Coast Guard June 7, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Coast Guard will conduct an open meeting in Washington, DC in preparation for the upcoming sixty-ninth session of IMO Council to be held at the IMO Headquarters, United Kingdom, June 25-27, 2019.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone for navigable waters within a 100-yard radius of all vessels and equipment involved in diving and debris removal operations within the Cape May Canal in Cape May, New Jersey. The safety zone is needed to protect personnel, vessels, and the marine environment from potential hazards created by dive operations and debris removal near the railroad bridge in the Cape May Canal. Entry of vessels or persons into this zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port Delaware Bay or his designated representative.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on the navigable waters of the Upper Mississippi River from mile marker (MM) 109.9 to MM 184 in St. Louis, MO. This action is necessary to provide for the safety of persons and vessels, on these navigable waters as a result of increasing flow and high water conditions on the river. Entry of vessels or persons into this zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port Sector Upper Mississippi River or a designated representative.

The Coast Guard is revising its merchant mariner credentialing regulations to remove obsolete portions of the radar observer requirements and harmonize the radar observer endorsement with the merchant mariner credential. These revisions will reduce an unnecessary financial burden on mariners required to hold a radar observer endorsement. This rule will affect mariners who have served on radar- equipped vessels, in a position that routinely uses radar for 1 year in the previous 5 years for navigation and collision avoidance purposes, and mariners who have taught a Coast Guard-approved or accepted radar course at least twice within the past 5 years. These mariners will no longer be required to complete a Coast Guard-approved or accepted radar refresher or recertification course in order to renew their radar observer endorsements. We are retaining the existing requirements for mariners seeking an original radar observer endorsement and for mariners who do not have 1 year of routine relevant sea service on board radar-equipped vessels in the previous 5 years or have not taught a Coast Guard-approved or accepted radar course at least twice within the past 5 years. This final rule adopts, with modification, the notice of proposed rulemaking published on June 11, 2018.