COMMUNITY

FAST FACTS

Rare Pod of Killer Whales Spotted with a Special Guest

By: KATHERINE M. CLEMENTS

NEWPORT BEACH — On April 24, just 45 miles from Newport Harbor, Captain Delaney Trowbridge of Newport Coastal Adventure led her passengers to a rare sighting of a pod of killer whales which included something even rarer— “Frosty,” a killer whale who has some form of a genetic condition that has made the pigment of the whale much lighter than the typical killer whale, almost white. Frosty has been spotted as far south as Mexico and as North as British Columbia in the last three years.

“We were tipped off to the Orcas yesterday by a Long

Beach Whale Watching company around 10:30 am near Palos Verdes,” said Capt. Trowbridge in a Statement from April 25. “Coordinates to their last known location were 3 hours old, and they were spotted over 45 miles

On Board With J.R. Johnson

from Newport Harbor when we (Newport Coastal Adventure) decided to take all available boats out, adding on a last-minute trip for the possible ‘chance’ of seeing killer whales. [Twenty] passengers signed up, and we

Letters/ Online Comments

RE: Five Notable Shipwrecks on The U.S. West Coast (APRIL 14-27)

“If you want to see the SS Palo Alto, I’d get out there before next winter, it really got hammered by the storms this winter, and much of the pier destroyed. They say they will rebuild the pier, but the Palo Alto is in pieces, and isn’t going to last forever.”

—Ronald P rushed to their last known location, focused on our binoculars for the spouts of killer whales. As the crew scanned for signs of the killer whales, they heard loud screams from the passengersthe whales had popped up only a quarter mile in front of our bow! We got extremely lucky and were able to relocate a pod of 7 Orcas, one of which was a 3-year-old calf named ‘Frosty’ after [its] milky white appearance.”

Orcas eat around 3 to 4 percent of their body weight in food every day and is at the top of the marine food chain – the only things they have to worry about are humans.

The crew and passengers watched the whales for the next two and a half hours as the whales traveled up the coastline until sunset. The whales even made a few close encounters alongside the boats.

“We left them 61 miles from the Newport Harbor, heading North, so it’s likely these whales will continue on their Northbound travels in search of food (marine mammals like Gray Whales and Sea Lions),” said Trowbridge. “Sightings of killer whales are few and far between along the Southern California coastline, so it was a very special encounter. This particu- lar pod has been sighted as far north as British Columbia, and their last reported sighting was in Morro Bay in Oct. 2022.”

While seeing the pod this far south is a site to behold, Frosty’s white skin makes jaws drop. According to an article from The Guardian , experts say several known conditions can cause certain animals, including orcas, to have white skin. One condition is leucism, in which the pigmentation of the skin is paler. The other is Chediak-Higashi syndrome, an inheritable immune deficiency that can cause partial albinism.

This is the second unusual sighting that Newport Coastal Adventure has had recently. Last month a group of whale-watching passengers spotted a gray whale that was missing its fluke but was still swimming at an average speed of 3 miles per hour.

Visit https://newportcoastaladventure.com/index.html to book a whale-watching trip or visit their social media at @ Newportwhales and @NewportCoastalAdventure on Instagram and TikTok.

Log Staff

STATE/NATIONAL/ INTERNATIONAL

Tribe, State, and Federal Partners Team up to in Historical Efforts to Restore Salmon Habitat

On May 1, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA Fisheries, and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe announced they had signed agreements to restore Chinook salmon to the mountains north of Redding, California.

The agreements support a joint effort to return Chinook salmon to their original spawning areas in cold mountain rivers now blocked by Shasta Reservoir in northern California. The goal is an ecological and cultural restoration that will one day restore fishing opportunities for the tribe that depended on the once-thriving salmon population as a food source.

The tribe signed a co-management agreement with the CDFW and a co-stewardship agreement with NOAA Fisheries, reflecting how the two agencies describe accords with tribes. This three-way collaboration is a historic achievement that advances our common goals.

The agreements call for the agencies to include the tribe in decisions for salmon that have significant meaning for the Winnemem Wintu. Three years of drought have taken a toll on endangered winter-run Chinook salmon, which migrate and spawn in the lower Sacramento River. The river can warm to temperatures that are lethal to their eggs.

During the summer of 2022, the tribe joined state and federal agencies in pursuing urgent measures to improve the odds for winter-run Chinook salmon, including transporting 40,000 fertilized eggs to the cold McCloud River above Shasta Reservoir. Many hatched, swimming down the river for the first time since Shasta Dam was completed in the early 1940s. The tribe joined agency staff in collecting the juvenile fish before reaching the reservoir, populated with predators. Biologists then moved them downstream around the reservoir to continue to the ocean.

