 |
Copyright © Your Website
|
News
Capt Lou's Nautical News 1/3/10
Posted on: Tue 05-Jan-2010
| | A) For the first time in Boston Harbor, next month tankers from Yemen, home to some al-Qaida, are scheduled to arrive with shipments of liquefied natural gas. The Mayor of Boston does not want the tankers to enter Boston Harbor. Instead he wants the tankers to unload the gas offshore. Coast Guard officials in Boston say they have not decided yet what to do. House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, whose hometown is Winthrop, called the imminent arrival of ships from Yemen "a matter of grave concern for all Boston Harbor communities."
B) Minnesota and Ohio have now joined Michigan in a lawsuit against Illinois to keep the alien species of Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes through a historic Chicago canal and lock. The waterway was built in the 1920s to provide a shipping route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. The local shipping industry has argued that closing the canal locks will cause the shipping industry great financial harm whereas the Great Lakes fishing industry claims their industry will harmed if the locks are not permanently closed. The lawsuit is on the high court's agenda for January 8th.
C) A deckhand working on a tugboat was crushed to death while towing another vessel on the Hackensack River near Secaucus, New Jersey. Ricardo Young, 50, of Queens, New York was killed after he became entangled in the towlines being used in the tow.
D) Fishermen claim that not many younger guys are working New England waters these days. Fishermen say that because of years of onerous regulations that have reduced the number of days at sea that they are allowed to work to 24, and the rising cost of permits, fewer and fewer young people are becoming fishing boat captains. According to the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, since the year 2000, the median age of Massachusetts holders of commercial fishing permits has climbed from 46 to nearly 51 years old. Fishermen say it won't be long before only large corporate owned trawlers do the fishing as the older generation retires.
E) The captain of the Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas cruise ship called the Coast Guard after a passenger reported his wife missing. A review of the security cameras showed the 23 year old woman jumped overboard from the 12th deck shortly before dawn wearing a tank top and white skirt. Although the water was warm and weather favorable when she disappeared, the Coast Guard has now stopped looking for her, saying there's no longer a reasonable expectation that she would be found alive. The ship left Port Canaveral, Florida before New Year's for a five-day cruise through the Bahamas.
F) The Coast Guard Academy is opening its gates to the public for several events in 2010 as they celebrate 100 years in New London, Connecticut. The academy moved to its present location on the Thames River in 1932, but the school originally came to New London in 1910 after the War Department turned over historic Fort Trumbull to the Revenue Cutter Service, the predecessor to the Coast Guard.
G) China, the world's leading producer of farm raised fish is predicting an increase in their exports of seafood in 2010. However, as a result of the global economic slowdown, the value of China's seafood exports is expected to decline for the first time in five years. Japan is China's number one customer, followed by the United States, South Korea, Germany, and Russia. By the way, carp is China's most popular farmed fish, but folks in the United States want more tilapia and catfish.
H) And last on today's nautical news, in Braintree, on the Fore River, a steward at a yacht club is being hailed a hero after saving the lives of two dogs that fell through the ice on the river. While shoveling snow off the docks, the steward told Nautical Talk Radio that he saw a dog struggling to stay above the surface of the river. Waving his arms and calling for the dog to come closer, the steward was able to grab the dog's collar and hoist him on to the dock. Reading the tags on the dog's collar, the steward called the family to tell them he had found their dog. The family was thrilled at first, but then asked if their other dog was with him. They said their son accidentally let both of their dogs loose, so the steward, who wishes to remain anonymous, went back on the docks, calling the other dog by name. Miraculously, he spotted a nose and a pair of eyes sticking up above the surface and then going under. The dog was struggling to get close to him, and finally got close enough so that the steward was able to pluck the dog out of the water, but the dog collapsed on the dock and couldn't stop shaking. The steward, using all his strength, carried the 90 - 100 pound dog back to the warm clubhouse and again called the family. The family rushed the dog to the vet who treated it for severe hypothermia. At last report, the dog had made a full recovery, and they wrote a letter to the local newspaper calling the yacht club's steward their Christmas Angel.
Listen to the live broadcast of "Nautical Talk Radio" with Capt Lou and crew, Sunday mornings from 11 - 12 noon (Boston time) on radio station 95.9FM WATD, Marshfield, and streaming around the world on www.959watd.com. You can also listen to a replay of the most recent show anytime during the week at www.nauticaltalk.com.
* Winner of Mass/Rhode Island Associated Press "BEST TALK SHOW"
* Recipient of Coast Guard's Joshua James Lifesaving Medal for public service
* Recipient of American Lighthouse Foundation's "LEN HADLEY AWARD"
* Winner of Boston's Achievement In Radio "BEST INTERVIEW" AWARD
* Nominated Boston's A.I.R. "BEST PRODUCED PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAM"
* Recipient of Man of the Year Award - Metropolitan Yacht Club - 2009
| | Back |
|
|
