68 FOGHORN and Homeport’s sudden shutdown is a reminder of what a bad system transi- tion costs members. Here is the message I want every PVA member carrying into region meeting rooms: The administration signed an executive order titled Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance. It commits this country to building up its maritime power. Great. But Force Design 2028, the document that is supposed to carry that mis- sion forward inside the Coast Guard, commits nothing to the inspection and credentialing infrastructure that dominance depends on. Our mari- ners and domestic operators contrib- ute significantly to that dominance every time they run a safe trip. You cannot claim dominance and ignore the people who run the boats, inspect the hulls and certify the crews. Say that plainly to your sector command- er and all blue suits in the room. Do not soften it into a question about “resource priorities.” Ask directly what happens to prevention staffing and inspector counts as the district reorganizes and what that will mean for safety on your waterway. If you operate anywhere near a busy waterway, you already know what happens when enforcement thins out. Sector Miami shut down twelve illegal voyages in a single weekend last Febru- ary, on Biscayne Bay and the Miami River alone. That is one sector, one weekend. Ask your own sector what enforcement capacity looks like where you operate, and whether it is growing or shrinking as boarding officers get pulled toward border missions. If your port has its own version of that story, a near miss, a competitor running charters with no COI, a credentialing delay that cost you a crew member for a season, bring it. A real example from your port will move the room. This is where your attendance at PVA region meetings is important. You are not one operator lobbing a complaint into a void. You are sitting next to the operator from three ports down who has the same backlog, the same staff- ing worry, the same question about what a data-centric enforcement mod- el means for boots on the deck. Trade what is working. Trade what is not. Somebody in that room has already solved a problem you are still stuck on. I am planning to attend several re- gion meetings this fall, and I want to hear this directly from you, not secondhand. Bring your questions. Bring your specific questions and concerns about what is happening at your port. Ask the Coast Guard these questions directly. Show up. Sit at the table. Say what needs to be said. See you this fall. Sincerely, Andrew Sargis PVA President, 2026 Continued from page 4: Letter from the President AT THE HELM
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