“This is [a] historic agreement that moves us one step closer to our goal of returning wild salmon from New Zealand and creating a volitional passage around Shasta Dam,” said Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk in a press release from May 1. “It’s incredible that we can share this vision with CDFW and NOAA. We have a long way to go, but there are now more good people working on it.”

The new agreements call for the tribe to contribute traditional ecological knowledge, sharing insight as the tribe once did for Livingston Stone, who established the nation’s first Chinook salmon hatchery on the McCloud in 1872.

The agencies agreed to make the tribe a “co-equal decision-maker,” and CDFW has awarded a $2.3 million grant to support the tribe’s participation in salmon measures. Agencies also agreed to evaluate the potential reintroduction of Chinook salmon that were moved from the McCloud River in California to streams in New Zealand more than 100 years ago and have vital cultural and spiritual significance for the tribe.

In 2022, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) tested an experimental system for collecting juvenile winter-run salmon that hatch in the McCloud River as part of a larger-scale future reintroduction program. DWR plans continued testing late this year. In addition, recovery plans for the species call for an ongoing program of annual transplants of winter-run Chinook salmon to spawning habitat in the McCloud River, where they will be safer from the rising temperatures of climate change.

NOAA Fisheries recognizes highly endangered winter-run Chinook salmon as a “Species in the Spotlight” needing focused recovery actions. Returning the species to the McCloud River is a central element of the 2021-2025 Action Plan, also listed under California’s state endangered species act.

BMW and Tyde are set to Unveil a Zero-Emission Yacht and Cannes Film Festival

BMW and Tyde, a high-tech German startup, announced they’d unveil a new luxury electric-powered boat at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, the traditional home of the festival on the French Riviera.

The two companies said they had developed the new boat under “strict secrecy” and would not disclose details other than its name is Icon and would have zero emissions.

BMW’s Designworks studio developed an icon that will have a futuristic look. It also will take some cues from the BMW I car line, using BMW’s green technologies.

The new boat will be designed with the highest standards and aimed at a high-end segment. “The luxury market is an important point of reference for other yachting segments,” said Christoph Ballin, a Tyde cofounder, in a statement. “Also, complex and elaborate solutions can be applied here first before electric mobility becomes mainstream with large volumes in coming years.”

Ballin has experience in the green marine marketplace seeing he previously founded Torqeedo, an electric boat propulsion company, while his Tyde cofounder, Tobias Hoffritz, is an entrepreneur who worked with BMW in high-tech and innovation. Together they started Tyde in 2021, with headquarters on Lake Starnberg near Munich.

In addition, BMW has a history with the marine industry. It started a marine division in 1919 to build boat engines. The resulting BMW Marine was eventually sold to Mercury in 1987.

In 2000, BMW founded a lifestyle brand called Yachtsport, which sold clothing and accessories as a sponsor of the America’s Cup.

In coordination with Tyde, BMW is steering towards a future in zero-emissions boating. “In addition to climate-friendly propulsion, the Icon presents a wealth of pioneering innovations that are suitable for establishing sustainable mobility in the high-end segment and that create a new quality of experience,” said Ballin.

Covers all the marinas, boat yards, fuel docks, sail & engine repairs, chandlers, provisioning, boat storage, 400 pages. Paperwork Cha Cha: Port Captain, Customs, Immigration, Mexican Navy. Diving, fishing, eco boating.

LEGAL ADVICE ask a maritime attorney

By David Weil

Are there penalties for chartering my vessel for free veteran events?

Founded in 1971

NO. 1206 MAY 12 - MAY 25, 2023

WRITE TO: P.O. Box 1337

Newport Beach, CA 92659 (949) 660-6150 (800) 873-7327

QUESTION:

I have a non-profit company that is set up to take veterans out on fishing and boating excursions, and I have been using my 42-foot power boat for these events. I don’t charge the vets directly for these trips, so I have never been too concerned about Coast Guard charter regulations. My lack of concern may have changed, however, after reading one of your articles that was published earlier this year. Will a charitable operation like mine be subject to Coast Guard charter regulations? What are the penalties if I fail to comply with those regulations?

ANSWER: Our reader is referring to an article published in this column a few months ago where we provided an overview of the requirements for a legal and successful small passenger vessel charter operation. We looked at some of the regulations, but we did not discuss the penalties for failing to comply with the regulations. Let’s do that now, but let’s start with a quick review of some of the basics, starting with the definition of a charter.

