Expert testimony on deadly Scandies Rose sinking in Gulf of Alaska forces new look at safety rules for crab boats Published February 25
This undated photo shows the Scandies Rose vessel in Seattle. The 130-foot crab fishing boat from Dutch Harbor sank on New Year s Eve 2019. Two crew members were rescued while five others died. (Mike Fancher/The Seattle Times via AP)
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Print article Three Washington state naval architects this week laid out a damning critique of flaws in a federal rule that guides the loading of crab boats amid dangerous, icy conditions off Alaska. Their testimony came Wednesday during hearings called by the Coast Guard Board of Investigation, which has launched an inquiry into the deadly Dec. 31, 2019, sinking of the Scandies Rose in the Gulf of Alaska. Five of the seven crew were killed.
× By Hal Bernton, The Seattle Times
Published: February 26, 2021, 7:34am
Share: This undated photo shows the Scandies Rose vessel in Seattle. The search for five crew members of the Scandies Rose in Alaska has been suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard said after two other crew members of the vessel were rescued after the 130-foot crab fishing boat from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, sank on New Year s Eve.(Mike Fancher/The Seattle Times via AP)
Three Washington naval architects this week laid out a damning critique of flaws in a federal rule that guides the loading of crab boats amid dangerous, icy conditions off Alaska.
Three Washington naval architects with deep experience in the North Pacific fishing industry testified this week about serious flaws in a federal regulation that guides crucial stability calculations for ice buildup on the fleet of more than 60 Bering Sea crab boats.
This information has prompted the Coast Guard to reexamine the rule.
The naval architects say the Coast Guard regulation underestimates how much ice can build up on a boat during chill bouts of weather, fails to take into account that it may form unevenly, and also ignores the potential for dense ice within the webbed interior of crab pots. These shortcomings can result in naval architects drawing up instructions that erode safety margins by allowing hazardous numbers of pots to be carried during winter storms that generate freezing spray.