b'COAST GUARD REPORTCoast Guard Shuts Down Illegal Florida CharterA nother illegal charter was identified and shut down on Floridas west coast recently. The U.S. Coast Guard termi-nated an illegal charter near Tierra Verde in the St. Petersburg area on August 22. A Coast Guard Station St. Petersburg 29-ft response boat, along with Coast Guard investigating officers, boarded a 47-ft boat that was operating as a bareboat charter with 10 passengers for hire. After investigation, Coast Guard officers terminated the charters voyage and escorted the boat and passengers back to shore. A Coast Guard investigating officer Under a bareboat charter contract,terminates the voyage of a 47-foot the person who rents the charter mustboat deemed to be operating as an be given the option to hire any captainillegal uninspected passenger vessel with 10 passengers in Tierra Verde, of their choosing, or operate the boatFlorida Aug. 25, 2020. Uninspected themselves, said Brian Knapp, Seniorpassenger vessels are only permitted Investigating Officer at Coast Guardby Coast Guard regulations to carry six passengers for hire with a master Sector St. Petersburg. If a bareboatwho holds a Merchant Mariner Cre-renter is assigned a captain withoutdential. Photo: Petty Officer 1st Class any options, the bareboat charter desig- Ayla Hudson, U.S. Coast Guard District nation no longer applies, and the boat7/U.S. Coast Guard photo.) is deemed an uninspected passenger vessel. Which is exactly what happened in this case.Violations include not having a valid Certificate of Inspection (COI), failure to have a drug and alcohol program for the captain and crew, and failure to have a valid stability letter. Owners and operators of illegal charter vessels can face maximum civil penalties of over $50,000 for illegal passenger-for-hire operations.Federal law requires uninspect-ed passenger vessels to carry only a maximum of six passengers for hire with a Merchant Mariner Credential. Bareboat charters, when properly applied, transfer complete ownership of a vessel to the charterer as a recre-ational vessel. The Coast Guard aggressively in-vestigates reports of illegal passenger vessel activity, said Capt. Matthew Thompson, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg. We urge anyone suspecting a vessel of Propelling Passenger Vessels violating the law to report the alleged violation to the Coast Guard.Taking passenger vessels to new horizons with thePVA continues to applaud the Coast future-proof technology of Siemens SiSHIP BlueDrive +CGuard for actively identifying and ter-and Energy Storage systems. minating illegal charters that jeopar-dize the safety of all on the waterways. usa.siemens.com/marine PVA members are encouraged to report suspected illegal charter operations to their local Coast Guard officials. n30SEPTEMBER 2020FOGHORNFoghorn_MarchPreview_2020_Ad_4.625x3.5.indd 1 2/17/2020 10:58:41 AM'