Broadly speaking, a charter is a boat rental. This can take many forms, including a “bareboat charter,” where the entire boat is rented with no captain or crew provided by the owner. Our reader, however, is asking about a charter where he provides the captain and crew for charitable excursions.

Vessels which operate in U.S. waters and that carry at least one passenger for hire must comply with a long list of strict Coast Guard charter regulations, starting with regulations for the boat that will be used, and for the number of paying passengers that will be aboard. If the boat is under 100 gross tons, it may carry up to six paying passengers (a “sixpack” charter) without the need for a Coast Guard “inspection.” Most vessels that carry more than six passengers for hire must be inspected by the Coast Guard, which involves a comprehensive review of the vessel’s structural design and its mechanical, fuel, electrical and safety systems. Coast Guard inspection is a very expensive endeavor, and it is usually cost-prohibitive to retrofit a boat to comply with Coast Guard inspection. So, let’s assume that our reader is planning to carry six or fewer passengers for hire.

This takes us to the area where boat owners are most likely to stumble into an illegal charter. What exactly is a passenger for hire? A passenger for hire is a passenger for whom a payment by somebody to somebody is a condition for the passenger being aboard the boat. This “by somebody to somebody” element is where boat owners, including our reader, may get in trouble.

“For hire” is not limited to a direct payment by the passenger to the boat owner. It may include, for example, a donation by a donor to our reader’s charity. The Coast Guard looks very carefully at these arrangements, and they may take a position that is more rigorous than would be required under a strict reading of the regulations. We have worked with charities like our reader’s organization, where donations are made without regard to any particular passenger but are instead intended to cover general operating expenses such as fuel or business overhead. This does not, technically, fall within the strict definition of “passenger for hire” because the payment is not a condition for a particular passenger to board the vessel. But they did not agree, and our client was faced with an expensive appeal. With this in mind, it is possible that our client’s operation will be deemed to be carrying passengers for hire, and therefore subject to charter regulations. So, what are the penalties if he ignores those regulations? The penalties are significant.

Here on the West Coast, the Coast Guard has not - for now - placed a high priority on tracking down illegal charters. But it is different in Florida and New Orleans, where enforcement has been very strict over the past few years. The Coast Guard takes the position that operators of illegal charters “directly endanger our citizens,” and in Florida and the Southeast United States in general, they have explained that “it is a top priority for the Coast Guard to ensure charter vessels operate safely and in full compliance with the law.”

Penalties may range from $5,000.00 or failure to provide a Coast Guard Certificate of Inspection for carrying more than six passengers for hire, or $8,000.00 for failure of operators to be enrolled in a chemical testing program, to $95,000.00 or every day of failure to comply with a Captain of the Port Order (a Captain of the Port Order is a regulation enacted by the local Coast Guard office to deal with a specific local issue). Yes, you read that right. $95,000.00 per day.

Penalties are not limited to fines imposed by the Coast Guard. Most insurance policies include a provision which calls for a claim to be denied if it arises from a boat that is involved in any illegal activity. This is where boat owners on the West Coast may be in trouble even if the Coast Guard is not investigating every boat that they observe with a lot of passengers. The denial of an insurance claim after a catastrophic incident may be more devastating to a boat owner than a Coast Guard fine.

David Weil is the managing attorney at Weil & Associates (www.weilmaritime.com) in Seal Beach. He is certified as a Specialist in Admiralty and Maritime Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization and a “Proctor in Admiralty” Member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, an adjunct professor of Admiralty Law, and former legal counsel to the California Yacht Brokers Association. If you have a maritime law question for Weil, he can be contacted at 562-799-5508, through his website at www. weilmaritime.com, or via email at dweil@weilmaritime.com.

I often close these articles with an admonition to boat owners to consult a qualified maritime attorney for information specific to their particular issues, but that consultation is especially important for people like our reader who plan to carry passengers aboard their boat that are not invited as friends or guests. Even if they are confident that they are not subject to carter regulations.

David Weil is licensed to practice law in the state of California and as such, some of the information provided in this column may not be applicable in a jurisdiction outside of California. Please note also that no two legal situations are alike, and it is impossible to provide accurate legal advice without knowing all the facts of a particular situation. Therefore, the information provided in this column should not be regarded as individual legal advice, and readers should not act upon this information without seeking the opinion of an attorney in their home state.

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Captain Stella

“Stella is a 9-year mix, she likes to drive the tender to her 65’foot Fairline Squadron, “V’Lounge” docked at Kona Kia,” said Stella’s parent, Jim in an email to the Log. “She also likes paddle boarding and fishing.”

POSTMASTER: