Vessel Profile – Fishermens News

Vessel Profile: The Western Flyer Returns

The Tacoma-built purse seiner of Steinbeck fame prepares for a new working life. The Western Flyer was in dire straits when it was found by John Gregg on the Swinomish Channel in 2015. The 1937-era wood purse seiner had endured two sinking episodes from 2012 to 2013 and appeared no different than the many doomed derelict workboats of the world. Yet Gregg, inspired, eagerly bought the Western Flyer for around $1 million. The reason? The Western Flyer is the same purse seiner John Steinbeck and his colleague and marine biologist Ed Ricketts chartered to the Gulf of Mexico in 1940. The expedition to collect and catalogue tidal marine animals is the subject Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize-winning book, The Log from the Sea of Cortez. Out of the Grave & Back to Work Gregg, who’s based in the...

Vessel Profile: ACI Boats Building Commercial Fishing Catamarans

American Samoa fishermen stand to benefit from four modern “Super Alia” vessels that evoke the region’s culturally significant alia sailing canoes. ACI Boats has been awarded a $3-million contract with the American Samoa Government’s (ASG) Department of Commerce for four “Super Alia” commercial fishing vessels. The four aluminum catamarans are to be constructed at the 20,000-square-foot ACI facility in Port Townsend, Wash. The name “Super Alia” evokes the maritime heritage of the iconic alia sailing canoes of the South Pacific. The boats are to be identical 38-foot by 14-foot semi-displacement catamarans, designed by ACI and Coastwise Marine Design. They’re set to be constructed with 5,086 aluminum hull skins with 5,052 aluminum interior transverse frames. Design features include ACI...

Coast Guard Cutter Cuttyhunk Decommissioned

One of the U.S. Coast Guard’s remaining 110-foot Island-class patrol vessels, the cutter Cuttyhunk, was decommissioned May 5 in a ceremony at Air Station Port Angeles in Washington. Cuttyhunk, one of 37 remaining such Island-class patrol boats in service, was the 22nd of 49 of the vessels built. A fleet of 154-foot Sentinel-class cutters will replace the Island-class vessels, according to the USCG. The Cuttyhunk was commissioned in 1988 to support various USCG operations, including search and rescue, drug and fisheries enforcement and maritime homeland security. During its 34-year tenure, the vessel’s crew has accomplished more than 1,000 operations ranging from responding to searches and rescues in the Pacific Northwest to helping in various submarine escorts. Commanding Officer and ...

Polar Star Goes Into Dry Dock After 147-Day Antarctic Deployment

Polar Star, the nation’s only heavy icebreaker, returned from its 147-day mission in support of the U.S Antarctic Program, and went directly into dry dock at Vallejo, California, rather than to its Seattle homeport. Work began on phase two of a five-year, $75-million Service Life Extension Program for the Polar Star in early April. The Coast Guard is replacing antiquated technology to ensure the longevity of the operational heavy icebreaker while in dry dock this year, updates that support the Coast Guard’s enduring commitment to Antarctic operations. The 140-member Polar Star crew departed Seattle on Nov. 13, 2021 for the cutter’s 25th Operation Deep Freeze deployment and traveled 24,300 nautical miles to Antarctica and back. Coast Guard officials said that the cutter made several in...

USCG Cutter Alex Haley Returns to Kodiak After Bering Sea Patrol

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley is back in port in Kodiak, Alaska after a 35-day winter Bering Sea patrol during which it engaged in domestic fisheries enforcement, responded to search and rescue incidents and performed at-sea medical evacuations from the Bering Sea fishing fleet. The cutter returned March 29. During the patrol, five search and rescue cases resulted in crew members saving five lives, according to the USCG, including an individual who experienced chest pain at Akutan and a 20-month-old child at King Cove suffering from respiratory distress. The crew maintained a law enforcement presence throughout the Aleutian Islands chain to prevent the illegal harvesting of U.S. fish stocks. They conducted seven fisheries boardings, investigated reports of two fis...

Coast Guard Cutter Stratton Returns to Alameda After Completing Operation Blue Pacific Patrol

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Stratton returned to Alameda, California in March after a 20,348-mile patrol to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing on the high seas and in partner nations’ exclusive economic zones. The Stratton crew worked with Pacific partner nations during its deployment, including Fiji, France, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Australia and the United Kingdom. During the mission, crew from the Stratton boarded 11 vessels and found 21 violations, according the USCG. Commander Steve Adler said that collaboration with partners and utilization of shiprider agreements gave them the ability to accomplish their mission to maintain regional stability and protect the fishing industry. “By bringing aboard shipriders from Fiji, we were able to patrol their exclusive...

Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star at Work in Antarctic Breaking Ice at McMurdo Station

U.S. Coast Guard cutters over the past four months completed two lengthy journeys, one in support of the U.S. Antarctic stations and a second to counter drug operations in the East Pacific Ocean. The first began in November with the departure of the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star from its homeport in Seattle; the second began in mid-December at Port Angeles, California, concluding in early February. Crew aboard the Polar Star, on its 25th journey to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze, were to spend January and February breaking ice at McMurdo Station for fuel and supply ships, then return to the U.S. west coast in March. Upon return, the 46-year-old Polar Star, the nation’s solar provider of these crucial icebreaking services, was headed to drydock for maintenance and repai...

Vessel Profile: F/V Kiska Sea

The 125-foot crab vessel F/V Kiska Sea has returned to the snow crab grounds along the Russian border after a successful haul out at the Port of Toledo, Oregon. The haul out was the first of its kind for the Kiska Sea at the location. “The Port of Toledo was very accommodating,” vessel Capt. Mike Wilson from the helm via satellite phone. “They were good people.” Wilson has skippered the Kiska Sea since it launched in 1990 and was involved with design of the vessel when it was built, namely the functional elements of the deck layout. He began his fishing career when he was 17 in a Kodiak cannery. “Then I got a deck job and slowly worked my way to the wheelhouse,” he told Fishermen’s News. I’ve been skippering for close to 40 years now.” Owned by Seattle-based Aleutian Spray Fisheries,...

Polar Star Marks Its 25th Operation Deep Freeze Deployment

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, the nation’s only heavy icebreaker, is now engaged in its 25th journey to Antarctica, in support of Operation Deep Freeze, an annual joint military mission to re-supply the U.S. Antarctic stations in support of the National Science Foundation for the nation’s Antarctic Program. Polar Star left its homeport in Seattle on Nov. 13 with a crew of 159 men and women, heading south on its annual trek to Antarctica. Capt. William Woityra, commanding officer of the Polar Star, said that maintaining and operating the 45-year-old ship in the harshest environment on the planet makes for arduous duty, but that the crew are committed to this important mission and “excited for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit a part of the world that most will never get...

Coast Guard Icebreaker Healy Crew Undertakes Months Long Research Mission

High latitude research, professional exchanges with foreign navies and patrols and a visible U.S. surface presence in the Arctic are among the mandates for the Coast Guard Cutter Healy on its Arctic deployment and circumnavigation of North America. The crew aboard the 420-foot medium icebreaker, which departed Seattle on July 10, is also conducting other operations as directed throughout its months long journey. “Healy’s deployment provides opportunities to deepen the Coast Guard’s cooperation and commitment with our Arctic allies and partners and to support scientific exploration to increase understanding of the changing Arctic environment and associated impacts,” Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander Vice Adm. Michael McAllister explained. The Healy is scheduled to circumnavigate North...