Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 4034 MARCH 2017 • FOGHORN NEWSWIRE WheelHouse is proud to support Boston Harbor Cruises tracking the maintenance, safety requirements, and documentation for their fleet w w w . W h e e l H o u s e T e c h . c o m - 9 7 8 - 5 6 2 - 5 2 1 1 Random Drug Testing Rate Stays Constant For calendar year 2017, the minimum random drug testing rate for covered vessel crew members will remain at 25 percent. The U.S. Coast Guard announced this testing rate by means of a publication in the Federal Register of February 3, 2017. The Coast Guard requires marine employers to establish random drug testing programs for covered crew- members on inspected passenger vessels in accordance with section 16.230 of title 46 Code of Federal Regulations. Every marine employer is also required by federal rule to collect and maintain a record of drug testing program data for each calendar year, and submit this data by March 15 of the following year to the Coast Guard in an annual Management Information System (MIS) report. If MIS data indicates a qualita- tive deficiency of reported data or the positive random testing rate is greater than 1.0 percent nationwide, the Coast Guard will increase the random drug testing rate. However, since the MIS data for 2016 indicates that the positive testing rate is less 1.0 percent, the minimum random drug testing rate will continue at 25 percent of covered employees for the period of January 1, 2017. through December 31, 2017. Several years ago, the random drug testing rate was 50 percent, but fewer positive tests for maritime workers enabled PVA to successfully advocate to the Coast Guard to use its discretion- ary authority to drop the testing rate to 25 percent, resulting in direct cost savings to member vessel operators. n NTSB Issues Report on Dangers of Congested Waterways The National Transportation Safety Board has acknowledged through a report what PVAmembers have known for years: congested waterways are a potential hazard and that many recre- ational boaters are largely unaware of the navigation rules of the road. On February 9, NTSB issued a report identifying the risks associ- ated with the shared use of America’s Marine Transportation System by recreational and commercial vessels. The growth of both commercial and recreational vessel traffic during the last several decades is a significant risk factor. The number of canoers, kayakers, and standup paddleboard- ers increased by nearly 22 percent between 2008 and 2014. The diversity of waterway users and their differences in experience, navigational knowledge, and boat-handling skills exacerbate the safety risk. In its report, “Shared Waterways: Safety of Recreational and Commercial Vessels in the Marine Transportation System” found at http://go.usa.gov/ x9Mpc, the NTSB suggests that the U.S. Coast Guard require recreational boaters to demonstrate completion of an instructional course before entering navigable waterways. “Just as operators of motor vehicles upon our nation’s roadways are required to demonstrate a standard of understanding of the rules of the road in order to make roadways safer for all vehicles, large and small, so too must operators of recreational vessels under- stand and practice the rules of the road upon our nation’s maritime transporta- tion system to make waterways safer for all vessels, larges and small,” said NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart. PVA has been very vocal about the potential for casualties on waterways that are increasingly congested. n New Congress Takes First Step Towards Enactment of Commercial Vessel Incidental Discharges Act PVA continues to work with other maritime organizations to enact leg- islation to reform the EPA’s Vessel General Permit (VGP) for incidental wastewater discharges from vessels. A key provision of the Commercial Vessel Incidental Discharges Act (CVIDA) is language to make permanent the current statutory exemption for “smaller” (under 79 feet) passenger vessels. PVA also supports the provision of the legislation that will pre-empt the ability of individual states to impose their own discharge require- ments “on top of” the federal rules. Over the past few years, the House of Representatives has repeat- edly approved similar legislation. The obstacle has been in the Senate, as was the case last December when the leg- islation came very close to enactment.