Case for EPIRBs
Dear Editor: Over Memorial Day weekend in late May 2023 five lives were lost in the waters off Sitka, when a fishing charter vessel, the AWAKIN, tragically encountered problems and sank. Captain Morgan Robidou and the vessel’s four passengers, Robert Solis, Brandi Tyau, Maury Agcaoili, and Danielle Agcaoili, lost their lives.
The grief experienced by the families and friends of those lost cannot be adequately expressed, and the impact the losses have and will have on those in Sitka never underestimated.
As some of the immediate family members of passengers lost when the AWAKIN sank, we write this letter not to point a finger of blame – but as a shouting voice of encouragement for a simple, minor and inexpensive change in the Six-Pack charter boat industry; change not only for boats operating in near waters off Alaska, but such boats operating throughout the United States. That simple, minor and inexpensive change: the adoption of regulations making it mandatory for Six-Pack charter boats to carry Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon devices, commonly referred to as EPIRBs.
In its town hall meeting in Sitka in mid-May of this year, 2024, the United States Coast Guard went over its investigative findings as to the surrounding events and potential causes of the AWAKIN’s sinking. Through its investigation, the USCG determined the vessel encountered what was clearly a catastrophic event leading to the vessel’s capsize at approximately 2:45 p.m. the afternoon of May 28, 2023.
A cell phone later recovered from the vessel indicates that over the next 30 minutes, numerous 911 calls were made. None went through given the lack of cell coverage in the area of the vessel. Additionally, a text message off the same phone was sent to a family member that was in Sitka; but that too failed to go through due to coverage issues. As a result, it was not until almost three hours after the AWAKIN first encountered trouble that the USCG was finally notified that the vessel was overdue back; and over four hours after the AWAKIN first encountered trouble that the vessel was finally located by the USCG Search and Rescue team. By then the vessel was, but for the tip of her bow, submerged off Low Island in waters off Sitka. By then, all aboard the vessel were lost.
We are of the sincere belief that had EPIRBs been required on all Six-Pack charter vessels, the USCG would have been alerted to the AWAKIN’s issues within moments of the vessel encountering her initial problems. With this alert, mariners in the area of the vessel would have been notified of the vessel’s location. We have no doubt that fellow mariners, family and friends would have immediately responded. We know this because these same vessels and people, God bless and thank you all, immediately responded when finally notified three hours after the initial casualty events. At the very least, the failure to require EPIRBs aboard vessels like the AWAKIN resulted in numerous missed opportunities to react and rescue those lost on the vessel.
While most readers likely already know, EPIRBs are a battery powered electronic device meant to immediately provide a vessel’s location in time of distress. The radio beacon is set off either manually or automatically. While automatic activation may occur under differing conditions, it generally occurs when the EPIRB is submerged, and pressure from the surrounding water releases it from its holding cradle. Release from the cradle triggers activation and allows the EPIRB to float to the water’s surface. When activated, a repeating SOS signal is sent to orbiting satellites – which in turn immediately relay the signal to a ground station. The EPIRB’s registration information is contained within the sent signal so the identity of the vessel in distress is identified. Within moments, the USCG in the locale of the vessel in distress is notified, and a message regarding the distressed vessel, including its location, is sent out to mariners in the area.
While EPIRBs are not free, they are not expensive; particularly in light of their safety and potential life-saving benefits. EPIRBs designed for Six-Pack charter vessels run about $700, and can be ordered online from numerous suppliers. Registration of the EPIRB with NOAA is free.
Maury’s body was recovered the evening of the sinking, and Morgan’s over a week later. Robert’s body was never found. Brandi and her sister Danielle were trapped in the vessel’s cabin, and given the location of the cell phones later found, one of the two likely sent the calls and text while trapped in the cabin.
As visitors and purely recreational fishers, none of the passengers knew that Six-Pack charter boats were what are known as uninspected vessels; that little safety gear other than provision of certain navigation lights, personal flotation devices, minimal fire gear, and a simple radio, were required. None knew that an EPIRB, satellite phone and/or life raft were totally and completely voluntary. Had any of these three pieces of safety gear been required of Six-Pack charter vessels, losses from the sinking of the AWAKIN could have and likely would have been minimized.
