AOS USA Maritime Updates 

The Professional Association of Catholic Mariners, Cruise Ship Priests and Catholic Maritime Ministers.

 

December 15, 2016

In This Issue
Raising the Bar on Seafood Imports to Further Curb Illegal Fishing and Fraud!
Passing of Fr Paul Devine - AOS Oakland.
NTSB Releases EL FARO Transcript, Documents.
Commercial Fishermen ask court to block NY Offshore Wind Energy Release.
CS DEPENDABLE rescues 14 fishermen near Mumbai!
Exceptional Bravery at Sea Honored.
South African Archbishop Hails Apostleship of the Sea's "Life-Giving Apostolate".
Join AOS-USA in saying the AOS Prayer daily!
Upcoming Events
PrayingHands
    Prayer Requests:
 




For the repose of the Soul of Fr. Paul Devine, AOS - Oakland, and for prayers of comfort for his family and friends, and his colleagues with AOS Oakland.

 



We also ask prayers of Thanksgiving for Fr Devine's work for the People of the Sea over the years.



 


A Seafarers' Prayer



O God, I ask you to take me into your care and protection along with all those who sail ships.
Make me alert and wise in my duties. Make me faithful in the time of routine, and prompt to decide and courageous to act in any time of crisis.
Protect me in the dangers and perils of the sea; and even in the storm, grant that there may be peace and calm within my heart.
When I am far from home and far from loved ones and far from the country that I know,
help me to be quite sure that, wherever I am, I can never drift beyond your love and care.
Take care of my loved ones in the days and weeks and months when I am separated from them, sometimes with half the world between them and me.
Keep me true to them and keep them true to me, and every time that we have to part, bring us together in safety and in loyalty again.
This I ask for your love's sake.
-Amen-
 

 
 
AOS PRAYER 
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon all Seafarers.    
(1 Our Father)
(Hail Mary)
  
Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us.
  
St. Peter, pray for us.
  
St. Andrew, pray for us.
  
Lord save us,  
or we perish.
 
 
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Some went down to the sea in ships,

doing business on the great waters; 

they saw the deeds of the Lord,

his wondrous works in the deep.

(Psalm 107:23-24)





Raising the Bar on Seafood Imports to Further Curb Illegal Fishing and Fraud 
    Courtesy: NOAA FishNews 


Last week, NOAA Fisheries announced a final rule establishing the Seafood Import Monitoring Program,  which will work to curb illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices and to identify misrepresented seafood imports before they enter the U.S. market. This program will strengthen protections for the national economy, global food security, and the sustainability of our shared ocean resources. Join us for some initial public webinars about the new program this Thursday, December 15 and Friday, December 16.   
Doreen M. Badeaux

Secretary General 
 


    Passing of Fr. Paul Devine

AOS
Oakland 
 
 
Dear Friends,



I regret to inform you that Fr. Paul Divine, of AOS Oakland, passed away on Nov 20, 2016.



Below please find the Obituary from Catholic Voice of the Oakland Diocese.



We ask for prayers for him, from his AOS Colleagues.


Thank you and have a blessed Christmas Season
 
Fr, Joseph Duong Phan




 Rev. Paul Devine



Rev. Paul Devine, a retired priest of the Diocese of Oakland and a former pastor at St. Bernard Parish in Oakland, died Nov. 20. He was 81.



A native of New York, Father Devine was a graduate of St. John's University. He studied at Kerrick Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, and was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, in 1964. He served as an associate there for several years. After serving in parishes in the dioceses of Santa Rosa and Fresno he came to the Diocese of Oakland in 1973.



In the Oakland diocese, he was an associate pastor at St. John the Baptist Parish in El Cerrito and Church of the Good Shepherd in Pittsburg before being named pastor at St. Bernard Parish in Oakland in 1979. He returned to the Fresno diocese in 1981, where he remained until returning to the Oakland diocese in 1984 to serve as director of the diocesan Apostleship of the Sea and port chaplain. He briefly served as pastor at St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish in Antioch in the early 1990s.



