dock side exams

[John Murray]

Interesting article in today's Pacific Fishing Fish Wrap.Some in the ''fishing industry "and others are pushing to make dock side exams mandatory every two years,the new regs in place 2015 has then every five years.
I think dock side exams are a good thing but every two years is over kill for most in the small boat fleets.

[ata]

Hi John:

The current language is actually 'at least every 5 years' and the length of time will be decided by the USCG. There is motivation within the USCG and parts of industry to fix the inspections at once every two years when the next round of clarifying regulations are published. The industry letter they are referring to was circulated by the bigger boat groups and presented to the USCG advisory committee. I declined to sign on for ATA, because the board agrees with you that two years seems to be too much. You can find the most recent USCG letter and information here:

http://www.fishsafe.info/Letter%20to%20Industry%20on%20CFV%20Exams%20-%20Aug%202015.pdf

http://www.uscg.mil/d13/cfvs/PDFs/MSIB_CFVSReq.pdf

By the way, if we have your email address, please check your spam folder - an email I sent today (Oct 6) was viewed as junk mail - huh!=) Anyway, if you find it, add ATA's address to your contacts and that will reduce the likelihood that this happens again.

Cheers!

Dale
ATA