, a company that assists boaters in emergency, contacted authorities following the accident. The Coast Guard dispatched a rescue boat…
The United States District Court for the Third Circuit has ruled that land based commuter seamen, who eat and sleep ashore, have the same right to maintenance and cure as all other seamen. See Delaware River & Bay Authority v. Kopacz,2009 WL 3064708 (2009). The ruling explicitly stated that, in…
A housekeeper aboard a river boat casino and hotel has been ruled to be a Jones Act seaman by the Iowa Court of Appeals. The housekeeper fell on ice while taking trash out of the casino’s trash compacter. She sought workers compensation benefits under Iowa’s Workers Compensation Act. The Court…
Seamen working on charter vessels, cruise ships, and excursion vessels frequently receive tips in addition to their salaries. When crewmen are injured or become ill in the service of their vessels, under the General Maritime Law they are entitled to receive unearned wages until the end of the voyage. The…
On August 30, 2009, the Coast Guard reported that it received a call that the 47 foot fishing vessel DA OPAILOLO II was towing a pleasure craft when the tow line became caught in the propeller. The DA OPAILOLO II rescued two people aboard the pleasure craft MY ESCAPE that…