Look out for the ladder cops

A fishing vessel owner tells Deckboss he was surprised a few days ago when a U.S. Coast Guard boarding team issued his skipper a ticket for lack of a pilot ladder onboard.

The owner shared a copy of the ticket with us.

The ladder regulation hadn't been enforced previously — boarding teams never asked for a ladder during numerous boardings, he said, and no one ever asked to see one during dockside exams.

The boat involved in the Jan. 21 boarding was a 58-footer fishing cod in the Bering Sea out of False Pass. The boarding team was from the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley.

The boarding team told the skipper they were "starting now" to enforce the ladder requirement, the fishing vessel owner said.

A pilot ladder is a flexible ladder lowered over the side of a vessel to aid people coming aboard.

Such ladders are helpful, as it's always perilous to climb from boat to boat.

This recent enforcement action begs the question: Are we seeing a crackdown on the pilot ladder requirement?

The vessel owner noted that pilot ladders are bulky, and expensive.

Scott Wilwert, the Coast Guard's fishing vessel safety program manager for Alaska, told us he was not aware of any big enforcement push on pilot ladders.

But fishermen should be aware that if their vessel has more than 4 feet of freeboard, federal regulations require a boarding ladder to assist law enforcement personnel and fishery observers, Wilwert said.

Freeboard can change considerably depending on whether the fishing vessel is tanked down, he noted.

The False Pass vessel had a freeboard of 5 feet, 6 inches, the ticket said.

Silver Bay, APICDA to partner at False Pass

Here's a press release.

Silver Bay to acquire Trident's False Pass plant

Here's the press release.

APICDA sues Trident

A partnership involving a processing plant at False Pass has gone sour, and now the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association is suing Trident Seafoods in federal court.

Trident reports 'minor fire' at False Pass plant

Here's the press release.

Silver Bay's growth spurt

Silver Bay Seafoods is buying a processing plant at Los Angeles. Here's the press release.

The company also is planning to open a new processing plant at False Pass, Alaska.

Silver Bay has posted a slew of job openings on its website, including plant manager, fleet manager, chief engineer, head of refrigeration, and more.

"Our False Pass location will process salmon as well as whitefish and will begin operations during the 2019 salmon season," says the ad for plant manager.

Trident invests in APICDA subsidiaries

Here's the press release.

Peter Pan reports gasoline spill

Alaska pollution regulators are investigating an estimated 3,468-gallon gasoline spill at a Peter Pan Seafoods tank farm at False Pass.

The gas apparently didn't go into the water. Rather, it's in a lined containment area, the state Department of Environmental Conservation says.

APICDA to expand False Pass, Atka plants

The Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association is planning major expansions of its False Pass and Atka processing plants.

Larry Cotter, chief executive of Juneau-based APICDA, offered details of the expansions in a talk Friday at the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference annual meeting in Anchorage.

APICDA is one of Alaska's six community development quota companies. Under the CDQ program, these companies hold lucrative Bering Sea fishing rights, proceeds from which are used to benefit Western Alaska villages.

Recently, the APICDA board decided on a new strategy for the small False Pass and Atka plants, Cotter said.

In the past, APICDA worried that growing larger operations might attract big processors, who could bring crushing competition, he said.

But what APICDA has learned is staying small doesn't work, and doesn't do enough for the local economies, Cotter said.

And so...

At False Pass, a tiny village near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, the plan is to spend $11 million over the next three years — including $8 million this year — to greatly expand Bering Pacific Seafoods, Cotter said. Construction of worker housing also is planned.

At Atka, in the Aleutian chain more than 300 miles west of Dutch Harbor, the plan is to spend $10 million in 2013-14 to expand Atka Pride Seafoods.

The goal is to turn both plants, now open only seasonally, into diversified, year-round seafood processors, Cotter said.