"The National Commercial Fishing Safety Advisory Committee will conduct a series of meetings over three days to review, discuss, and make recommendations to the Secretary on matters relating to marine investigation cases and other relevant initiatives pertaining to commercial fishing vessels (CFVs).
The meeting will be held at the Hampton Inn and Suites, 19 South 2nd Street Fernandina Beach, Florida 32034. Times for the public will be:
Tuesday, April 9th: 10am- 5pm
Wednesday, April 10th: 8am - 5pm
Thursday, April 11th: 8am - 5pm
All times are EDT - Note these meetings may close early if the Committee has completed its business.
Agenda topics include;
Recommendations on processes to assess, document, and maintain mariner competency to operate Commercial Fishing Vessels (CFV)s of less than 200 GRT,
Including local knowledge and recency;
Require CFV operators of less than 200 GT hold a valid USCG issued Merchant Mariner’s Credential (MMC);
Recommendations on liferaft service interval impacts with the commercial fishing industry;
Recommendations on processes to review and implement commercial fishing vessel mariner fitness-for-duty for service onboard CFVs of less than 200 GT. Fitness for duty and service should include an assessment of overall health and physical fitness and contain provisions for the elimination drug and alcohol usage and management of fatigue;
Recommendations on fatigue limiting strategies as well as work/rest hour logging requirements;
Committee will analyze fatigue and sleep deprivation impacts with the commercial fishing industry and make recommendations to the USCG and other agenda items can be found in the link.
You are free to submit comments at any time, including orally at the meetings as time permits, but if you want your comment reviewed before the meetings, please submit your comments no later than April 2, 2024. The Committee is particularly interested in comments regarding the topics in the “Agenda” section in the following link.
You are encouraged to submit comments through the Federal Decision-Making Portal at https://www.regulations.gov.
Go to https://www.regulations.gov. Type USCG–2024–0231 in the search box and click ‘‘Search.’’ Look for this document in the Search Results column and click on it. Click on the Comment option. If you cannot submit your material using https:// www.regulations.gov, call or email the individual in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for alternate instructions. You must include the docket number “USCG– 2024–0231."