In a reflection he wrote for the occasion of his 40th anniversary to the priesthood in 2004, Father Devine recalled that he initially "pushed away the idea of the priesthood, imagining life to be too sedate and boring. It has turned out to be more than I could have hoped for," he wrote. "Every assignment has been of happy memory. The closeness to Jesus, the number of wonderful people I met, would not have been possible otherwise."



The funeral Mass was held Nov. 23 at St. Benedict Parish in Bronx, New York. Burial was at St. Raymond Cemetery, also in Bronx.
 


NTSB Releases EL FARO Transcript, Documents  
Courtesy:  Workboat.Com

By: Kirk Moore

13 December 2016  
 
 
Hours before TOTE Services' 790' ro/ro containership El Faro sank in Hurricane Joaquin with all 33 crew, the ship's mates twice suggested that captain Michael Davidson alter course as they sought to dodge the worst of the storm.
But Davidson stuck to the course they had plotted the evening before, confident the plot would take them south of the storm center on the morning of Oct. 1, 2015, according to voice recorder transcripts released Dec. 12 by the National Transportation Safety Board.



The 500-page transcript from the recovered ship's voyage data recorder - the longest transcript ever compiled by the agency - was among five "factual reports" made public in the NTSB's accident investigation docket.



"It contains no analysis," NTSB chairman Christopher Hart told reporters at a Washington, D.C. press briefing. "These steps are yet to come."



Recovered from wreckage 15,000' deep off the Bahamas, the El Faro voyage data recorder contained 26 hours of information, including crew conversations recorded on the bridge.



"We'll be passing clear on the backside of it. Just keep steamin' our speed is tremendous right now," Davidson is quoted in the transcript shortly before 8 p.m. on Sept. 30. "The faster we're going the better. This will put the wind on the stern a little more. It's giving us a push."



After the captain left the bridge, the transcript shows crew members discussing the storm.



"I'm not going to second-guess somebody," one of the mates said. "The guy's been through a lot worse than this. He's been sailing for a long, long time. He did this up in Alaska."



But in phone calls to the captain in his stateroom around 11 p.m. and again at 1 a.m. that night, the mates suggested altering course, calculating that they could get as close as 22 miles from the storm center by 4 a.m.



At 4:37 a.m. the chief engineer reported the ship's starboard list was affecting oil levels in the engine room, and the ship soon lost power. Over the next two hours the crew struggled to right the ship and pump out flooding in one of the holds.
After sending distress calls, Davidson at 7:27 a.m. sounded the general alarm and directed the crew to prepare to abandon ship. In the last minutes before the recording ended amid heavy rumbling at 7:39 a.m., Davidson and a single crewman were still on the bridge, with the captain urging him on.



"I'm a goner," the seaman said.
'No you're not," Davidson yelled back.
   


Commercial Fishermen ask Court to Block NY Offshore Wind Energy Release   
Courtesy:  Workboat.Com

By: Kirk Moore

9 December 2016  
The proposed New York offshore wind energy area (dark orange triangle) and the mid-Atlantic scallop fishing grounds. National Marine Fisheries Service.
 
 
Commercial fishing industry groups are asking a federal court to delay a planned Dec. 15 federal lease auction of 127 sq. mi. of seafloor off New York for wind energy development.
Led by the Fisheries Survival Fund, representing the East Coast sea scallop fleet, the organizations - joined by coastal towns where fishing is a major employer - seek an injunction against U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.



The move comes after months of circling by BOEM and commercial fishing interests from Massachusetts and New Jersey - including the prosperous sea scallop industry, which has enjoyed historic abundance and high prices for the shellfish. They fishermen were joined in the action by Narragansett, R.I., New Bedford, Mass., and Barnegat Light, N.J., where fishing provides good employment.
In their complaint, the critics say BOEM "grossly underestimated" the level of fishing activity in the proposed New York Wind Energy Area, a shortcoming industry advocates tried to remedy by providing tracking data from boats towing for scallops and squid.



