FOCUS Sexual Harassment

• Require that each berthing area in a ship include information on sexual assault policies and that oceangoing vessels with accommodations for more than 10 crewmembers install and maintain a video and audio surveillance system.

• Require the Maritime Administration to track and store data on abuse allegations at USMMA in Kings Point, N.Y., create a student advisory board to identify “health and wellbeing, diversity and sexual assault and harassment challenges,” and designate an attorney to be a victim advisor and offer legal assistance.

The Coast Guard is now working through these directives and proposing regulations. In January, the agency released Marine Safety Information Bulletin 01-23, “Reporting sexual misconduct on U.S vessels,” that for the first-time outlines processes for investigating, enforcement and reporting sexual misconduct on U.S-flagged ships.

To make it easier for victims to report an incident, the Coast Guard has created a CGIS TipsApp (or email at CGISTIPS@uscg.mil) and promises that all reports will be reviewed by its Investigative Service. Offenders will be held accountable through criminal prosecution or revocation of merchant marine licenses, the Coast Guard said.

In addition, the Transportation Department launched a policy overhaul at USMMA that added the “Every Mariner Builds a Respectful Culture” (EMBARC) program that outlines measures that shipping companies and the academy must follow to keep cadets safe during their commercial training. It requires shipping companies that participate in the Sea Year program to have a trained sexual assault and harassment coordinator who is in regular contact with cadets, develop crew training, and prohibit crewmembers from entering cadets’ bedrooms, which must have door locks.

The American Waterways Operators said its companies “are all in” for preventing sexual assault and harassment and are committed to provide a safe, diverse, and inclusive workplace, according to President and CEO Jennifer Carpenter. She said AWO is launching a virtual series focused on harassment, bullying and sexual assault, and educating companies on how they must comply with the new rules, support their crews, and create supportive work environments.

But AWO said some of the new rules are vague and need further clarification, such as what should be reported to the Coast Guard or can be handled by a company. Carpenter also believes that requiring surveillance cameras “doesn’t add a lot of value on a towing vessel.”

HARSHER PENALTIES NEEDED?

Ryan Melogy is a maritime lawyer who founded Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy (MLAA), a non-profit legal advocacy organization. He represents six victims, including Hicks, who have alleged sexual misconduct on large commercial ships and runs the whistleblower website. Melogy said these changes are long overdue and will make a difference in deterring and acknowledging abuses, especially requiring reporting of incidents to the Coast Guard and surveillance on vessels.

But some of the rules fall short, Melogy said. The civil penalties for not reporting are too low and the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits should be extended from three-to-five years, which will be hard to do given industry opposition, he said. And there’s uncertainty whether the Coast Guard can handle all the new responsibilities given its manpower and budget.

The CNN investigation, which examined hundreds of pages of Coast Guard records and conducted interviews with shipping company and union officials, current and former government employees, and dozens of mariners, concluded that the Coast Guard “has failed to use its power to prevent and punish sexual assault and misconduct for decades, despite growing evidence that this kind of behavior is a longstanding problem at sea.”

The agency told CNN that it has opened 25 criminal investigations into alleged sexual assault but couldn’t cite a single successful criminal prosecution of a credentialed mariner in the last 30 years. CNN also reported that the Coast Guard hadn’t revoked a single credential for sexual misconduct on a ship over the last decade, but mariners who failed drug tests after using marijuana or CBD oil have lost their licenses.

The Coast Guard said it’s often difficult to gather evidence, find cooperative witnesses, and sometimes victims are reluctant to come forward as they are still working on a ship and are fearful of retaliation. Most cases take months or years to resolve, officials told CNN, and in the meantime accused mariners can keep their licenses, which allows them to continue to work and move from ship to ship.

In a related development, CNN further reported in May that the Coast Guard is taking steps to revoke the merchant mariner credential for one year of Edgar Sison, the mariner accused of raping Hope Hicks, the USMMA cadet, in 2019. More than a year after Hicks reported the incident to the Coast Guard, the agency filed administrative charges against Sison for alleged alcohol violations related to the assault accusation.

In November, Hicks settled a civil lawsuit with Maersk, while a decision from the Justice Department is pending on whether criminal charges for the alleged rape will be filed.

Attorneys for Hicks and Maersk mutually agreed that neither side would disclose details of their agreement.