CONCEPTION AFTERMATH - COAST GUARD ISSUES NEW RULES/REGULATIONS

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Thanks for letting us know. I found this interesting:

"The new rules apply to small passenger vessels with sleeping quarters or operating on oceans or coastal routes, but excludes fishing boats and ferries."

I wonder what's necessary to be deemed a 'fishing' boat? Just letting some people fish from it? Or does that have to be the main activity? Are any fishing boats similar to the Conception in terms of having below deck housing?

Just curious as to why the fishing boat exclusion.
 
I wonder what's necessary to be deemed a 'fishing' boat?

My guess just for crews, not for ones with paying pax.
 
Thanks for letting us know. I found this interesting:

"The new rules apply to small passenger vessels with sleeping quarters or operating on oceans or coastal routes, but excludes fishing boats and ferries."

I wonder what's necessary to be deemed a 'fishing' boat? Just letting some people fish from it? Or does that have to be the main activity? Are any fishing boats similar to the Conception in terms of having below deck housing?

Just curious as to why the fishing boat exclusion.
I would guess it's because there are alot less over night dive boats than there are fishing boats. And they probably didn't really want to fight the fishing boat industry.
 
My guess just for crews, not for ones with paying pax.
That's my read on it too. In other words, a shrimp or squid boat that's out commercial fishing with only a crew and no paying passengers does not fall under these regulations. A dive boat on an overnight trip does. A passenger fishing vessel taking recreational fishermen out also falls under the guidelines. The wording is indeed confusing.
 
I am encouraged, this seems like a step in the right direction. Now it remains to see if it is enforced. The roving watch would likely have prevented the tragedy, too. We were on a cruise in Dec 2019 in Europe and there was a crew member literally pacing the halls 24 hours a day. Once I tried to stop and thank them for their vigilance, and they could not be diverted even that long.
 
Thanks for letting us know. I found this interesting:

"The new rules apply to small passenger vessels with sleeping quarters or operating on oceans or coastal routes, but excludes fishing boats and ferries."

I wonder what's necessary to be deemed a 'fishing' boat? Just letting some people fish from it? Or does that have to be the main activity? Are any fishing boats similar to the Conception in terms of having below deck housing?

Just curious as to why the fishing boat exclusion.
A "fishing boat" is a boat engaged in commercial fishing. So only crew and no passengers for hire.

They often have below deck bunks but it's common for the CG to regulate vessels with paying passengers more strictly and with a high level of safety concern than vessels with only crew aboard.
 
Thank you, Ken.

Here's (a lot) more text about the bill, and comments:


Better and interconnected alarms, precautons for lithium charge-stations, and fire drills for crew, as well as drills for passengers.

The structural change is the one we saw coming---no more hatches above a bunk, they have to be more "open" below same as the staircases already are, and one of the egresses has to be as widely spaced away from the other as feasible, so that blockage of one won't likely block the other

So it will take some shipyard time to get done. I haven't gotten into the weeds about how quickly these are phased in. For boats having a "winter" season shutdown, a shipyard period won't be as disruptive as it would be for the year-round boats.

The part that won't be as expensive is the one which would have averted this tragedy (and was already required by the COI), is having the roving watchkeeper be in fact on watch and in fact making rounds.

That last one hits home. On rare occasion on the Gulf liveaboards going out to the offshore marine sanctuaries, I've been a pinch-hit second captain/mate, who had the 1800 to 0600 watch. I did "rove" everywhere periodically, in part to keep me awake and I got to go up on the "aluminum beach" and gaze briefly at the beautiful night sky. I hate to think about something so great, and so beautiful, become a terrifying inferno for the passengers in that bottom-level bunkroom.
 
is having the roving watchkeeper be in fact on watch and in fact making rounds.
Tom, you know the rules better than anyone. So "Ring Doorbell" systems has been selling a flying indoor drone that fly's room hourly to room looking for "infractions". I know that USCG moves slower than watching paint dry,,,,,But I'd think ship owners would be lobbying to put a sentence in for updated technology inclusion. But then again isn't Loran still better than GPS,,LOL!!
 
A bit more general comment about the new requirements, based on the same Federal Register cite above:


How much will it all cost and how feasible is it, is going to be a work in progress.

Many of the new requirements are training-and-drill-practice, for both crew and passengers. Being "behavioral", it may not be a big new cost item.

Some of the new-equipment requirements will indeed cost money--interconnected smoke/fire alarms, more extinguishers, watchkeeper check-in apparatus. Compliance date for most of this is end of this year, 2022.

But what's most costly would be the structural changes, to make egress from the bunk spaces more "open" with no bunks in the way, and egress points be widely enough distant from each other that blockage of one won't block the other (which is what happened, both exits into the galley/salon, both blocked by flames). Target date for structural changes is end of 2023, so just under two years.

I personally had thought they might go so far as to require the exits to be in separate spaces above--meaning there's a bulkhead between one egress and the other. That would be much more expensive and may require new design and new bulkheads in the existing main deck spaces, e.g. you'd exit from one ladder into the galley, and the other into say the dive deck from the engineroom, or the forepeak. There will probably be considerable discretion as to how far apart is far enough. On Conception, the exits were not that far apart, and both were blocked by the fire, which with no watchstander to cry out, pull an alarm, and grab an extinguisher, got way too big and consumed the whole galley and salon deck.

(these are just my informal comments, if they differ at all from the published info, then of course follow them, not me)
 
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