Fishermen say the results show "spaghetti tracks" demonstrating that proposed lease areas are important fish habitat and seafood sources.  In court papers, captain James Lovgren from the Fishermen's Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., recounted bringing plotter data to BOEM that showed "the proposed windmill site was completely covered by track marks from the vessels."
Lovgren says he and other fishermen were not notified of subsequent public listening sessions held by BOEM, despite having provided their contact information.



Led by longtime fisheries lawyer David Frulla, the industry asserts in its complaint that "BOEM has never considered whether an alternative site would better protect preexisting users of the NY WEA and the benthic resources upon which they rely."



"Instead, BOEM decided to defer any analysis of whether or not the NY WEA was an appropriate site until years from now, after the developers have already invested substantial sums into development of the site. At that point, it will not be possible to consider reasonably alternative sites for the wind project. In effect, BOEM has permitted private companies to lay claim to valuable ocean areas without an adequate public process."



The fishermen also point to objections raised by Coast Guard reviewers, who would like to see bigger buffer areas between the proposed wind area and the separation zone shipping lanes in and out of New York Harbor. In a recent environmental impact statement, BOEM officials said they believe their plan has adequate buffers, based on their review of Automatic Identification System (AIS) ship tracks.
   


C.S. Dependable
Rescues 14 Fishermen Near Mumbai, India
Courtesy:  American Maritime Officers' CURRENTS 
By: Capt. Yann Durieux 
17 September 2016   
 
A Father & Son swim toward safety.


The C.S. Dependable conducted a rescue of 14 fishermen while in transit between work sites off the Maharashtra Coast near Mumbai, India between 1212 LT (0642 GMT) and 1343 LT (0813 GMT). Their boat had sunk with 16 persons aboard at some point in the early hours before sunrise. They had no PFDs or VHF radio. They had managed to cling to floating debris, some just treading water.



Rescue effort: All hands were spread out on weather decks, bow, gangways, stern and bridge as lookouts. Deck gang and security team were at the gangways to recuperate men from the water. Reports came to the bridge by radio. We would focus a team to maintain lookout as we made way to the victims. Chief mate was on deck and cable highway managing ladders and gangways. Security team members were in harnesses on gangway. Personnel from all departments were at rails to send out life rings to persons in water. The ROV supervisor was at the bow with radio calling in sightings. Chief engineer had a fourth generator put on and assisted in search. I was trying to move the ship to the men keeping them away from thrusters. This required constant and good communication with personnel on deck keeping me apprised of the victims' relative positions. This was made difficult as we had about 2.5 knots of surface current (swell and wind generated). We used the CCTV system to monitor gangway pilot ladders but this was difficult due to rain. Too much happened for me to be able to recount everyone's contribution. I can tell you there were no idle souls.



The Indian Naval Vessel F43 and Indian Coast Guard Vessel 201 arrived onsite and began searching for remaining survivors with us. We heard on the VHF that F43 rescued another survivor. However, we later learned the rescue boat launched from F43 did not recover the fisherman. We heard mention that the Coast Guard had found a body over the radio. We are not sure at this time if this was a miscommunication as we later heard that they were continuing SAR Ops.



The MDR & security team medic attended to the rescued persons on the cable highway. Steward and crew had staged mattresses on the highway so we could keep them all together and better assist them. Crew, ROV and security team helped them. They were given food and water and many slept or rested utterly exhausted. We brought them shirts, blankets and flip-flops (all we had for feet) from the slop chest.



The EIC plotted positions of each recovered person. Pattern was falling further and further SE through the Oil Block past oil rigs and into shallower water.



