37 MAY 2026 through a difficult period and making sure vessel inspections were completed so vessel operations could continue. He also expressed some concern about the visibility of the Coast Guard’s marine safety mission. Over the past year Coast Guard assets and person- nel have been more focused on illegal immigrant and drug interdictions. Updates regarding the Coast Guard’s Force Design 2028 mention marine safety only in the context of mariner credentialing and vessel documenta- tion modernization. Sargis stressed there were several areas of concern that existed before the government shutdowns, including: • Reduced search and rescue cover- age: Since 2024 small boat stations in key inland and coastal areas have been closed or are operating with reduced capacity, diminishing re- sponse times and local presence. • Lack of marine safety focus: The marine inspector workforce is not keeping pace as demand grows, resulting in delayed inspections, deferred certifications, and inconsis- tent oversight of the inspected fleet. • Communication with local Coast Guard: Participation in Harbor Safety Committees, industry days, and other collaborative forums has declined, weakening coordination between the Coast Guard and mar- itime stakeholders. Communication with inspection offices is either funneled through a sector command center or generic email address with no expectation of when issues will be resolved or if the message was even received. Appeals can take months or even years to resolve. • Aids to navigation reliability: The removal or failure to reposition aids to navigation in key waterways has introduced uncertainty and opera- tional risk for vessels transporting passengers and cargo. PVA members’ most recent concerns have focused on the lack of maintained buoys on the inland river system. Understanding those concerns, RDML (Sel) Compher stated that no marine inspector billets have been relocated to do non-marine safety missions. Additionally, under Force Design 2028, the Coast Guard marine safety mission resides in the “flow of commerce” focus area to ensure the safety and security of the marine transportation system. In a recent hearing before the House Coast Guard and Marine Transportation Subcommittee, Coast Guard Com- mandant ADM Kevin Lunday stated in his 2027 budget request that he has asked for 277 marine inspector and enlisted marine science technician bil- lets to close the capacity gap. With the transition to general email addresses for communication and scheduling with the local inspections division, PVA members asked if there are standard operating procedures de- fined by the Coast Guard that address how incoming email is processed? Is there a way to develop a reply email to indicate the message was received Senior leadership from PVA and the U.S. Coast Guard gathered at the beginning of May for the spring PVA/U.S. Coast Guard Quality Partnership meeting.
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