The USCG currently has what it calls its Voluntary 5 Star Inspection Safety Program. As the name indicates, this is a voluntary program; nothing is mandatory. In this program, vessels and vessel owners are awarded “Stars” depending on their compliance with the USCG’s recommended, not required, provision of various safety devices. Such devices include high capacity bilge pumps, additional communication devices – specifically referencing a satellite phone, a life raft, and, yes, an EPIRB.
We write this letter to encourage all who read it to voice their support for change; specifically, that the USCG require that all Six-Pack charter vessels meet the provisions of the USCG’s 5 Star Safety Program – and that this program move from voluntary status to required status. Voicing support is as easy as writing/emailing the USCG in Juneau, writing/emailing state and federal senators and representatives, and just simply spreading the word.
Knowing that the wave of change comes slowly, we also encourage that all companies that insure Six-Pack charter vessels require these vessels to carry the safety equipment noted in the USCG’s Voluntary 5 Star Safety Program as a condition of vessel coverage. At the very least, vessels who fail to carry the 5 Star safety devices should inform their passengers accordingly. The time for change has come. We can afford no more loss of life at sea when there are simple, constructive things that can be done to prevent these losses.
Lindie Solis Brunson
on behalf of
the Solis/Tyau family members
Sitka’s Energy Outlook
Dear Editor: I wasn’t particularly surprised when our community’s energy situation didn’t come up at last Thursday’s State of Sitka’s Economy presentation. After all, most economists treat energy as just a cost of doing business, and the current cost of energy in Sitka is at the affordable end of the scale for Alaska.
The presentation was well organized and the discussion was informative, but an enormously important point was overlooked: there is nothing of any value in Sitka’s economy – no product or service – that does not require an energy input. Sitka’s economy, like all modern economies, is actually all about energy. So, while employment and income data may paint our business outlook as being pretty bright, a look at Sitka’s energy situation tells a different story.
Our economy is entirely reliant on the ready supply of two sources of energy: oil and hydroelectricity. One is imported, the other home-grown.
Oil is a finite resource that is currently being pumped out of the ground here in the US at the fastest rate ever recorded. The trouble with this is: we are creating serious problems for ourselves and millions of other species when we burn it. Here in Sitka, we should not assume that diesel and gasoline will be delivered to us by barge forever and always; supplies will, and must, taper-off and end sooner or later. Many petroleum analysts expect domestic crude production to peak and begin declining within a decade.
As far as hydroelectricity is concerned, we are fast approaching a point in time where we will be using all of our 127,000 mega-watt hours per year of firm generating capacity. This figure represents the maximum hydropower we can produce during a low-rainfall year.
At present, we’re using about 125,000 mega-watt hours per year. In other words, we have very nearly reached our firm capacity, and only have a buffer of about 30,000 mega-watt hours of additional capacity still available during normal-rainfall years. So, depending on rainfall amounts, our hydropower utilization rate is somewhere between 80% and 99% of capacity!
This is troubling, especially when three recent developments are taken into consideration: 1) the new hospital and associated housing units are just now being brought online; 2) a Coast Guard Fast Response Cutter unit is proposed to be stationed here which could require the construction of new housing for about 50 personnel; and 3) the City, in response to clear and urgent public demand, is initiating an analysis of possible locations close to town where new housing can be built.
Such developments promise to be of great benefit to the community, and look good through a narrow economic lens. But they appear to be leading us toward a potential near-term hydropower shortage where we’ll be forced to use supplemental diesel power generation to meet our electricity demands. This will serve to further entrench our oil dependency and increase our community’s greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, it will require rate payers to pony up fuel surcharges on monthly utility bills.
Perhaps the Sustainability Commission’s efforts to produce a Sitka Community Renewable Energy Strategy will help identify solutions to this growing challenge. Let’s hope so. But in the meantime, we should not blithely accept assertions that Sitka’s economic outlook is good when, in fact, the foundational energy outlook is not.
Joel Hanson, Sitka