The Indian Coast Guard Vessel 201 asked us to prepare personnel for transfer. They sent a boat to recover seven persons. The transfer operation was difficult at best owing to many factors, weather being the predominant one. The Coast Guard boat seemed to be drastically underpowered. We had to make way to the boat in a controlled drift to make the transfer, passing through the oil field. Squalls would pass through complicating the transfer. We came close to aborting the operation but were finally able to make some sort of lee. It was not ideal but we struggled through. We had to hold the operation as a squall passed through just as we had filled the first boat. When the boat came a second time for the last seven on board, we had turned the vessel around and were able to make a better lee again at a controlled 2+ knot drift and some headway. The second transfer went more smoothly.



We stayed on station near the CG 201 until we had confirmation that all 14 were aboard safely. At this point it was dark and we were heading closer to shallow water contours. The Coast Guard released us and we departed.



The value of this crew was demonstrated in its attitude and commitment to this rescue, some in very visible ways, like fishing men out of the water or throwing life rings to men in the water, and others in subtle ways, like bringing food to the victims, helping them up the gangway, tending to their needs, etc. We did what we would want done for us if we were in the water. I truly am proud to have worked with all persons aboard. They should all be commended for their efforts.



Members of American Maritime Officers working aboard the Dependable during the rescue included Captain Yann Durieux, Chief Mate Tristan Schulz, First Officer Erick Amiscosa, Third Mate Allison Lashmet, Third Mate Michael Squillacote, Third Mate John Locks, Chief Engineer Curtis King, First Assistant Engineer Robert Carlstad, Second A.E. Isabelo Fernandez, Second A.E. John Crawford, Third A.E. Ryan Mulligan, Third A.E. Matthew Pastuszak and Third A.E. Gregory Thomas. 
The entire crew of the CS Dependable gathers for a post-rescue photo.
 
    
Exceptional Bravery at Sea Honored
Courtesy:  Maritime Executive  
22 November 2016   
 
Captain Radhika Menon, Master of the product tanker Sampurna Swarajya.


The Master of an oil tanker who says she was "just doing her job" has received the highest IMO bravery recognition for saving the lives of seven fishermen from a sinking fishing boat during a tumultuous storm in the Bay of Bengal in June 2015.




"It is every seafarer's and Master's solemn duty and obligation to save souls in distress at sea. I just did what a seafarer should do for a fellow soul in distress at sea. Yes, it was an instant decision, but not without assessing the risks involved. I just did my duty," said Captain Radhika Menon, Master of the product tanker Sampurna Swarajya.



She was speaking after IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim presented her with the 2016 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea on Monday.  
Menon is the first female captain in the Indian Merchant Navy and the first female to receive the IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea.



Menon was nominated for the award by the Government of India for her great determination and courage in leading the difficult rescue operation to save all seven fishermen from the fishing boat Durgamma. The boat was adrift following engine failure and loss of anchor in severe weather. Food and water had been washed away, and they were surviving on ice from the cold storage.



Through wave heights of more than 25 feet, winds of more than 60 knots and heavy rain, on June 22, 2015, the second officer on the Sampurna Swarajya spotted the boat 2.5 kilometers away, off the coast of Gopalpur, Orissa.



Menon immediately ordered a rescue operation, using the pilot ladder and with life jackets and buoys on standby. It took three arduous attempts in the lashing wind and rain and heavy swells, before all seven weak and starving fishermen, aged from 15 to 50 years old, were brought to safety on board the ship.



Their families had already given them up for dead and were preparing for their funeral rites. But thanks to the rescue, led by Menon, they were reunited with their loved ones a few days later.



Rescued fisherman Dasari Danayya, speaking in his home town of Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, said that without Menon, they would not be alive.



"We could do nothing except wipe the tears from our eyes. Madam appeared as a goddess, and saved our lives," he told The Shipping Corporation of India, in a video broadcast during the ceremony. 



Menon began her seafaring career as a radio officer and progressed to being a deck officer and later was appointed as Master of the Sampurna Swarajya.
 

