Commercial Fishing Boat Towed for Safety Violation

A 78 foot fishing vessel based in Point Pleasant Beach was towed back to port Tuesday after a U.S. Coast Guard boarding crew found the boat had inadequate safety gear on board. The latest violation was the boat's second in a month, authorities said.

The Jaime Mae, a commercial fishing boat that sails from Manasquan Inlet, was boarded 13 miles off Long Branch by a crew from the Coast Guard Cutter Tybee, Coast Guard officials said in a statement Tuesday night. The boarding team found that there was inadequate safety gear aboard the vessel, the release said, though details were not provided.

“The vessel’s voyage was terminated because this was a violation that could not be corrected on the spot,” said Chief Petty Officer Rodger Krass, command duty officer with the Coast Guard’s Sector New York command center.

A boat crew from Station Manasquan Inlet escorted the vessel to its home port of Point Pleasant Beach following the boarding. The Coast Guard can terminate the voyage of a vessel that is in violation of federal safety laws, the statement said.

Coast Guard officials said this was the boat’s second voyage termination this month. On Nov. 4, a boarding team from Coast Guard Cutter Sailfish noted multiple safety violations on board. In that incident, the boarding crew found that the boat had only three working fire extinguishers, an expired EPIRB – an emergency locator beacon – and that there was water leaking in through the shaft seal, as well as from holes in the deck and hull as a result of corrosion. The vessel was escorted back to Point Beach in that incident as well.