gao – Fishermens News

13Nov

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Fishermen's News Online, News

Additional Training for U.S. Coast Guard Recommended by GAO

A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office recommends updates in training for the U.S. Coast Guard for emerging missions demands, such as Arctic operations, cybersecurity and modernizing its training efforts. Meeting the mission demands requires enhanced skills and training for the Coast Guard workforce, the GAO said in a report published online Oct. 30. The Coast Guard currently carries out varied duties, including Arctic patrols, cybersecurity and trying to stop illegal fishing in the Western Hemisphere. Its training command delivered over 400 unique training courses to more than 23,000 Coast Guard students in fiscal year 2023. While the Coast Guard for the most part followed sound practices when developing, implementing and evaluating its training, it could imp...

Coast Guard Urged to Improve Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Efforts

A new report from the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that to date the U.S. Coast Guard has implemented just five of 22 key statutory requirements for improved vessel safety established strategic goals and performance goals for its commercial fishing vessel safety program. The GAO report, released in early November, noted Coast Guard efforts to conduct dockside exams, engage with industry and collaborate with the National Marine Fisheries Service and other federal agencies. The Coast Guard also issued two-year safety decals to all vessels that successfully completed the dockside exams, the report said. However, the Coast Guard has only partially or not implemented 17 other requirements, according to the GAO, including one to develop alternate safety standards for ol...

Report Recommends That Fisheries Service Share Climate Resilience Information

A report prepared for Congress by the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends that National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) work with regional fishery management councils to identify and prioritize opportunities to enhance climate resilience of federal fisheries. The report to congressional committees, released Aug. 18, found that many fisheries managers are leading initiatives that could advance the use of climate information in operations, such as addressing distributional shifts in species. Initiatives include the creation of a special task force to identify actions and tools to better incorporate climate information in fisheries management. Several fisheries managers from the eight regional councils told GAO that they were not aware of climate-related fisher...