Click to Read the full Article 
    
South African Archbishop Hails Apostleship of the Sea's "Life-Giving Apostolate" 
Courtesy:  AOS Great Britain   
24 November 2016   
 


Archbishop Jabulani Adatus Nxumalo, Archbishop of Bloemfontein and AoS Bishop Promoter in South Africa has praised Catholic charity Apostleship of the Sea's (AoS) ministry saying it is a 'life-giving apostolate' to the many seafarers and fishers it supports.

 
The Archbishop underlined the continuing importance of AoS' ministry, which he said "blunted the axe so that the pain is not so sharp" of seafarers and fishers suffering in dramatic, but not unknown cases of abandonment and physical abuse.



He made the remarks during his opening address at AoS' Indian Ocean regional heads conference held in Cape Town from 21 to 24 November.



He noted AoS' 'life-giving apostolate' and how through its ministry we uniquely hear of the "agonies and hopes of many and also of what the grace of God can achieve."



Following the conference, AoS has drawn-up a new regional plan to improve communications between its port chaplains and with the media to ensure the voice and conditions of exploited seafarers and fishers are heard.



"Cases of abandonment and abuse are often overlooked, so AoS has come up with a new strategy to make sure these incidents are better referred from port to port.
Often AoS port chaplains are the first welfare point of contact," said Fr Jacques-Henri David, AoS Regional coordinator.

 
"The regional heads are also working to encourage states to ratify ILO's Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188).



"We also agreed to look at provide support for particular seafarers centres, schooling for fishers' children and enhancing the structure of AoS in South Africa," he added.

 
The conference - which began on World Fisheries Day on 21 November and included delegates from Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles and South Africa - was held to review the work of AoS in the region, particularly in its support of fishing communities in the area.

 
Delegates heard about a range of challenges and problems affecting the region, such as climate change affecting fishing seasons, illegal and unreported and unregulated fishing - particularly by industrialised countries fishing huge amounts and therefore dramatically affecting artisanal fishing communities.

 
There were also cases of seafarers being abandoned and in some instances it took nearly two years before they were repatriated, sometimes without due wages being paid.The conference also heard tragic cases of seafarers being victims of human trafficking.



"AoS is one of the oldest global fishers' organisations in world, doing impressive work in the region, such as the provision of schooling for fishers' children in Madagascar, providing support with fishers' wives associations and working alongside fishers many of whom work as a means of survival in dugouts or boats with small motors," said Fr Jacques-Henri David.   



He added, "The challenge for fishers at this level is to have their voice heard especially when fishing grounds are exploited by industrial fishing, and AoS works to get their concerns known".



"There are still many places where seafarers work without validemployment contracts and seafarers in the region who cannot return to work having been traumatised after being captured by pirates."
 
The meeting also heard that there are plans to establish schools in South Africa and Kenya to train prosecutors on how to handle cases of Illegal-Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.  



On the evening of 22 November, a moving memorial Mass was celebrated by the conference delegates and seafarers in Cape Town port for recently deceased AoS national director, Terry Whitfield, who had laboured for decades to ensure the work of AoS prospered in the region.
 
    

    Star of the Sea Statue

 Join AOS-USA in saying the AOS Prayer each day!

  

Please take the time to say this pray with us each day:
 
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon all Seafarers
 

(1 Our Father)

(Hail Mary)

 

Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us.

St. Peter, pray for us.

St. Andrew, pray for us.

Lord save us, or we perish!

Important Upcoming Events for

AOS-USA Members
 



Houston Maritime Ministry Training Program @ Houston International Seafarers' Center 
February 12 - 24, 2017



AOS-USA Annual Conference 
American Maritime Officers Maritime Institute of Technology & Graduate Studies 
Linthicum Heights, MD 
April 8 - 12, 2017



May God Bless you with Smooth Sailing throughout your day!

Contact Info

Doreen M. Badeaux
Secretary General
Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America
1500 Jefferson Drive
Port Arthur, TX  77642-0646
PH:  409-985-4545
FAX:  409-985-5945


Apostleship of the Sea of the U.S.A. | 1500 Jefferson Drive | Port Arthur | TX | 77642