Herald staff and news services
WASHINGTON – With the Coast Guard pressed into anti-terrorism work, traditional ocean patrols to catch poachers and rescue boaters are being cut back.
The Coast Guard boarded fewer than half as many fishing boats in the last three months of 2001 as they did in the last quarter of 2000. Coast Guard officials acknowledge air and sea patrols are also down since Sept. 11, though there are no hard figures.
“They need to be out there to save us,” said fisherman Bill Amaru of Orleans, Mass. He said he used to see frequent Coast Guard patrols in the air and water, but “since the middle of September, I haven’t seen a cutter out here.”
The squeeze has been felt in Washington state, as well.
“Immediately after Sept. 11, we had to substantially rethink what we were doing,” said Capt. Jeff Pettitt, chief of search and rescue operations for the Coast Guard’s 13th District, which includes Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho.
Some ships that traditionally handle fisheries patrols and drug interdictions were pulled off the coast to provide security for potential targets for terrorists in Puget Sound, such as bridges, Navy bases and other facilities. Other patrols were devoted to escorting Navy vessels, Pettitt said.
The Coast Guard’s patrol boats off the Pacific Northwest coast saw about 3,000 hours of duty for homeland security between October and December, Pettitt said. Normally, those same vessels spend about 6,000 hours patrolling every year.
“It was incredibly busy, a much higher activity level than normal,” he said, adding that summer is the busy season for search-and-rescue operations, drug interdictions and fishery patrols.
Normally, the winter months are used by the Coast Guard to catch up on training and ship maintenance. “This is kind of our time to sit back and lick our wounds and get ready for the next summer. But this winter has been incredibly busy. Life has changed.”
President Bush said last week he would propose $282 million in additional funds for the Coast Guard when he sends his 2003 budget request to Congress next week.
With fewer patrols on the high seas, fishermen are worried rescue boats will have to travel from onshore search-and-rescue stations or other points hundreds of miles away. Military units could help but most lack the Coast Guard’s expertise at sea rescues.
However in Washington state, patrol boats that were diverted from the coast have mostly returned to duty there.
“We’re still building back up,” Pettitt said. “We reacted very quickly and heavily around here. But then by December we started sending the boats back to the coast.”
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